First batch questions.

[thetoe]

Hey! Just started, made my first batch. I went to the calc and did the following for a 2lb batch :
95% OO
5% CO

Everything else was standard. All went really well I feel like but I have some questions.
1. I dipped my finger in the mixture after I achieved what looked like a good trace. It burned! Holy crap it hurt. Is this normal?
2. I added a lime essential oil but it didn't really come through. Where should I be getting fragrances?

Thanks!
-Danny

 

[Drew Ackerman]

@thetoe
Practice good soaping safety. Wear goggles, neoprene gloves, long shirt, pants, and close toed shoes.

Dont touch soap until it's gone through saponification. Until that process has finished then it's likely that you will touch lye. That's what caused the burning sensation. If that happens again you should run the affected area under cool water for 15 minutes.

The throw, or smellability, of the scent you used will depend on the amount you used with the amount of soap you made.
youd have to post your recipie for us to be able to know. You should however be able to smell your soap as soon as it's out of the mold. Do note that some scents lose potency over time, especially essential oils.

Also note that your recipie will probably take close to 6 months of curing time till it becomes a good soap. This is because of the high amount of olive oil you used.

 

[Carly B]

1. Yes. Just because it's at trace doesn't mean it's saponified. Don't touch it without gloves until it hardens AT THE EARLIEST.
2. We all have favorite vendors. Take a look at the Fragrance forum on SMF, and see what sounds good to you.

 

[Kamahido]

1. Yes, this is normal. You just stuck your finger in a caustic substance. It's going to hurt.

2. Citrus Essential Oils do not survive saponification very well. Examples are Orange, Lime, Lemon, and Bergamot.

In about a year you should have some very mild soap there.

 

[dibbles]

As has already been said - wear gloves!!! As to the lime EO, it's true that citrus essential oils take a beating and fade in CP soap. Most of us learned that the hard way. That said, lime seems to do better than the others. At least that is my experience. How big was your batch and how much essential oil did you use? And where did you buy it?

The others are right about the longer cure time with the high olive oil soap you made. That's the bad news. The good news is you can make more soap with a different recipe that will be ready to use sooner while you are waiting for it.

 

[thetoe]

Wow! You guys are awesome, thanks for the replies! Any advice for a 2lb recipe that I can use in the near future?

 

[Drew Ackerman]

@thetoe
Theres tons out there, but I've been enjoying these two. One of them is a coconut oil soap that is super fatted by 20%. It has to be super fatted that much.

Also, the measurements given are going to produce more than 2lbs of soap, as I used 2lbs of oil, which produces more than two pounds of soap at the end.

This is a good time for you to start looking into how to use a soap calculator, and also looking into the qualities that various oils give to a soap.

If someone could come by and add links to those resources that would be appreciated, I'm having a hard time on my phone.

 

[KiwiMoose]

This is a good link to the different properties of oils: https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/the-most-popular-fatty-acid-profiles-in-soapmaking/

 

[Relle]

Danny, would you like to go to the Intro forum and tell us a little about yourself as this is your first post.

 

[TheGecko]

Wow! You guys are awesome, thanks for the replies! Any advice for a 2lb recipe that I can use in the near future?

If you look through some of my older posts, at least a couple of months back, I give out my recipe. It’s in percentages so you can resize it for any amount of soap.

 

[earlene]

Welcome to the Forum, Danny. But soap is not like cake, my dear. Please wear gloves when you handle lye and as well when the soap is still raw (the batter is raw soap) and the first time you remove it from the mold as it may still be caustic at that point. Wear gloves until it at least passes the zap test. Wear gloves when you do the zap test.

See this link: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-to-properly-safely-conduct-the-zap-tongue-test.63199/

Review safety practices for soap making before you make your next batch, please. Here is one of many possible sources for information: http://www.soap-making-resource.com/soap-safety.html The company no longer sells products, but the safety information is valid. Here is one with a little more detail: https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/make-handmade-soap-safely/

 

[Zing]

Welcome, @thetoe, and congrats on your first batch! Now the hard part is waiting to use it!! For citrus, I have good luck with Orange 10X and bergamot and litsea cubeba. I get mine from Brambleberry -- they have sample packs so you can try without making a big commitment. My go to guide on essential oils is https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/top-ten-essential-oils-for-soapmaking-starter-essential-oil-blends/ .

Once you soap several times, you'll get a better sense of trace. I wait until I can draw my initials with the stick blender and they kinda puddle on the surface.

In several months, you'll have to let us know how it turned out!

 

[thetoe]

Welcome, @thetoe, and congrats on your first batch! Now the hard part is waiting to use it!! For citrus, I have good luck with Orange 10X and bergamot and litsea cubeba. I get mine from Brambleberry -- they have sample packs so you can try without making a big commitment. My go to guide on essential oils is https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/top-ten-essential-oils-for-soapmaking-starter-essential-oil-blends/ .

