Can someone double check my shave soap recipe calculations?

[Chanceosunshine]

This will be my first batch of soap ever. My son likes "Artisan" shave soaps.
I have almost NO idea of what I'm doing.

9.6 ounces coconut oil
9.6 ounces grass fed beef tallow
3.5 ounces safflower oil
3.2 ounces olive oil
3.2 ounces castor oil
1.6 ounces cocoa butter
1.3 ounces lanolin
8.61 ounces of water
4.53 ounces lye
2 teaspoons bentonite clay
1 ounce essential oil
.2 grams ROE
.9 grams EDTA

I used the calculator at Soapee.com for the oils, but could only rely upon my faulty brain for figuring the ROE and EDTA. Does this look right?

Thank you

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I could only rely upon my faulty brain for mixing metric and US customary units … 907 g oils. That's ROE at 0.02% TOM, which is fine if your ROE is around 5–9% carnosic acid. I have no experience with EDTA, someone else jump in to figure out if 0.1% TOM is a sensible amount to add. Just so much: your oils aren't overly DOS troublesome (except for the moderate amount of safflower – I assumed it is high-linoleic, not high-oleic?), and EDTA might be not over necessary. In any case it's too little to lower soap scum noticeably.

Despite the red/yellow bars, your recipe looks sound for a “normal” bar soap, i. e. something with a decent perfornance to wash hands with. Safe to make (5% superfat to be on the safe side, you do have some headroom to raise lye by 1…3%). Maybe the coconut oil is a bit high. Caveat: I have no experience with lanolin.

Is this intended to be used as a shave soap? There are recipes out there that are specifically made for shave soaps, and they read very different to yours (much higher in hard oils, to produce fine, creamy lather).

Edit: mixed up lye and lye discount , sorry.

 

[Chanceosunshine]

TY

View attachment 60014

I could only rely upon my faulty brain for mixing metric and US customary units … 907 g oils. That's ROE at 0.02% TOM, which is fine if your ROE is around 5–9% carnosic acid. I have no experience with EDTA, someone else jump in to figure out if 0.1% TOM is a sensible amount to add. Just so much: your oils aren't overly DOS troublesome (except for the moderate amount of safflower – I assumed it is high-linoleic, not high-oleic?), and EDTA might be not over necessary. In any case it's too little to lower soap scum noticeably.

Despite the red/yellow bars, your recipe looks sound for a “normal” bar soap, i. e. something with a decent perfornance to wash hands with. Safe to make (5% superfat to be on the safe side, you do have some headroom to cut down lye by 1…3%). Maybe the coconut oil is a bit high. Caveat: I have no experience with lanolin.

Is this intended to be used as a shave soap? There are recipes out there that are specifically made for shave soaps, and they read very different to yours (much higher in hard oils, to produce fine, creamy lather).

Thank you so much for the reply. I will be 100% honest. I have no idea what I'm doing. I searched for a shaving soap recipe using tallow and I could only find ones using 100% tallow or ones that called for a ton of ingredients. I found this recipe here: How to Make Your Own Shaving Soap It says that tallow can be used instead of palm oil. Then, knowing he likes lanolin, I did my homework and found out how to replace oil for oil. (I replaced part of the sunflower oil because I accidentally bought safflower oil.)

Then I did my homework to figure out the ROE and EDTA because I was worried about the tallow going rancid since he'll be the only one using this soap and it will be stored for quite awhile.

I am so open to modifications to the recipe I found or a completely different tallow and lanolin shave soap. I desperately need direction.

This is part of my son's birthday gift. He asked me to help him with this so long ago and I'm just now trying to pull it off.

If I do nothing else but make the modifications that you've recommended (less lye and coconut oil) would it make a nicer shave soap?

Thank you again for the help!!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

less lye

Sorry, I meant less lye discount (fewer % superfat), i. e. more lye.

 

[Chanceosunshine]

Sorry, I meant less lye discount (fewer % superfat), i. e. more lye.

I'm sorry. Can you put this to me in layman's terms?

 

[The_Phoenix]

When is your son's birthday?

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I'm sorry. Can you put this to me in layman's terms?

Most soap calculators subtract 5% of the lye for the recipe, that's commonly called superfat or lye discount. It serves the practical purpose of a safety net if you're unsure about the precision of weighing (avoid excess lye). But if you feel capable of higher weighing precision, you can cut down from these 5%. Most soap calculators let you adjust this value, and a lower superfat means that the amount of lye for a given amount of oils increases.

 

[Chanceosunshine]

When is your son's birthday?

August 17th (The gift will be the formula and ingredients, and then he and I will make it together.)

I will be able to play with the recipe and have all the ingredients. I can up the tallow to 14 ounces since that's what I have, and I of course have lots of the other oils as well.

Most soap calculators subtract 5% of the lye for the recipe, that's commonly called superfat or lye discount. It serves the practical purpose of a safety net if you're unsure about the precision of weighing (avoid excess lye). But if you feel capable of higher weighing precision, you can cut down from these 5%. Most soap calculators let you adjust this value, and a lower superfat means that the amount of lye for a given amount of oils increases.

I see. Thank you so much. I've been trying to wrap my mind around that!

 

[AliOop]

You might want to check this huge Shave Soap thread on this forum. It includes a basic shave soap recipe and many variations, as well as tips on the mixing process (especially check for @DeeAnna's mixing instructions - huge help!)

More importantly, most shave soaps, including the one referenced in that post, use a blend of mostly KOH with some NaOH. This allows you to achieve a more soluble soap that lathers very easily.

 

[Becky1024]

To make a shaving soap with lasting lather, you need a formula high in palmetic and / or stearic acids. The combination of both should be higher than 50. Most shaving soap makers get this by using either soy wax or stearic acid in their formula. Some butters like kokum butter and tallow are high in stearic acid also. I use tallow in my shaving soaps not only to help boost the stearic acid number but it gives the razor good glide which helps prevent nicks and cuts. Most shaving soap makers use a blend of KOH and NaOH like AliOop said and check out the Shave Soap thread here. Also, if you are on Facebook please join the Shaving Soap Makers group - there are good recipes in the files.

 

[Chanceosunshine]

Thank you both so much! I will check out that thread!