Good evening everyone! Now, I know this recipe is going to look a little crazy. That’s kind of what I’m going for here lol. It’s an experiment, but I spent a lot of money on these oils so I didn’t want to commit some grave mistake before I went ahead lol. I am planning on substituting the water in this recipe with a goats milk and fresh aloe Vera blend, and adding turmeric essential oil for the fragrance portion. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Any feedback for my facial soap recipe?
- Thread starter starfire
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violets2217
Well-Known Member
Wow... That's a lot of ingredients! Also, that's a very big batch for an experiment with expensive oils. I'm somewhat, almost but not really new to this... so my only two other opinions on your recipe is I don't think you need that much Castor Oil. I always have it around 5%. From my experimenting... more castor does not mean more bubbles. I personally would add the 5% to Coconut just to be a wee bit more cleansing... but more olive oil would work for me too. Umm...have you smelled the neem oil? Not a fan , for the smell alone. I love Rosehip oil in my face serums and lotion, but never used it in soap. And I don't know anything about your other fancy oils...Sorry. Good luck! I'd be a nervous wreck measuring all those ingredients. I'm now curious what turmeric EO smells like. I tried some powder out in a soap this week, really pretty color!
My only 2 cents is to keep castor oil at 4-6%. High amounts can cause it to be too soft.
Yes, 13 lbs of water for 2lbs of oil is rather high. Shows as being 675% so I'm guessing a decimal needs to be moved.
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
I agree. Good catch @SPowers! 2% NaOH is unheard of and I think you'll be terribly disappointed with the result. Please recalculate using the default setting of 38%.
I agree. Not only will it make the batch too soft, it will take longer to cure and may be sticky... or so I've read. Castor is one of those oils where you don't need much for it to do its job.@violets2217 raises excellent points about the size of the batch and the number of oils, most of which add little or nothing to a wash-off product and may be better suited to a facial lotion.
I really have to question your judgment about the choice of oils as well as the number of different oils used. On top of that, using goat milk AND aloe vera is like gilding the lily -- use one or the other.
I'm not sure what turmeric essential oil brings to the formula, ??? Be sure to check the use rate for that particular oil before adding it to your recipe.
That being said, for a really nice facial bar recipe, I suggest you try making: Zany's No Slime Castile
If you like the result, you can then experiment with one of your ingredients at a time to see how they affect the final result.
violets2217
Well-Known Member
Good catch! I just looked at the total batch weight and didn't realize it was all water!
I see......thanks for your answers.
And yeah, the water thing was a mistake. It was supposed to be 2:1. Not sure how that happened
you guys don’t like my recipe, I think I have different beliefs about soap. But I’ll definitely make a smaller batch and let you all know how it turns out.
And yeah, the water thing was a mistake. It was supposed to be 2:1. Not sure how that happened
you guys don’t like my recipe, I think I have different beliefs about soap. But I’ll definitely make a smaller batch and let you all know how it turns out.
Absolutely you should make whatever soap you want to make. However, I'd experiment with using only 2 specialty oils per soap at most. That will help you figure out which of the expensive oils you like, and which ones you don't. Otherwise, if you mix them all together, how will you know which one is creating the soap properties that work for you (or don't work for you, as the case may be)?
So it's not about not liking your recipe so much, as suggesting that you do some experiments first to see which oils you are really going to like in soap, and which ones you want to save for leave-on products like balms, massage oils, etc. Make sense?
When you fix the water and lye numbers, my preference would be that you use the lye percentage setting, rather than water as % of oils. That will give you more consistent results over time. Try 30% lye concentration to start.
Turmeric EO can be sensitizing to skin, but if you know your EOs (sounds like you do), then you know the proper dilution rate already.
Definitely report back with results - we all love learning and you may have new information for us by the time this is done!
So it's not about not liking your recipe so much, as suggesting that you do some experiments first to see which oils you are really going to like in soap, and which ones you want to save for leave-on products like balms, massage oils, etc. Make sense?
When you fix the water and lye numbers, my preference would be that you use the lye percentage setting, rather than water as % of oils. That will give you more consistent results over time. Try 30% lye concentration to start.
Turmeric EO can be sensitizing to skin, but if you know your EOs (sounds like you do), then you know the proper dilution rate already.
Definitely report back with results - we all love learning and you may have new information for us by the time this is done!
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Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
It's not about liking or not-liking your recipe, @starfire . You asked for feedback and everyone of us used our experience and knowledge to help you get to where you (presumably) want to go. We would being doing you a disservice if we didn't respond honestly. What you do with that information is totally up to you and your "beliefs about soap".
As I often tell people, "If you don't want my opinion, don't ask".
You really cannot use Turmeric EO for fragrance, you can use it for coloring. In order to use it for Fragrance the amount it will require will cause staining with your soap. If you want to spend that kind of money making a soap go for it, but remember a soap is a wash-off product and the benefits of oils do not remain in soap. A tiny 2% neem will do nothing, 15% neem on the other hand is nice in soap. It is so much better to save the expensive oils for a leave-on product such as balms and lotions. I have used Tumeric EO for years and it really does not impart any fragrance at the small amount you can use, and I am talking drops in 59 oz of oils, not 4 oz as I would normally use for scenting with FO's and EO's.