Once you soap several times, you'll get a better sense of trace. I wait until I can draw my initials with the stick blender and they kinda puddle on the surface.

In several months, you'll have to let us know how it turned out!

Why thank you Zing, and everyone else for the tips! Also , what kind of water should I be using for the lye mixture? Distilled? I used drinking water last time.

 

[TheGecko]

If you look through some of my older posts, at least a couple of months back, I give out my recipe. It’s in percentages so you can resize it for any amount of soap.

ETA: Yes, raw soap burns because of the Sodium Hydroxide. I almost had to have my wedding set cut off because I had taken off my gloves while cleaning my equipment and got some of the raw soap trapped under them. I didn't notice anything until about an hour after I when my ring finger started to hurt, I thought maybe I had fallen asleep on my hand. When I got up the next morning, my hand was swollen and it took me a good half hour to get my rings off. Took almost a week for the swelling to go down and the small burn to heal. And even though I wear glasses, I still wear safety glasses.

 

[thetoe]

Geck0,
I'm gonna use your 100% CO recipe! Got some FO's coming in from brambleberry next week and went to sams club today and picked up a ton of CO! Can you give me some idea as to the differences between the 2 recipes you gave me? Thanks!

 

[TheGecko]

Geck0,
I'm gonna use your 100% CO recipe! Got some FO's coming in from brambleberry next week and went to sams club today and picked up a ton of CO! Can you give me some idea as to the differences between the 2 recipes you gave me? Thanks!

I have two base recipes...one for Regular Soap and one for Goat Milk Soap.

My Regular Soap is 10% Cocoa and Shea Butters, 20% Coconut and Palm Oil, 35% Olive Oil and 5% Castor Oil.

My GMS has weird percentages because I rounded off the weight, but it is 21.21% Coconut and Palm Oils, 12.12% Shea Butter, 40.91 % Olive Oil and 4.55% Castor Oil.

I use a 30% Lye Concentration, 5% SuperFat, 1 Tea Sodium Lactate and 1 Tea Kaolin Clay PPO in both.

Because I use an organic Cocoa Butter and don't like to color my GMS, I leave it out and adjusted the other oils so I get a light, creamy looking GMS.

I freeze my Goat Milk and Distilled Water and use an ice bath with a little salt in it for the Goat Milk; the salt keeps the water much colder. By freezing the Distilled Water, I don't have to mix it in the garage or wait until hubby leaves the house because he can't handle the fumes.

When making my Regular Soap, I start with my Cocoa Butter and melt it about half-way in the microwave. While it's melting, I mix up my Lye Solution and add my Sodium Lactate. I then add my Coconut and Palm Oils and melt them, then add in my Shea Butter and use the residual heat to melt it (if you overheat Shea Butter, it gets grainy). I then add my Castor and Olive Oils, and Kaolin Clay.

What I do next is dependent on what kind of soap I am making...solid color, ITP Swirl, layered, drop swirl and what kind of colorants (micas, oxides, clays) and fragrance. If I'm doing a single color, or playing with a new color or FO, I'll add the color to the Oils/Butters then add my Lye Solution and blend to emulsion. And for a new FO, I make sure my mold is ready to go.

 

[Jennifer Horne]

Wow! You guys are awesome, thanks for the replies! Any advice for a 2lb recipe that I can use in the near future?

Ummm you have to let most recipes cure the more olive oil the longer you should cure it to make a really awesome soap

 

[Zing]

Using a mix of oils and butters, the general guideline is to cure for 6 weeks. It's motivation to soap frequently so that you always have something ready to use!

 

[Curtis]

Hi and welcome. As a fellow newbie to soap making here are some websites that have really helped me out. I read everything I could and watched hours of YT videos before I jumped in.

Soaping101 website - several recipes. The soaping101 YT channel is also very good.
Soap Queen website and YT channel
Modern Soapmaking website
The Spruce Crafts website, a lot of good soap making advice there.

For YT channels, I mentioned soaping101. I've also found Tree Marie to be really helpful, she explains a lot about what she's doing and has great advice.

It's been said but I'll repeat it. Sodium hydroxide (lye) is a caustic chemical. You don't need to be afraid of it but you need to respect it. Don't make soap around small children or pets. At least wear gloves and some eye wear. Lye fumes are also dangerous so make your lye water mixture in a well ventilated area.

 

[cmzaha]

Here is a link for a site with many recipes I tried when I first started soaping. I do not think it is really very active anymore but the recipes I have tried over there are good recipes. When I first started I was not a member of any forums, I learned from the following site.
http://www.millersoap.com/