I will soon try cold process soap for the first time. I have read up on basics and scrolled through the forum, reading threads that looked like they would be able to teach me more. Mostly I just got confused though as there is contradicting info from different people, or sometimes the same person. But anyway.
I was going to keep it simple to start with as I don't want to spend a ton of money before I know if it is something I want to keep doing. Want to do it mainly because I wash my hands MANY times every day because of my job and my hands get very dry, even worse in winter.
I was planning on doing 70% Olive oil and 30% coconut oil. I came across a few posts mentioning people doing this and they like it. And others saying they find soaps high in olive oil to feel slimey, which gave me second thoughts.
I am tempted to add sheabutter to it, but can't decide if I should, or try that my second batch. People that use sheabutter in their soaps claim it's great, while I saw a couple of posts saying that they didn't notice a difference until 20% shea or more.
What would you suggest I do? 70% olive, 30% coconut or
55% Olive, 25% coconut 20% shea ?
I am also wondering if a 70 OO 30 CO would require longer than a month to cure with the high olive oil content?
And have I understood it correct that the default 38% water/liquid to oils that the soapcalculators have is what is recommended for beginners?
I see most people here use palmoil in their recipes, assuming a lot of americans. Palmoil is something I will never use,mainly for environmental reasons. But also because it is hardly sold at all in my country and it has the same higher price as butters. Mentioning this in case someone was going to suggest PO.
I was going to keep it simple to start with as I don't want to spend a ton of money before I know if it is something I want to keep doing. Want to do it mainly because I wash my hands MANY times every day because of my job and my hands get very dry, even worse in winter.
I was planning on doing 70% Olive oil and 30% coconut oil. I came across a few posts mentioning people doing this and they like it. And others saying they find soaps high in olive oil to feel slimey, which gave me second thoughts.
I am tempted to add sheabutter to it, but can't decide if I should, or try that my second batch. People that use sheabutter in their soaps claim it's great, while I saw a couple of posts saying that they didn't notice a difference until 20% shea or more.
What would you suggest I do? 70% olive, 30% coconut or
55% Olive, 25% coconut 20% shea ?
I am also wondering if a 70 OO 30 CO would require longer than a month to cure with the high olive oil content?
And have I understood it correct that the default 38% water/liquid to oils that the soapcalculators have is what is recommended for beginners?
I see most people here use palmoil in their recipes, assuming a lot of americans. Palmoil is something I will never use,mainly for environmental reasons. But also because it is hardly sold at all in my country and it has the same higher price as butters. Mentioning this in case someone was going to suggest PO.
