first time bar

[mendozer]

My wife and I want to make a soap for a wedding reception. I've wanted to make soap for some time but haven't actually done it. I know that I could take the easy way out and do a M&P kit and add essential oils but that's not making soap!
One of my favorite soaps for bathing and shaving is the Filthy Doctor by Filthy Farmgirl Soaps. It has a base of coconut oil, palm oil, safflower oil, and castor oil.
I don't know which one(s) are responsible for the great lather, but I'd also like to add either cocoa, shea, or kokum butter to it as well.
Is there a good first timer recipe for the right ratio of ingredients? We want to make a pina colada scent. I've already seen that people like the Peaks coconut scent and pineapple as well.
I have NO equipment, so will likely get a loaf pan and cheapo pot at goodwill for my soap. I already have a digital scale.

 

[Dorymae]

I'm sure you already know this but I thought since it was for a wedding reception, and I'm sure you want the soap to be nice, I should remind you that it will need about 6 weeks to cure. Hopefully the wedding is a few months away.

 

[Susie]

First, you go to the dollar store(Dollar Tree has the best cheap soaping items IMO). You get you a set of safety goggles and some gloves. This is not optional. And you watch the following:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYhH20vWxvc[/ame]

Then, you go to the thrift store and look for a stick blender. Stick blenders might be optional in some people's minds, but not mine. See if they have a crock pot while you are there. You are going to need one at some point.

DO NOT buy a loaf pan and a pot from there. They are more than likely going to be aluminum. Lye reacts with aluminum. You will have a dangerous mess on your hands.

Also, you are not ready to make soap to give away. Not for quite a while. You need to watch many videos, and read all the stickies on this forum before even starting your first batch. Then you are going to want to be making soap for at least 6 months to be sure your soap is not going to get DOS for that long. Also, soap needs to cure a minimum of 4-6 weeks.

Coconut oil and castor oil are the lather makers on that list. I would not personally add any of those butters, but that is my personal opinion.

My basic bar soap recipe that I have decided is my absolute favorite is the following(which fits perfectly in the blue plastic drawer organizer from Dollar Tree):

Olive oil, pomace(I buy the cheap yellow olive oil from Walmart)- 9.6 oz or 30%

Coconut oil, 76 degree(I buy the Louanna from Walmart or the Better Body organic from Sam's)- 6.4 oz or 20%

Lard(Armour from Walmart is fine) 14.4 oz or 45%

Castor Oil(available at Walmart)- 1.6 oz or 10%

Superfat at 5%, leave the water % at 38% on SoapCalc. You need to get LOTS of practice on SoapCalc or some other reliable lye calculator. Get into the habit now of printing out those recipes and making lots of notes. Everything you add to the soap, or change in the least bit, write it down. If you change an oil, you need to re-run the recipe through SoapCalc.

 

[cmzaha]

Welcome to soaping Mendozer. First off it appears that Filthy soaps are a glycerin soap, although I could be wrong. All the soaps I looked were the same base. I would not recommend trying a coconut or pina colada fo to start with. Coconut is notorious for overheating and many time impossible to cp. You can hot process it but if this is for favors it will become an ugly soap. Hdpe buckets from industrial suppliers are great for soaping. You can just pop them in the microwave to melt our oils.
The order of ingredients of Filthy soaps would make a very cleansing bar of cp soap that most would consider drying to the skin.
If you are serious about making soap you need to become friendly with a soap calculator. soapcalc.net is an easy one to use. There is also a site millersoaps.com that has a lot of information and recipes that are great.
I would recommend keeping coconut oil 20% or less, palm is great for adding longevitiy to soap if you are not opposed to using palm, otherwise lard or tallow can take its place. All soap will lather and bubbles do not clean. Coconut oil, palm kernel and babassu oils are the bubby cleaning oils.
This is a simple nice recipe to begin with and not to expensive. I would certainly not use expensive butters until you get some batches under your belt.

Lard 35%
Olive Oil 25%
Coconut Oil 20%
Palm Oil 15%
Castor 5%
superfat 5%
leave the water at 38% in soap calc for beginning to soap

This will make a creamy soap with decent lather that will last a long time

 

[seven]

^^^
yes, filthy farm girl's soaps are all melt and pour. it looks like they are using SFIC base from the list of ingredients.

 

[mendozer]

dang didn't realize they cure for so long. Guess I'm looking at a M&P soap for this event (it's in one month).

do you just melt these, add fragrances, then harden again? do they have to cure again?

I already have an immersion blender. Don't use it much in the kitchen either.

 

[mendozer]

Coconut oil and castor oil are the lather makers on that list. I would not personally add any of those butters, but that is my personal opinion.

Why not butters?

 

[girlishcharm2004]

Yeah, that's basically all there is to melt and pour - you melt it, add what you want, and pour it. If you've never made soap before, I started with a kit. Bonnie Triple butter soap from essentialdepot.com. You should read a book on it, and experiment. You'll learn a ton more by doing and experiencing your new soap than you can just extract from a forum.

 

[Ellacho]

Susie & Carolyn, so kind of you to share such information to Mendozer(& others!) in that extent. I know it takes much of your time to write that much detail

Many newbies will appreciate you guys!

 

[mendozer]

ok we'll most likely do a SFIC M&P from bulkapothecary or something. I have already ordered smart soapmaking from Amazon and will use all the information for my first REAL batch soon.

 

[Corinne]

I don't know how/why my post was deleted, but it seems that you have recieved plenty of help from more experienced soapers

SFIC is a very good M&P to start off with. I wish you the best of luck!