Coconut percentage and drying effect

[silverspringsoapmaker]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction on my liquid soap journey? While I haven't had any problems being able to make liquid soap, I have been having a hard time trying to produce a less drying batch.

In an effort to make my liquid soap less drying on my hands I decided to add vegetable glycerin to the diluted soap (15% of the weight of the diluted soap). The addition of the vegetable glycerin has made the soap less drying but not to the point I would like it to be.

After reviewing the recipe, I am now wondering if the "too drying" issue might be due to the % of coconut oil I'm currently using?

Below is my current recipe. I dilute my paste to 15% as I use foamer bottles to dispense the soap.

24 oz coconut oil
10 oz olive oil
10 oz castor oil
3 oz jojoba oil

Would you suggest that I decrease the coconut oil percentage? My concern is that I would still like it to produce a good lather even in hard water.

Thank you for your input!

 

[Benjamin]

Hi Silverspringsoapmaker,

I've had a similar problems with liquid soap being too drying for my skin. I ended up omitting CO entirely and used palm kernel oil flakes instead (at about 12.5%). I used olive, high oleic safflower, and castor oil for the rest.

I've found not using the glycerine method helps for me. I also don't add any glycerine.

I superfat much higher than you are supposed to with liquid soap (3%).

I clarify the soap using grain alcohol. With two weeks sequestering you can read through it.

I don't have to neutralize at all.

I like this recipe/method right now, but it's not perfect. For example, it doesn't accept FOs well. It also goes against the "rules" in a bunch of ways. I've found it significantly more challenging to come up with a LS that I really like.

As an aside, I give all my test batches to my friends 8 y/o daughter. She turns it into "fairy" and "magic" soap by adding food coloring, glitter, essential oils and other stuff. It's a great way to get rid of soap I won't use, especially because even a small test batch of LS still makes a TON of soap.

Hope this helps,
---Ben

 

[cmzaha]

This is a recipe I use that makes a supermild shower gel. I cannot take credit for it. It is one of Sally Trew's recipes that I did tweak a tiny bit.
Palm 29%, Olive 28%, Castor Oil 20%, Coconut Oil 8%, Sunflower High Oleic 5%, Cocoa Butter 5%, Avocado Oil 5%. 80% water in soap calc with a -13 superfat. This is a very low cleansing so the coconut could be adjusted up

 

[silverspringsoapmaker]

Thank you for input Ben and cmzaha! What I find surprising is that Coconut oil is usually makes up the largest percentage of the oils using in commercial natural liquid soap brands such as Vermont Soap, Dr. Bronners and Zum Wash. I'm assuming they use Coconut oil as the largest percentage of oils for a reason. My only guess is because the higher percentage of Coconut oil handles hard water better

 

[lady-of-4]

Its not so much the coconut oil itself, but the overall high cleansing factors of an entire recipe. More cleansing, means more natural oils stripped away. Coconut oil can contribute, but if you balance your recipe, Soap Calc can help you with this, you'll be able to raise you conditioning and lower the cleansing.

 

[silverspringsoapmaker]

Thank you lady-of-4! I'll look into that

 

[silverspringsoapmaker]

I'm now starting to wonder if my soap is too cleansing because of my dilution rate? I currently dilute 1 pound of paste with 3 pounds of water. I'm assuming that if I dilute the paste further, I can reduce the cleansing power that is striping my hands of its natural oils and reduce the drying effect? I'm using foaming bottles so I'm not looking to have a thick liquid soap. Am I on the right track?

 

[lady-of-4]

Not really. It will water down the soap, but the cleansing fact doesn't change. That factor is recipe related primarily. You can try and dilute some of it to see if that helps. Chances are though, it may not.

 

[silverspringsoapmaker]

Thank you lady-of-4! You're absolutely right, I tried diluting the soap further but it was still too drying. I'm going to go with your first suggestion to take another look at the cleansing factor of my recipe