Thank youIt's not about liking or not-liking your recipe, @starfire . You asked for feedback and everyone of us used our experience and knowledge to help you get to where you (presumably) want to go. We would being doing you a disservice if we didn't respond honestly. What you do with that information is totally up to you and your "beliefs about soap".
As I often tell people, "If you don't want my opinion, don't ask".
This makes a lot of sense! And yeah I have enough I was going to do a salve as well. I just wanted a matching soap to go with it. And I agree about the neem thing, I’ve used it at 18% and its my favorite soap! I have some calendula infused sunflower oil and added a little neem to it that I was planning on using in this recipe so I was just trying to be accurate with what was in the infusion.
Yeah totally! I’m really curious to see what will happen. But I think the calculator bugged out, I always use a water to lye ratio to 2:1 which I think is a 33.33% lye concentration so it’s really close to what you suggested. I used to do the 38% water default but someone on here schooled me that a lesser water amount is better for milk soaps since it helps with the gelling/overheating. And I definitely see your point. I will take my timeAbsolutely you should make whatever soap you want to make. However, I'd experiment with using only 2 specialty oils per soap at most. That will help you figure out which of the expensive oils you like, and which ones you don't. Otherwise, if you mix them all together, how will you know which one is creating the soap properties that work for you (or don't work for you, as the case may be)?
So it's not about not liking your recipe so much, as suggesting that you do some experiments first to see which oils you are really going to like in soap, and which ones you want to save for leave-on products like balms, massage oils, etc. Make sense?
When you fix the water and lye numbers, my preference would be that you use the lye percentage setting, rather than water as % of oils. That will give you more consistent results over time. Try 30% lye concentration to start.
Turmeric EO can be sensitizing to skin, but if you know your EOs (sounds like you do), then you know the proper dilution rate already.
Definitely report back with results - we all love learning and you may have new information for us by the time this is done!
thanks!Hi,
I'm from India and planning to make a turmeric soap. I'm planning to use a blend of patchouli and lemongrass EOs for scent and turmeric EO for colour. Could you suggest the usage rate of turmeric EO? I use eocalc to calculate the usage rate of EOs but they don't have turmeric EO in the list. I'm gonna use EOs at 4% of total oils. Can I try Turmeric : patchouli : Lemongrass at 1:1:2?? or can I use even a less Turmeric EO?
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Hi @winusuren since this thread was started by someone else for purposes of answering her questions, it is best if you start a new thread with your question. That will be more likely to be seen and answered by others (and is considered more polite to the person with the original question).
Hey everyone! So I made the soap and un molded it this morning and it looks great! and smells really good. For additives I added oatmeal and rose clay. I cant speak to the effectiveness of the ingredients yet since im going to let it cure a bit before I try it out but thought id share the results so far.
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Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
I'm SO curious... it would be helpful if you could share your final recipe as the original in post #1 needed some serious adjustments.
my bad I totally forgot 
The water was substituted for a 50/50 blend of goats milk and aloe Vera, I used one ounce each of turmeric, tea tree, and lavender essential oil, and oatmeal and rose clay for the additives. I also just realized I made meat soap lol
The water was substituted for a 50/50 blend of goats milk and aloe Vera, I used one ounce each of turmeric, tea tree, and lavender essential oil, and oatmeal and rose clay for the additives. I also just realized I made meat soap lol
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Sudsmaster
Member
my bad I totally forgot
The water was substituted for a 50/50 blend of goats milk and aloe Vera, I used one ounce each of turmeric, tea tree, and lavender essential oil, and oatmeal and rose clay for the additives. I also just realized I made meat soap lol
One question I'd like to pose to anyone on this thread: How does adding essential oils affect your superfat percentage? In this particular recipe, @starfire said they added 3 ounces of essential oil to 60 ounces of other oils/butters (so a 5% increase in oil). Does anyone ever adjust their superfat to reflect the amount (or percentage) of EO they add to their soap?
Second thing I noticed on the pictures posted on Wednesday at 1:16 p.m. Is that slightly-white coloring on the top of some of the soap bars by design or is that soda ash? If it is soda ash, I've noticed that spraying a decent amount of ethyl alcohol (like everclear or a high proof vodka, not isopropyl [a.k.a. rubbing] alcohol) on the soap right after pouring it into the molds can help. Or even covering them up with parchment paper to protect the soap from CO2 in the air.
All in all though, the soap looks good. No glycerin rivers that I can see and the color scheme looks nice.
Hey! Thanks for that! Honestly the essential oil amount really confuses me too. But I have never adjusted my superfat amount in correlation to the essential oils. In fact, sometimes Ill use more essential oil at an ounce per pound depending on the oil. But keep the superfat the same
And as far as the ash, I have never tried using everclear before! Thank you for the tip, I will definitely try that next time instead of rubbing alcohol. I have found that if I add a decent amount of clay that this just happens. I used so much clay to help anchor the essential oils bc they can be fleeting. Ill just plane or shave the top of the soap and just get rid of it. but honestly I kind of like the way it looks on some of these this time haha
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