Favourite soap but needs a tweak.

[sephera]

Hi

My favourite soap is a 100% olive oil 5% super fat. Cured for over a year. It is so moisturising and cleansing at the same time. What can I add to make it a harder bar and quick drying without losing moisturising quality.

 

[MorpheusPA]

An oil that also doesn't have a heavy cleansing but will pull the bar together faster would help. If you don't object to animal fats, lard is perfect--it's very conditioning in and of itself.

If you'd rather not use animal oils, palm will do. I personally find it a bit harsher than lard, but that may simply be personal preference.

70% olive, 30% lard/palm will come together faster, and be a tolerable soap in six weeks or so. A longer cure will still benefit a high-olive soap like this, but isn't strictly necessary.

 

[lsg]

85% olive oil and 15% cocoa or shea butter.

 

[toxikon]

What other recipes and oils have you tried? What do you like and dislike?

 

[sephera]

What other recipes and oils have you tried? What do you like and dislike?

I have done the other standard ones with olive oil and coconut oil. But I don't like coconut oil it's too stripping even with 10% or something.

I would like to up the creaminess, and bubbles of the 100% Olive oil one.

 

[BlackDog]

Shea or coconut butter make a bar creamier IMO but I've never tried them with a mainly olive oil bar (I'm a lard gal myself) - 10 butter may be a good place to start. You'll have a hard time getting more bubbles without coconut or other "cleansing" oil - but you can try adding 5% castor and/or a tsp of sugar ppo to the water before adding lye.

 

[penelopejane]

I have done the other standard ones with olive oil and coconut oil. But I don't like coconut oil it's too stripping even with 10% or something.

I would like to up the creaminess, lather and bubbles of the 100% Olive oil one.

Add 5% castor.
Try Citric Acid.

 

[dibbles]

You could also try replacing your water with aloe juice for bubbles.

 

[seven8soap]

Try a 50% lye solution, 6 weeks cure time. maybe coconut milk for creaminess and bubbles. Lard is pretty good. I also loathe coconut oil, it’s terrible in soap. Butters are exceptional, but mango always leaves me disappointed. Cocoa and Shea are much nicer. If you don’t like coconut, skip the palm, too. It dissolves way too fast. Goat milk or cows milk really help creamy factors.

 

[DeeAnna]

Using coconut milk will certainly add bubbles but that's due to the coconut oil soap formed from the fat in the coconut milk. The OP said in Post 5 about not being able to tolerate coconut oil in soap. Some people's skin is very sensitive to the fatty acids in coconut oil soap, regardless of where the CO comes from.

Palm oil makes fairly insoluble, relatively mild, and long lasting soap. Palm kernel oil soap is more similar to coconut oil -- soap high in PKO can be irritating to sensitive skin, makes lots of bubbles, highly soluble, doesn't last as long.