Coconut soap

[Stevenc]

Hi. I am new with soapmaking and a bit confused by the lye calculators on the internet.
I have made a mould of 2355cc as you can see in the picture and bought cold pressed coconut oil. I would like to make 100% coconut soap. I will use sodium hydroxide as lye. Can somebody help me with telling me the amounts of water i have to use, amounts of lye and coconutoil to fit the volume of the mould? Or maybe someone can help me out with using the calculator? That would be really helpful!

 

[Dawni]

May I suggest this calculator? It's really user friendly and there's a lot of info regarding the fats you can use.

https://www.soapmakingfriend.com/soap-making-recipe-builder-lye-calculator/#

Step 1 is easy enough.
Since you're using sodium hydroxide it means you're making solid soap.

Step 2 is figuring out the amount of soap you'll be making. In this example, I know my mold will fit 500 grams of soap so that's what I inputted. You'll have to check the option "resize your recipe to fit mold size." Here's a good read on figuring out the amount of batter you need for any mold. Most will suggest newbies try a small batch, just in case things go south yknow.. Less wastage that way.

Step 3 is a little more confusing. To know the difference between the three options I suggest reading this and this. For coconut oil soap I'm gonna use a 2:1 lye concentration.

Step 4 is where you input your superfat. In CP whatever amount you put there will be included in the amount of total fats later. Most use 20% for a 100% coconut oil soap because less than that is ok for some, but really drying for most, and in some cases not enough lol. In one of my recipes for example, I use coconut at 18% and my superfat is only 3%. More info here.

Step 5 is choosing your fats, in this case, coconut oil will be your only choice and it'll be at 100%. If your coconut oil is the kind that gets hard in cooler temps it's the 76 one.

Step 6 is where you choose additives if you have any. I usually skip this and just add mine in the notes section below (mainly coz I'm lazy lol) but here you have options for the amounts you want to add too.

Step 7 is for fragrance if any. There's a recommended amount already there but you'll have to research on safe usage rates for any EOs and FOs you might have.

Step 8 is for your notes..... And that's it! I hope you were able to follow lol. Here's what my results look like.

 

[shunt2011]

Dawni gave you excellent information. What purpose are you making 100% CO soap for? Laundry or body? If laundry you'll want to keep your Superfat really low. If for the body you'll want to have 18-20% superfat. 100% CO soap can be extremely drying for many people.

 

[Stevenc]

Thanks you so much Dawni. I will look at it soon. Shunt2011 the purpose is for people. Coconut soap is drying out the skin? Thanks for replying

 

[shunt2011]

@Stevenc Coconut, Palm Kernel and Babassu are all cleansing oils. Though Coconut it great straight out of the container for the skin once in soap it's a cleansing oil. Too much coconut in a recipe without the proper superfat will strip more oils off the skin and can be an issue for sensitive skin. Hence, 100% CO soap requires an 18-20% superfat and even then some may not tolerate it well. I make a salt soap with 80% CO and superfat it at 18%. It's one of my favorite soaps but I also cure it for 9-12 months or more.

 

[Dawni]

Thanks you so much Dawni. I will look at it soon. Shunt2011 the purpose is for people. Coconut soap is drying out the skin? Thanks for replying

You're welcome

I started my recipes with about 20-22% coconut with about 5-7% superfat but have since lowered both over the last year. My skin just feels too tight with more.

However, it's not the same for everyone, hence my recommendation to try a small batch to see if your recipe works for you.

Also I forgot to mention.. Coconut oil soap makes a very hard bar, but it will be very soluble so it's not going to be very long lasting, unless you make it a salt bar or a brine bar.

 

[Stevenc]

Hello Dawni. Thanks you so much for this information. However, you are experienced but for me it is still a lot of information to understand. Can you propose me a new recipe what you would advice? I mean if you can tell me the amounts to use for me to experiment otherwise is too difficult. Thanks you! The mould is ready, i have cold pressed coconut oil and i can use olive oil as well. And fragrances. I Just need to know the amounts

 

[Stevenc]

Ok so I think I found my amounts to fit the mold of 2355cc:
Coconut oil76 492g
Olive oil 1205g
Lye NaOH 242g
Water 565g
I want to do in cold process, using ice cubes. Can i use normal water? Or why is it we have to use distilled water?

 

[shunt2011]

I haven’t run this through a soap calculator so don’t know what super fat you’re using. Tap water isn’t recommended die to metals and other minerals in most tap water. Those may cause rancidity in your soap. Distilled is recommended for that reason. Ice cubes are fine, just make sure your lye is dissolved well.

