Feedback on recipe please!

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

Hey all! Ok, the problem is I'm trying to make a bar that has it all... Hubby wants high cleansing, and to him, you can't get clean without bunches of bubbles. I like creamy and moisturizing on the other hand. So, I was thinking of this: 8% castor, 15% co, 15% pko, 30% oo, 5% mango butter, 27% shea with an 8% superfat. For a 2 lb loaf I was going to add 2 tsp sugar, 2tsp kaolin clay, and about 1/2 a cottonball sized tuft of finely snipped tussah silk. Will the clay inhibit bubbles? That gives me pretty good all around numbers, but I'd love to boost the bubbles a bit more, but not sure how. I'd post a pic of the recipe on soap calc, but not sure how to do that. Also, is there a lye calculator that can calculate cleansing, conditioning, bubble numbers (etc) in conjunction with additives? For instance, it would accurately boost the bubble number for this recipe since I'm adding the sugar? Thanks so much!

 

[Susie]

Have you ever heard the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none."?

That sort of sounds like what you are trying to do. My experience in life and soaping is that it rarely works well.

If you make it, let us know how it turns out?

And I have not found any calculators that show the effects of additives yet.

 

[Seawolfe]

The problem is, you are getting into ingredients that sort of cancel each other out - you want more lather so you add more castor, but then you up your superfat which decreases lather. You add sugar for more bubbles, but then you add a bunch of shea which fights that. Not sure what clay does to bubbles, but it is more drying. Either train hubby to use a poof to generate more lather, or try something totally different like a salt bar with sugar or coconut milk. I was really surprised the other night how crazy my salt bar lathers.

Or - make soap for hubby and soap for yourself

 

[IrishLass]

I personally see nothing wrong with your recipe. It has a fatty acid profile that is near identical to my tallow/lard formula that I superfat at 8%, although the hard fats I use in mine are different from the ones that you use in yours. If you ask me, I would totally go for it! For what its worth, mine makes a wonderfully super bubbly soap with a very nice creamy 'body' to it that both my hubby and son love (and I love it, too!).

If you use kaolin clay, it shouldn't be drying (at least it's not to me, and my skin tends toward the dry side).

I know of no calculator that takes additives into consideration. You'll just have to go by good old trial and error.


IrishLass

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

Darn! I was hoping that paid lye calculator could figure out the numbers with the additives taken into consideration!

Well, I'm giving this recipe a shot. Reduced the superfat to 6%, and bumped the sugar to 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar, bumped the kaolin to 3 teaspoons, and the sodium lactate to 3 teaspoons.

Already screwed it up! I was going to do a blue/green swirl. I added all of the sugar and clay to the water solution I mixed the blue ultramarine powder with, and divided the sodium lactate evenly between that mixture and the oil/green pigment powder mixture. How dumb am I, right? I guess I'll change it to a blue/blue-green swirl. After everything cools, I'll Mix the blue water solution with all the water/lye/oil after it emulsifies and then separate 1/2 off and add the green solution to that. That makes the green part of the swirl heavier in sodium lactate than the blue part, but that should be ok, shouldn't it? I'll try to remember to post pics when I cut, and let you all know how the conditioning/cleansing/bubble factor turned out after it cures a bit.

 

[Lindy]

You should be weighing your sodium lactate by grams or ounces instead of tablespoons and teaspoons because you should be aware of what the percentage is that you are putting in there.

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

You should be weighing your sodium lactate by grams or ounces instead of tablespoons and teaspoons because you should be aware of what the percentage is that you are putting in there.

Thanks Lindy! What % ppo should I be using? I've always seen sodium lactate used at 1-2 teaspoons ppo, so I just did it that way. But, I'm all for increased accuracy!

 

[Lindy]

3% PPO is what I use, but that is for HP, for CP I would keep it at 1 - 1.5% PPO because it can make your soap shatter when you go to cut it as it makes it so hard.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I would swap the butters out for normal fats with a similar profile - that way the butter-lather problem is done away with. In a wash off product, I don't see that they will be much use anyway, even as a selective superfat in hp