Crazy Bubbly Soap Recipe- critique needed

[Sweet-Suds]

I'm a newbie to soap recipe design and I've been trying to make my first recipe. I made a post a couple of months back asking for feedback on my original recipe and I revised it and now I think I’ve finally made a perfect recipe.( also I plan on using sugar to make the soap bubblier) I kept everyone's comments in mind and I'm ready to receive some new critique! Note: I'm set on making a vegan soap that's extremely bubbly and can take well to detailed molds. This is what I’ve come up with.

 

[Sweet-Suds]

How would I implement sugar in soap?

 

[AliOop]

HI there! I see your recipe has both babassu and coconut. Did you know that those two oils behave almost identically in soap? Rather than spending their hard-earned $$ on expensive babassu oil, most soapers use just CO instead, to save money.

Also, "avocado butter" is typically a pricey combination of avocado oil and hydrogenated vegetable oil(s). Instead, have you considered using shea butter or cocoa butter, or both? Those will bring some hardness, longevity, and conditioning to your recipe, while still keeping it vegan. If you are worried about the shea or cocoa butter dampening your bubbles, I wouldn't worry about that as long as you keep each at 10% or so.

As written, your recipe will create a super bubbly soap for sure, even without adding sugar. However, it will also be extremely "cleansing"- which refers to how much oil it will strip off your skin. By all means give it a try if you'd like, but don't be surprised if your skin is dry and itchy after using it. It would be wise to consider lowering the total of CO + BO (or just CO if you go that route). Instead, rely on sugar to create more bubbles as you indicated. The better bubbliness from sugar won't show up at all in the soap calculator, but it really does work! You simply dissolve the sugar in your batch water, before adding the NaOH to it.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck, and be sure to report back with pics and a description of how it worked out for you!

 

[KiwiMoose]

You add the sugar to the water you will be using for your lye solution and full dissolve it before adding the lye. I find the easiest way to do this is boil a portion of the water - dissolve the sugar in that, then let it cool and proceed as normal. be aware that the lye solution will heat up and will needs lots of stirring if it gets really hot otherwise the sugar will settle on the bottom as 'toffee'.

Your recipe has babassu and coconut which essentially do the same thing, so I'd be inclined to make it cheaper by omitting the babassu altogether and adding it to your CO amount. However, whether you do or don't do this, your recipe is very high in lauric acid (the 'cleansing' ingredient) and while it will make a bubbly soap, it will also be overly cleansing/stripping. Most people like their cleaning number well below 20. But give it a go and see what you think - we learn by doing after all.

You also have low longevity numbers in your soap ( palmitic and stearic acid combined) which means that, combined with the super-cleansing power of your soap, your bars may not last long.

SNAP! Alioop replied at the same time with similar info.

 

[AliOop]

SNAP! Alioop replied at the same time with similar info.

Great (soapy) minds...

 

[mutinyintl]

I recently bought some Avacado Butter to try in some new products. I didn't realize what a waste it is really until I looked up the INCI info.

INCI = Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil (and) Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

 

[AliOop]

I recently bought some Avacado Butter to try in some new products. I didn't realize what a waste it is really until I looked up the INCI info.

INCI = Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil (and) Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

Many of us (points to self) have fallen for that marketing trick at least once, whether it was avocado "butter," jojoba "butter" or the like.

I've enjoyed some of the balms and things made with pseudo butters, but they sure aren't worth the price, and they aren't great for label appeal due to the hydrogenated oils.

 

[cmzaha]

I used to buy pure Avocado Butter from Oregon Trails but I see they no longer carry it. With a quick internet search the only place I can come up with for pure Avo butter is https://tinyurl.com/5emwrc9h. Pure Avo butter is really a lovely butter and a very pretty light green.

 

[AliOop]

Thanks for that link, @cmzaha - I never before found any avocado butter that wasn't made with vegetable oils. Still, at $20 per pound, I would want to use that in balms or creams, not soap!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

With a quick internet search the only place I can come up with for pure Avo butter is https://tinyurl.com/5emwrc9h.

That link didn't work for me. Try this one: Sulu Organics Pure Avocado Butter

@cmzaha Good tip!

 

[Georgeandstella]

You add the sugar to the water you will be using for your lye solution and full dissolve it before adding the lye. I find the easiest way to do this is boil a portion of the water - dissolve the sugar in that, then let it cool and proceed as normal. be aware that the lye solution will heat up and will needs lots of stirring if it gets really hot otherwise the sugar will settle on the bottom as 'toffee'.

Your recipe has babassu and coconut which essentially do the same thing, so I'd be inclined to make it cheaper by omitting the babassu altogether and adding it to your CO amount. However, whether you do or don't do this, your recipe is very high in lauric acid (the 'cleansing' ingredient) and while it will make a bubbly soap, it will also be overly cleansing/stripping. Most people like their cleaning number well below 20. But give it a go and see what you think - we learn by doing after all.

You also have low longevity numbers in your soap ( palmitic and stearic acid combined) which means that, combined with the super-cleansing power of your soap, your bars may not last long.

My longevity numbers are often low too. (I just make soap for family and friends). I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned about this. Can you share ways to increase it? I’ve played with changes on the calculator but haven’t come up with a good addition. Thank you

 

[KiwiMoose]

My longevity numbers are often low too. (I just make soap for family and friends). I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned about this. Can you share ways to increase it? I’ve played with changes on the calculator but haven’t come up with a good addition. Thank you

You need to ensure the palmitic + stearic values are about 30 or more if you want good longevity. Assuming you don’t use palm (otherwise you’d be using it already) you should think about having a combination of hydrogenated soy (soy wax), cocoa butter, Shea butter or other butter. I do 20% soy wax and 10% Shea, but then I also use RBO as one of my liquid oils which is high in palmitic.

 

[Georgeandstella]

You need to ensure the palmitic + stearic values are about 30 or more if you want good longevity. Assuming you don’t use palm (otherwise you’d be using it already) you should think about having a combination of hydrogenated soy (soy wax), cocoa butter, Shea butter or other butter. I do 20% soy wax and 10% Shea, but then I also use RBO as one of my liquid oils which is high in palmitic.

Thank you