 

[Aromasuzie]

I've been making a coconut oil soap which I absolutely love that uses 36% coconut oil, and only 5% superfat. I've been playing around with coconut oil as I don't want to use palm oil and I found this recipe is provides a long lasting bar with great lather. I also use cocoa butter (30%) to offset the dryness of coconut and the other oil is Rice bran (33%) as its cheap and easily available I only cure the soap for a month before using it. If you would like the recipe, let me know

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Aromasuzie the cocoa butter and rice bran oil in your soap contribute stearic and palmitic fatty acids, which help to make the soap last longer in addition to contributing to the hardness of the bar. Not all of the soap calculators include ”longevity” as a soap quality. It’s simply the sum of palmitic and stearic fatty acids. These fatty acids make soap less soluble. Coconut oil is rich in Lauric and myristic fatty acids, which contribute to bar hardness, but not longevity. These fatty acids help to make bigger bubbles in soap because the soap dissolves more easily. Rice Bran oil is an interesting oil. In addition to having quite a bit of palmitic fatty acid, which increases soap hardness and longevity, it has a high percentage of linoleic fatty acid. Linoleic is skin friendly, but also prone to rancidity, which can lead to DOS in soap. The general guideline is to keep linoleic and linolenic fatty acids at 15% or less of the total fatty acids. Rice bran oil also has about 38% oleic acid, which will help to increase bar hardness (after a good cure), but not longevity.

 

[Drew Ackerman]

Can someone explain how 100% coconut oil bars can be super fatted so high without DOS occuring?

 

[Hawksquill]

Can someone explain how 100% coconut oil bars can be super fatted so high without DOS occuring?

I haven't made 100% CO oil soap yet (although it's on my list of soaps to try as an experiment!), but my understanding is that certain oils (mostly softer oils) are more prone to rancidity in soaps with high superfats, and coconut oil is not one of those oils. It's relatively stable and long-lasting even with a very high SF.

More info about 100% CO, high SF soaps here:

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/coconut-oil-soap-with-superfat-516603

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Can someone explain how 100% coconut oil bars can be super fatted so high without DOS occuring?

The unsaturated fatty acids, such as linoleic and linolenic acid, are the ones that are highly susceptible to developing DOS. Coconut oil contains mostly saturated fatty acids.

 

[JuliaNegusuk]

I am just using my last 100% coconut oil soap from a batch I made about 3 years ago. No sign of DOS despite 20% super fat, or discolouration of botanicals (actually desiccated coconut). But I like to use coconut water, not ordinary water to make my coconut soap. But it does use up quickly. Shame because it is one of my favourite soaps to make.

 

[Aromasuzie]

@Aromasuzie the cocoa butter and rice bran oil in your soap contribute stearic and palmitic fatty acids, which help to make the soap last longer in addition to contributing to the hardness of the bar. Not all of the soap calculators include ”longevity” as a soap quality. It’s simply the sum of palmitic and stearic fatty acids. These fatty acids make soap less soluble. Coconut oil is rich in Lauric and myristic fatty acids, which contribute to bar hardness, but not longevity. These fatty acids help to make bigger bubbles in soap because the soap dissolves more easily. Rice Bran oil is an interesting oil. In addition to having quite a bit of palmitic fatty acid, which increases soap hardness and longevity, it has a high percentage of linoleic fatty acid. Linoleic is skin friendly, but also prone to rancidity, which can lead to DOS in soap. The general guideline is to keep linoleic and linolenic fatty acids at 15% or less of the total fatty acids. Rice bran oil also has about 38% oleic acid, which will help to increase bar hardness (after a good cure), but not longevity.

Thanks for that, I'm all very new to this and the SoapCalc graphs did help me play around with the hardness of the bar, which hopefully increases longevity . I haven't had any issues with DOS as yet, but all Rice Bran oils are solvent extracted and not exposed to any heat during extraction so hopefully that reduces the rancidity issue, and of course making sure I store the soap correctly. I make my own moisturiser so haven't worried too much on how the components of the soap affect my skin, I was just trying to make my own soap without palm oil, that was "cleansing" and didn't cost too much to make

 

[Ladka]

SoapCalc graphs did help me play around with the hardness of the bar, which hopefully increases longevity

In my understanding it is not so. Just made a tiny batch of 100% coconut oil soap: the Soapmaking Calculator shows extra high hardness and very low longevity.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Aromasuzie here’s a good website where you can learn more about hardness vs. longevity:
https://classicbells.com/soap/soapCalcNumbers.asp

 

[Kosmerta]

I just finished a 100% coconut oil soap earlier this week. Be prepared for this soap to be very hard! I used only 1% superfat and after only 16 hours of curing the soap was so rock hard is destroyed my soap cutter. I had to buy a new one and cut the rest of the loaf with a large knife.

 

[cmzaha]

While I always go with low superfat I would never use a 100% CO soap with only a 1% superfat. My skin would be very very angry with me.