Does this look like a good recipe?

[Godiva]

I would like a bar that makes my skin feel clean and silky smooth, with lots of bubbles and lather (don't want much, do I?)

I have all of these oils, so that's what I was working with.

Palm 25%
Coconut 25%
Olive pomace 20%
Palm Kernel 10%
Sweet Almond 5%
Shea 5%
Castor Oil 5%
Grapeseed 5%

I also add a little bit of sugar, salt, and silk fibers to my lye solution. And I have my superfat at 6% in soapcalc.

These are the numbers I get in soapcalc

Hardness 45
Cleansing 23
Condition 51
Bubbly 28
Creamy 27
Iodine 53
INS 159

What do you think? Any tweaking suggestions are welcome. Or go back to the drawing board - ?

 

[Laurie]

Godiva...I would take the CO or PKO down 5-10% and up the OO. Even with that I would have to superfat 10%. I love the cleansing and bubbles but we tend to have dry skin here.

But that's just me. Maybe you could handle that cleansing. Otherwise that looks like a great recipe. Good Luck.

Laurie

 

[wildcat]

If you want lots of lather up your castor or add another oil that adds to lather.

 

[Annmarie0407]

Do you always add the castor oil at trace? Or add it in when you are doing all your other oils(CO, OO, PO)?

Also, how much shea butter and cocoa butter should be added at trace?

 

[wildcat]

I don't add any oils at trace - I add them all together.

 

[soap_lady]

Looking at your specific recipe I think a little needs to be said about each of the ingredients.

Palm is a base oil, and helps provide hardness for your soap.

Coconut Oil and Palm Kernel Oil are oils that do double duty. They help add hardness, bubbly lather as well as cleansing. To much is not a good thing in this case.

Castor Oil is an awesome oil to use, but you really don't want to use more than 12% of it because it's been noted by others that you will start to see a sticky bar of soap with higher amounts. It's used to add conditioning, bubbly and creamy lather.

Sweet Almond Oil, Shea Butter and Grapeseed oils are all in the class of emoillient oils and you really don't need any more than 5% of the total of these oils. Because if you do anything more than that is a waste.

Olive oil can be a great oil to use but it is one that also needs to be used carefully. It's an oil that will add to the hardness of your soap, given enough cure time. (Meaning it will take a lot longer to cure than other types of soaps.) But the reason why it needs to be used carefully is because of the type of lather that is given with higher amounts of olive oil. Some describe the lather as slimy, and many don't care for it while others love it and can't get enough of it. So it's a very personal choice on if your using it for yourself or if your making it for customers. (And their likes and preferences)


Having said that, I think your sacrificing your conditioning number for the hardness and cleansing. I personally find 40 to be plenty hard, and 23 for cleansing in an average soap to be used would be to harsh for myself, and I much prefer to 16-18 as my cleansing numbers, and conditioning between 54 and 58. But then that is my personal opinion.


Having said that you may want to use the recipe as is, or go back and change it here and there until your happy with the results.

 

[Godiva]

Thanks everyone for your input!

One thing I wanted to ask you Soap Lady, just to clarify. Am I understanding that the sweet almond, grapeseed and shea total combined shouldn't be more than 5%? And you said anymore was a waste - can you help me understand why?

Love the input on the other oils. I've copied your notes and saved for my personal reference.

 

[wildcat]

Grapeseed when soaped is very, very, soft. Therfore -I don't really it use it much. Shea butter in soap is awesome. I have used it up to 20 percent for a very luxious soap.

Here is another link to some more info on particular oils.

http://www.thescalenews.com

Also please do not use soapcalc as the final word on you recipe. It can be very misleading. If you learn about fatty acids - you will be much farther along.