Hello from Lagos, Nigeria.

[Saponificarian]

Hello All,

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge so so freely. I have been lurking around for a few months now. :bunny:

From this forum I learnt how to make Beldi soap. I have a few batches under my belt now!! Whoop whoop! My first batch was awesome and that was so encouraging. My recipe was:

45% Shea Butter
5% Cocoa Butter
50% Palm Kernel oil. 5% Superfat

Based on what I have read though, this soap should be horrible with that much PKO and Butter but it is so so so good! Now, might be because I have always used Dove and Irish Spring and any handmade soap will feel good but so so lush this recipe and now I am addicted to soaping!!! But what a way to go eh?!

Thank you all. Some of you are my heros already. Deanna, the chemistry guru.You remind me of Swiftcraftymonkey. You are soo knowledgeable about the science of soap making. The Efficacious Gentleman, love the dry wit. Hazel, Irishlass, TeresaT. You guys are awesome.

 

[jewels621]

Welcome, and congrats on your first soaps! Those you listed are my heroes, too. I love this community! Their knowledge is invaluable. Happy soaping!

 

[toxikon]

Welcome! Love your username.

That's quite an interesting recipe! PKO is quite high-cleansing like Coconut Oil so you'd assume it would be very skin-stripping. But perhaps the high percentage of Shea is helping balance that out. Very cool! The bars must be very hard and long-lasting.

 

[Saponificarian]

Thank you jewels621 and Toxikon.

The bars are very very hard and long lasting. I wanted to use oils and butters we have here in Nigeria and we have Shea butter aplenty. Same with PKO. Our PKO is very different from the PKO I got from Soapers Choice though. The PKO you get here is unrefined, mechanical pressed so quite 'smelly' but strangely really gentle in soap even at the 50% I used it.

I also noticed a difference in Coconut oil I bought from Soap Kitchen in the U.K. And the Coconut oil I made myself at home. The one I made is really gentle in soap at the same percentage than the one I bought from Soap kitchen. :headbanging: Wish I know why though.

Making coconut oil for soapmaking yourself is not for the faint hearted. It is a lot of work so will reserve that for lotion and stick with PKO in soap and it is so so cheap here.

 

[Susie]

Hey and welcome!

 

[Saponificarian]

Thank you Susie

 

[cherrycoke216]

Welcome! Do you make African black soap? Just curious!
Refined oils have been modified in many procedures to eliminate smell, color and such... So probably some fatty acids and unsaponifiables are stripped during refining process. Of course I'm just guessing, hopefully someone know the oil industry better will chime in soon.

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome, Saponificarian! :wave:


IrishLass

 

[Saponificarian]

Thank you so much IrishLass.

Hi Cherrycoke216, unfortunately I don't make African black soap. My grandmother did though and it takes like 2 days and it looked like so much work for something I could buy like 500g worth for almost a dollar.... I didn't see any reason to learn. I am really regretting it now though because she is gone now. Not too late to learn though. In fact I think that is what I should do next! Thanks for that CherryCoke.

 

[shunt2011]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

 

[SunRiseArts]

:bunny:

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Howdy from Colorado. If you don't mind my asking, what is "Beldi" soap? Thanks for sharing your recipe. Did you use the calculator default values for water and superfat? Just curious...

 

[Deola]

Welcome Saponificarian

You can get some more soaping oils and butters locally but not from same source. Castor oil, refined palm oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, tallow (I render it myself). It took me time to discover my sources but I now get 90% of my soaping oils in Nigeria.

Good to have you here.

 

[Saponificarian]

Thank you shunt2011

Thank you Deola. I have discovered some places to get oils in Lagos. Pretty much what you listed except Virgin Coconut oil (which I think I will have to keep making myself because I love it for B&B). Refined Palm oil(who is your source) Don't want to use the red palm oil and all I have seen is Palm Olein which is a different oil. I still have some of the Palm oil from Soapers Choice and I plan on moving over permanently to Tallow( Free source for this) or Shea butter once I am out of Palm oil. I got a good deal on Illipe butter too but the shipping is out of this world so still thinking about it.

Where do you get your butters especially Cocoa butter? If you don't mind sharing? Thank you and will try to send you a message if you don't mind.

Hello Zany_in_CO. I got the beldi soap recipe from here. http://www.soapmakingforum.com/show... It takes getting used to.(Anybody know why?)

 

[aihrat]

Welcome from South Africa! It's so good to meet fellow African soapers

 

[Saponificarian]

Thank you aihrat. Yes, it is good to see Soapers from the continent.

 

[smengot0]

Another shaper from Lagos here[emoji4]. Welcome Saponificarian.

 

[Soapprentice]

Hey Saponificarian, welcome to the forum!!

 

[Saponomancer]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you've been making some pretty cool soaps!

 

[Saponificarian]

Thank you smengot0.

Thank you Soapprentice.

@TheDragonGirl.. Just experimenting at this stage . The Soap gremlins have been good though because the batches have turned out great soaps. I wish I could use soap from another soaper because all I have used are my soaps. I bought one online in Nigeria just to compare, That one wasn't so great.