Beginners Recipe

[cbpatch]

Hi all. I am new to soap making and hope some of you all could be kind and share a recipe or two. I made my first batch with Shea butter, coconut oil and allow oil. It is still soft and malleable (I made it over 4 weeks ago). It was suppose to be Xmas gifts so when I handed it out I just told everyone to let it sit for a few more weeks. So I don't run into this again, does anyone have a recipe they can share or possibly some tips to help to stop this from happening again? It would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and I'm not that good with all the soap lingo so explain it to me like I'm a 5 year old. Lol

Thanks everyone!!!:razz:

 

[cmzaha]

This is a great website for beginners with a wealth of information
Miller Soap.com

 

[dixiedragon]

I get my starting recipes from www.millersoap.com.

Here is my starting point:
45 oz. lard20 oz. olive oil 20 oz. coconut oil 12 oz. lye crystals 32 oz. cold water This is a fairly large batch, it makes about 7 lbs. I usually scale it down and do about half of this. I tinker with mine - I usually add some castor oil and sunflower oil. Sometimes I will use 22 oz of lard and 22 oz of beef tallow. Sometimes I substitute some soybean oil for some of the lard.

Since your recipe is all veggie, here is a link to her all veg recipe page:
http://www.millersoap.com/soapallveg.html

We can't really "troubleshoot" your soap without the recipe. Can you post that?

Also, by "allow" oil is that an autocorrect for "aloe" oil? If so, read the container to find out what the ingredients are, b/c aloe oil or aloe butter is usually aloe vera gel or extract blended with an oil like soybean oil.

 

[cbpatch]

Also, by "allow" oil is that an autocorrect for "aloe" oil? If so, read the container to find out what the ingredients are, b/c aloe oil or aloe butter is usually aloe vera gel or extract blended with an oil like soybean oil.[/QUOTE]

Yes it's suppose to be aloe oil (auto corrected from my iPad). I threw out the bottle after I used t so I'm not completely sure what the ingredients were. I just ordered some tallow online so. I hope to use that in my next recipe.

I also tried to make a cocoa butter soap that turn out awful. It's all crumbly. Unfortunately the only recipe I saved was the cocoa butter one. I'll post a pic.

Thanks for all the help. :razz:

 

[dixiedragon]

You may want to try the calculator at soapcalc.com. It will give you an idea of what your soap will turn out like - hardness, cleansing, bubbles, condition, etc.

A large quantity of cocoa butter will make soap brittle. I think the recommended amount is 5%-10%.

Looking at your recipe, that's a lot of soft oils. You said "soft and malleable". Is it mushy? Is it more like fresh mozzerralla (the white balls in oil) or more like cheddar?

Where did you get the aloe oil? Did you get it from Brambleberry or another soap-making place? or did you get it from Walmart or a health food store? It's possible that if you got it from Walmart that it is mostly mineral oil. Mineral oil will not saponify, meaning it will not become soap. If you know where you got it, you may be able to look at it online and find the ingredients.

have you tried the soap? how does it feel when you wash your hands with it?

Also, did you use a fragrance? If so, what?

 

[pamielynn]

deleted

 

[cbpatch]

I bought my oils from Brambleberry. And the cocoa butter soap I made is brittle and crumbly. Can i re-use the soap or just toss it? Thanks for all the help everyone. I really appreciate it

 

[dixiedragon]

Including the aloe oil? I looked at the BB site and didn't see a product called "aloe oil" though I saw it was included in your recipe?

Yes, you can rematch your soap. You can Google and find some good tutorials with pics about rebatching.

 

[Lin]

I would check out the soaping 101 videos on youtube and the soaping101 webpage. Their bastile recipe is a great beginner recipe. They also have a video on "dollar store" soap with another great beginner recipe.

 

[seven]

agree with dixie, too much cocoa butter can make your soap crumbly. just a suggestion, in the beginning you might want to practice with simpler recipes with simpler oils (like palm, coconut, olive... the trio makes a great soap). you might want to leave butters for later on, but if you still want to use them, soapqueen has a great refrence on soapmaking oils and how much to use them.

here is a very simple recipe using palm, coconut, and olive (you can play with the numbers a bit to suit your skin type):
20% coconut
30% palm
50% olive

if your recipes are palm free, you can substitute for tallow or lard.

i vote for soapcalc too. that's my go to calculator.

 

[SherrysSoap]

Hi, you can try this recipe. Its easy so easy, you can add coco powder or lavender or coffee powder. What ever you like you can add. I usually add 1ts of honey, 2 vitamin E and different powder to give natural color.

350 grm olive oil
300 grm coconut oil
170 grm sunflower oil
100 grm castor oil
330.60 water or milk ( i usually use camel milk)
129 grm lye
8.70 grm fragrance

 

[Susie]

You can't call soap "100% Natural" in the USA unless you make your lye from ashes and water. I know its weird, but that's what the regs say.