Anyone care to share....

[Soapyguy]

So far i have made oatmeal and lavender essential oil soap, and lemon grass (ground up finely+essential oil) coffee soap. Would anyone care to share a favorite combination of ingredients that i should try next? What are some favorites?

 

[Badger]

Well, I don't have anything that I have tried myself, because I have not made any CP soaps yet... but the idea of shea butter and sandalwood sounds appealing to me. I really am a sucker for a nice sandalwood soap, lol.

 

[Scentapy]

- Coconut Milk in place of your water.... creates a nice creamy bar & great label appeal.
- Pureed carrots in place of your water (I just buy baby food)
- Pumpkin puree in place of your water & honey added to oils
Right now I am making a batch of Lavender (EO) Coconut Milk Soap.

 

[soapsydaisy]

Frozen goatmilk in place of your water with honey and oatmeal.

 

[Ruthie]

Hot cocoa mix (cocoa, sugar, milk) in your water with extra cocoa powder and chocolate expresso FO.

 

[Marieke]

Beer instead of water with olive, coconut, palm and wheat germ oil, clay powder, some honey and either FO or EO. I love clay powder in soap.

 

[three_little_fishes]

I want to try another milk soap. I did a oatmeal, milk, and honey but I'm still waiting for it to cure.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Coconut Milk and finely shredded Coconut as an exfoliant...maybe add a little cocoa butter and cocoa powder...

 

[DWinMadison]

I lean more toward spa scents. My favorites so far: tea tree - lemongrass and rosemary-peppermint. Orange-patchouli is a classic. I love sandalwood, but the EO is CRAZY expensive everywhere I've tried to find it.

 

[TeriDk]

Coconut Milk and finely shredded Coconut as an exfoliant...maybe add a little cocoa butter and cocoa powder...

I bought some coconut flour a few months ago. Do you think it would work for the shredded coconut?

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

I bought some coconut flour a few months ago. Do you think it would work for the shredded coconut?

I can't see that working very well, but I could be wrong...I'm thinking it wouldn't be exfoliating, but may act like cornstarch or clay in CP. I don't think it would hurt to try it

 

[Amybell]

I bought some coconut flour a few months ago. Do you think it would work for the shredded coconut?

I doubt it. I suspect that coconut flour could cause some major problems in soapmaking. It is HIGHLY absorbant--much more so than other flours. It's also incredibly fine and soft, so I doubt it would give you any real exfoliation.

 

[danahuff]

I like cucumbers and yogurt. What you do is purée cucumbers in water in the blender. That makes up half your liquid. For the other half, combine water and yogurt in equal amounts and whisk. Combine the puréed cucumbers and water with the yogurt and water and freeze. Then use like you would milks and combine with lye. It makes a nice soap.

 

[Hazel]

I second Marieke's suggestion for using beer in a batch. The beer adds a lot of bubbles to the lather. The beer batches that people liked the best of what I've made was the ones I used EOs. (These batches went fast and people actually asked for more!) The first one was a blend of lime & spearmint although peppermint might have been nice, too. The other beer batch was made with WSP's Energizing EO/FO blend of sweet orange & ginger. I didn't care for it originally because I thought it smelled slightly bitter OOB. But it alters in soap and it became one of my favorite scents in soap.

I'm going to apologize in advance because I'm about to hijack your topic. I'm just really intrigued by the idea of using coconut flour.

I bought some coconut flour a few months ago. Do you think it would work for the shredded coconut?

Amybell is correct that it won't be just like shredded coconut - much finer. But since you have it, why not give it a try? I've used rice bran flour in a batch and it created a slight exfoliating sensation with the soap. This was fine with me because it was a facial soap. I didn't use a water discount and I added approximately 2 level tablespoons in a small batch (it was either 22 oz or 24 oz - don't remember exactly). I added it at trace and stirred really, really well. It thickened and there wasn't time to do anything fancy but I was happy with it.

I got the idea of using rice bran flour after reading about rice bran powder. Being the cheap person that I am, I decided to purchase RB flour at the grocery and use it instead. The deciding factor was it had been reduced in price. :wink:

Coconut flour has almost all fat removed so it's very dry and it doesn't have any sugar. However, it does still have protein in it so it's possible it will still add a little silkiness to the lather. I highly recommend you don't discount the liquid amount in your recipe. Another suggestion is to try it in a recipe you've made before to see if it does make a difference. You also might want to start with a smaller amount when adding it - maybe .25 oz - .5 oz ppo. You may not notice any exfoliation with coconut flour because I think it's finer in texture than rice bran flour.

I lean towards Alchemy&Ashes' comment that the coconut flour will be like cornstarch in the soap. So, I think it will probably thicken the soap quickly. I'm wondering if the coconut flour might also help to anchor a scent. I think the idea of trying coconut flour sounds great and I'd love to hear the results.