Can you review this recipe for me that I made? Thanks

[soapingbrutha]

Hey this is my first post. My hobby is actually about to turn into something a little more than just being a hobby with all the request Im getting now to make soap. The recipe below is what I made up. Im trying to get a REAL HARD BAR of soap thats FULL OF LATHER. I left the coconut oil at 15% for sensitive skin issues. Can someone use their expertise and tell me if I need to tweak this some more to get the results Im looking for?:?: Thanks.

Olive Oil 30%
Palm Oil 30%
Coconut Oil 15%
Castor Oil 7%
Shea Butter 5%
Cocoa Butter 5%
Jojoba Oil 5%
Sodium Lactate 3%
5% SUPERFAT

 

[Obsidian]

Getting a bar full of lather that is good for sensitive skin isn't really possible. Coconut oil is what gives good lather but it can be drying over 20%. Butters can also reduce lather, I would ditch them and add more palm.

 

[xraygrl]

A good rule of thumb when creating a good basic soap recipe is to keep it simple. You have too much going on with 7 different oils and butters. Especially if you want to sell in the future, which at this point I'm guessing by your question that you are not yet ready to sell. This is not intended to offend. Just that with a lot more experience under your belt before you sell will help you to produce a better product.

Jojoba oil is kind of a waste in soap IMHO you honestly won't feel any difference in the finished soap. I would ditch that and just increase your olive. I agree with only 15% coconut and 10% total with the cocoa and shea butter, the lather will be there, but you won't get big bubbles, more like a thick cream with little bubbles. Maybe try one or the other at about 5-7% and make the difference up with palm oil.

If you are not vegetarian or vegan, or don't have any religious issues, give lard or tallow a try. Both will produce a hard bar with stable lather, but I prefer lard over tallow because it makes a hard bar, and it gentle and more conditioning than tallow.

Most people who sell make a basic recipe for the masses, then formulate a couple of different recipes for those with sensitive skin issues. Unless you are wanting to target people with sensitive skin specifically, then I would say make a basic recipe for the regular soaps, then make a sensitive skin line.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

You could also drop the castor down to 5% and put 2tblsp ppo in to keep the bubbles up but give you another 2% in to the palm oil. Not a massive amount, but it'll help.

 

[srblatt17]

You can bump up your coconut and increase your SF to 6% Drop the jojoba and choose one butter. It will still lather nicely. Some use 10% castor oil depending on recipe.

 

[lsg]

You might try this recipe:
coconut 25%
Castor 5%
olive 38%
palm 32

This recipe will give you a hard, fairly mild bar with bubbly and creamy lather. You can also dissolve a little sugar in your water before adding the lye. I find this gives me more bubbles.

 

[new12soap]

I agree with the others, jojoba is pretty much lost in soap, ditch it. I would increase the coconut to 20%, that will give more bubbles without going too high on the cleansing.

You do not need 3% sodium lactate, I use 1.5% of my weight of oils and find that is plenty, and it is not factored in to your base oil recipe. It is water soluble, it will not saponify. So there is another 3% you need to put somewhere else, either olive or palm would be fine.

It's very exciting that people are requesting your soaps, but it seems that you are not ready yet to even think about selling. Again, that isn't meant to be discouraging, but it just takes time to test your recipes and see how they perform over time. Ask anyone what it was like when they first started soaping, and then what it was like a year later. You will be surprised at how much there is to learn. Enjoy the process and don't rush to sell.

 

[soapingbrutha]

Im so excited about the suggestions. This makes things much better on my end.

Also, I'm a person that somewhat sticks to the facts without adding things to my comments. I appreciate people mentioning me "selling soap" or not selling soap, but that's not the point of this thread. What I did say was "turn into something a little more than just being a hobby" which to me means I will be cranking out more soap than just the soaps I've made for my family. The thread is about formulating a soap recipe with the qualities that I desired (which were hard and lather). Honestly I don't think its fair to include your opinions on if I'm ready to sell soap or not.

Again, every single person that has contributed to this thread I honestly am very happy and thankful for the information you gave me. It gave me a lot to think about and I actually was able to do some major tweaking prior to responding. Ironically, some of the tweaks you guys suggested I had already put into action on my end.

Thanks again everyone and please feel free to continue to comment on how to tweak my recipe.

 

[seven]

if you like the above recipe, then by all means do it. a proper cure also improves things in the lather department, trust me. what's really important to notice is what new12soap about sodium lactate. it does not have a SAP value, therefore, you take it out of the lye calculation.

i understand fully the excitement about wanting to try different oils and butters when you first started. i went with the same phase too, it was a pretty exciting phase trying out different recipes and all that, getting friends and families to try out your soaps. i have to agree with the jojoba part though, it's pretty much a waste in soap, better in lotions/creams. but then who knows, you might think otherwise and love it in soap. do a small 500 gr batch with and without the jojoba, and test it on your skin to be the final judge. you can also do hot process (hp) and make jojoba exclusively as your superfat oil.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

........Also, I'm a person that somewhat sticks to the facts without adding things to my comments. I appreciate people mentioning me "selling soap" or not selling soap, but that's not the point of this thread.......The thread is about formulating a soap recipe with the qualities that I desired (which were hard and lather). Honestly I don't think its fair to include your opinions on if I'm ready to sell soap or not.....

Whether you would include them or think they should be included, people are not likely to let things go unsaid. Take an example of someone mentioning that they use glass when talking about lye - many people will mention that glass is not the best for lye, even though that wasn't the point of the thread.

My favourite example is - if I ask on mumsnet what brand of cigarettes should I give to my 5 year old, I'm pretty certain the answers I'll get would be anything but suggests on brands of smokes!

Your comment about going beyond a hobby would of course raise a few question marks and many people would not (and clearly did not) feel comfortable giving advice while ignoring what could be a potential issue.