Good starting oils for CP soap

[dwithane]

Hi everyone!

I would like to know what are some of the oils you used to make cp soap? I have made two batches of soap and they took forever to un mold. I used olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil. It came with a kit. Now that I feel more comfortable making soap I want to create my own recipe but I am having trouble deciding what oils I should start with. I would like a hard bar with lots of lather and moisturizing. I know I can start with your basic olive oil and coconut oil but I want to include at least 3 more. So which oils can produce a hard bar? Then I can play with the recipe and make it my signature recipe. Please help. Also should I use sodium lactate in my soaps? When do you use sodium lactate? Thanks!

 

[Susie]

I use lard, olive oil, coconut oil, and castor oil. That's in order of most to least used. I have tried all those expensive oils, and everyone liked the high lard soaps best. They trace slow, and set up hard. No need for SL.

 

[toxikon]

Many of us use simple recipes! You don't need a lot of different oils to make a lovely bar of soap. I like the following general oil ratios:

50% tallow/lard/palm (or combo)
25% olive/high-oleic sunflower or safflower/avocado (or combo)
20% coconut/babassu/PKO (or combo)
5% castor

My fave right now is 25 tallow, 25 lard, 25 olive, 20 coconut and 5 castor. Excellent hard bar with bubbly lather.

You can fiddle with your hard and soft oil combos to find your own preferences. 5-10% castor is the perfect amount, as using too much will make your soap sticky. 15-25% coconut/babassu/PKO is well-tolerated by most - using too much can make your soap too skin-stripping (cleansing).

Hope that helps!

 

[Cellador]

I almost always use coconut oil, olive oil, palm & avocado oil. Many times, I throw in some cocoa butter too.
Have you gotten familiar with a lye calculator yet? It really is an excellent tool for helping you learn what each oil can bring to the recipe.

 

[dwithane]

When would be ideal to use butters in CP? What’s the difference between the above oils and using butters in soap?

 

[Cellador]

When would be ideal to use butters in CP? What’s the difference between the above oils and using butters in soap?

There's really no "ideal" in soap making But, I use butters when I want something that will increase hardness but not be too cleansing. Palm, lard, and tallow are similar alternatives to butters.
It all depends on your preferences.

 

[toxikon]

Check this out! http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/

 

[shunt2011]

I am another that uses pretty basic stuff. Lard/Palm, Coconut, Avocado/Olive or Sunflower, Castor.

You really don't need a lot of fancy oils/butters to make a great soap. Plus it gets expensive the more oils/butters you add.

I do use sodium lactate at 2% to help unmold a bit quicker. Though you can add some salt to your water before the lye and it will help harden it a bit too. One other thing I add to all my soaps is tussah silk fibers. I add it to the water before adding my lye. It adds a special feel to my soaps I think.

Play with the ratios of what you plan to use until you find what makes you happy. Toxicon gave some pretty good guidelines to start with.

 

[lsg]

I use rice bran or olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, Castor oil and sometimes shea butter.

 

[Saranac]

I have made two batches of soap and they took forever to un mold.

How much water did you use? Lye concentration can have a lot to do with how quickly the soap can come out of the mold.

I use HO sunflower, hydrogenated soybean (Soy Wax), coconut, and castor, with a 38% lye concentration.

 

[penelopejane]

OO, palm and CO should have made a really hard bar that is fairly quick to release from the mood. I agree that you should maybe adjust your water/lye concentration.

You don’t really need SL in handmade soap, especially that recipe.

Hi everyone!

I would like to know what are some of the oils you used to make cp soap? I have made two batches of soap and they took forever to un mold. I used olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil. It came with a kit. Now that I feel more comfortable making soap I want to create my own recipe but I am having trouble deciding what oils I should start with. I would like a hard bar with lots of lather and moisturizing. I know I can start with your basic olive oil and coconut oil but I want to include at least 3 more. So which oils can produce a hard bar? Then I can play with the recipe and make it my signature recipe. Please help. Also should I use sodium lactate in my soaps? When do you use sodium lactate? Thanks!

 

[dwithane]

The oils I used in the kit where olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil. As far as the lye water solution I don't know the exact measurements. Now I am thinking it was the lye solution. Even after two days it was soft. When I tried to take it out of the mold I risked putting indentations on it. Now I want to make my own recipe so I can get a nice hard bar that will unmold in one day. I think I will start with Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, palm, and caster. What about any butters?

 

[dwithane]

Check this out! http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/

This was so helpful! Thank you!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Check this out! http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/

^^^^^ Ditto.

There's lots more good info from Lovin Soap. Go to the Beginners Soapmaking Forum > Learn to Soap Online and scroll down to the Lovin Soap links. I think you'll have a better understanding of the process and be happier with your results if you try a few more tried and true recipes before designing your very own recipe.

Before designing your recipe it might be helpful to check out this sticky in the Beginner's Forum:
How To Use Soap Calc Tutorial

 

[penelopejane]

The oils I used in the kit where olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil. As far as the lye water solution I don't know the exact measurements. Now I am thinking it was the lye solution. Even after two days it was soft. When I tried to take it out of the mold I risked putting indentations on it. Now I want to make my own recipe so I can get a nice hard bar that will unmold in one day. I think I will start with Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, palm, and caster. What about any butters?

It wasn’t the lye that made your soap soft.
It was either the lye concentration which means the amount was water in the mix was too much or you didn’t get gel which means you might need to insulate your soap. CO, OO and PO will make a rock hard soap.