Can someone help with a recipe?

[Bubbles1189]

I am waiting for my lye to get here but in the meantime I was wondering if you will give me opinions on the recipe I intend to use. It is
16 oz lard
17 oz olive oil
4 oz coconut oil
5 oz sweet almond

I was wondering if I could add more sweet almond or if I should just stick to the original recipe. It will be my first time making a batch of soap but I have been reading as much as I can get my hands on and feel confident that I can handle making a small batch for starters. If anyone has a good recipe that takes these oils it would be much appreciated. I don't have much in the way of funds at the moment but can get any of the oils that are at my local stores. Thanks in advance.

 

[lovelysuds]

Welcome to the soap addiction! Your recipe will be soft for quite some time. High levels of Olive Oil take forever to cure. I dont have patience for that! Heres what I would do I also adjusted it to 32 oz of oils or 2 lbs & superfatted it to 5%. Itll make a nice hard bubbly bar with lots of conditioning. Have you played on the SoapCalc site yet? I highly suggest it. Youll spend hours on there making recipes I do it all the time.

Lye 4.5 oz
water 12.2

Lard 40%
Olive 25%
Coconut 25%
Almond 5%
Castor Oil 5%

 

[dcornett]

Now that's a good recipe :wink:

 

[ToniD]

I suggest you try a few different combinations. Your original one will have different characteristics than the one lovelysuds suggested. I think both would be fine bars. The original would take a bit longer to come to trace, probably, and likely need a bit longer of a cure to have a good lather. I make a similar bar as the original and it is very gentle. I also have a bar that is similar to the one lovelysuds makes. a bit more lather, cures faster. Maybe not quite as gentle though. You have to play around to figure out what you like.

Enjoy making your first batch!

 

[lovelysuds]

No matter what I always add 5% Castor. It makes a world of difference. I also always use lard & tallow or one or the other and of course coconut and Olive oil. I just played on soap calc until my retinas bled. :shock: & now I have my 3 recipes I always use.

 

[Guest]

loveysuds - Me too. I have SoapCalc'ed for what seem like forever to perfect my recipe. I think I am there now and am happy with my results so I plan to tweak my recipe over time. I also found out about adding sugar and salt to my recipe and so far I AM IN LOVE!!!!

 

[Cashie]

Lye 4.5 oz
water 12.2

Lard 40%
Olive 25%
Coconut 25%
Almond 5%
Castor Oil 5%

I love this. What would you substitute for almond oil? Would palm oil make a good substitute? I have that on hand.

 

[dcornett]

There are many oils you could sub for the almond in this recipe, you could use palm, avocado, sunflower (all of which I have used so I know they would fill in fine) the list goes on and on. JUST REMEMBER to run it through soap calc to make sure your using the right amount of lye since the sap values of different oils will be different. But that is a very good recipe, VERY close to the one I use. :wink:

 

[Bubbles Galore]

My soaps with almond oil are like nothing else. If I had to substitute the almond oil, then I would choose macadamia, jojoba, hemp, avocado, grapeseed, sunflower. It won't be the same though. :wink:

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Double post. :roll:

 

[lovelysuds]

Glad you liked it! I agree with the hemp, macadamia, and the others listed above. Or maybe walnut? I know theyre not as common as Olive but they are usually attainable at grocery stores. Walmart not so much. If I were you Id go to soap calc and plug in some oils you have until you see what you like.

I just learned that almond oil is extremely close to the oil that babies secrete on their cute little bodies to keep it soft and supple. Almond oil is some good stuff!