Hello, I made a recipe mistake, can you help please?

[Bubblesgalore]

First of all, thank you for adding me to the forum. I look forward to learning more about soapmaking, I have been making it for a couple of years now.

I did the unthinkable and rushed into making a batch of soap today. Instead of doing the 100% coconut oil soap I wanted to make I did 50% coconut oil, 50% shea butter and a 20% superfat!

I am wondering how to remedy this really. It also has half coconut milk to water in the recipe.

Does anyone with experience know what to about this please? Or what sort of soap it will make as it is, I guess not very cleansing. I attach the recipe sheet.

Many thanks for your thoughts on this.

 

[Nate5700]

Interesting. It looks like the fatty acids of that soap are pretty similar to a recipe I just put together for shaving soap (listed in another thread). If only you'd used some KOH. Maybe it would still be good for shaving. That will make a pretty damn hard bar though.

I think with 50% coconut it will still be plenty cleansing, it just may be waxy since the shea butter has a high stearic acid content.

Listen to me talking like I know...I'm still a noob. But I've been asking a lot of questions and trying to soak up information.

 

[amd]

I'll preface my advice by saying that I've gotten myself into a soapmaking rut, so I only make one or two recipes that actually have different oils, so I am not an expert at trouble shooting recipes. Some of the experienced soapers may hop on here with better info - I'm shooting from the hip based on what I've read and my limited experience with recipe variables. That said...

I think with the high CO, the higher SF really won't hurt the soap. CO tends to be drying in soap. I make salt bars 80 CO / 20 Avocado with a 20% SF - but they also have salt which adds to the drying factor. Shea Butter does have quite a bit of unsaponifiables, which may negate the need to superfat high with a CO soap. I would let the soap fully cure and try it out. You might really like the high SF with the high CO.

If you don't like it, what you can do is shred or chunk it up and add it to another batch of soap with a lower SF as confetti. For the new batch I would probably go with a 2% SF just to protect yourself from a mismeasurement or the variances in SAP averages. Of course you could try 0% SF and give the soap a long cure (like MONTHS) to give excess lye time to cure out.

I don't like rebatching, so I won't give advice there. Someone more experienced with calculating how much lye solution to add to rebatch to bring down the SF will hopefully chime in if that's the direction you want to go.

Long story short: I would cure and try it before deciding if I need to "fix" it. If a fix is needed, I would add it to a new batch of soap as confetti.

Another note: For a high CO soap, you have quite a bit of water. If you decide you like this recipe, I would reduce the water amount to 28% concentration. I think high CO soaps can use less water because CO soap tends to be very soluble in water.

 

[earlene]

What is your normal recipe like if you don't consider this very cleansing?

I would go along with what amd says about letting it cure a good while, then testing it out and see if you like it. And if you don't, save at least one bar to cure longer, and maybe re-batch the rest.

One of our members recently posted her experience with a high shea soap she made (57%) and she loves it, but the recipe is quite different from yours in that it is a low SF and low CO soap as well, so probably doesn't compare well to your recipe.

Still, if it were me, I'd let it cure and test it before deciding to re-batch.

 

[shunt2011]

I too hate re-batching so I would do the same as amd recommended. It may be an okay soap. If you don't like it you could always grate it up and add it to other batches.

 

[Bubblesgalore]

I'll preface my advice by saying that I've gotten myself into a soapmaking rut, so I only make one or two recipes that actually have different oils, so I am not an expert at trouble shooting recipes. Some of the experienced soapers may hop on here with better info - I'm shooting from the hip based on what I've read and my limited experience with recipe variables. That said...

I think with the high CO, the higher SF really won't hurt the soap. CO tends to be drying in soap. I make salt bars 80 CO / 20 Avocado with a 20% SF - but they also have salt which adds to the drying factor. Shea Butter does have quite a bit of unsaponifiables, which may negate the need to superfat high with a CO soap. I would let the soap fully cure and try it out. You might really like the high SF with the high CO.

If you don't like it, what you can do is shred or chunk it up and add it to another batch of soap with a lower SF as confetti. For the new batch I would probably go with a 2% SF just to protect yourself from a mismeasurement or the variances in SAP averages. Of course you could try 0% SF and give the soap a long cure (like MONTHS) to give excess lye time to cure out.

I don't like rebatching, so I won't give advice there. Someone more experienced with calculating how much lye solution to add to rebatch to bring down the SF will hopefully chime in if that's the direction you want to go.

Long story short: I would cure and try it before deciding if I need to "fix" it. If a fix is needed, I would add it to a new batch of soap as confetti.

Another note: For a high CO soap, you have quite a bit of water. If you decide you like this recipe, I would reduce the water amount to 28% concentration. I think high CO soaps can use less water because CO soap tends to be very soluble in water.

What is your normal recipe like if you don't consider this very cleansing?

I would go along with what amd says about letting it cure a good while, then testing it out and see if you like it. And if you don't, save at least one bar to cure longer, and maybe re-batch the rest.

One of our members recently posted her experience with a high shea soap she made (57%) and she loves it, but the recipe is quite different from yours in that it is a low SF and low CO soap as well, so probably doesn't compare well to your recipe.

Still, if it were me, I'd let it cure and test it before deciding to re-batch.

Well I have two recipes and somehow got them both mixed up. I do a 100% coconut oil recipe and I do a olive, castor, shea and coconut recipe. The soapcalc sheet seems to show that it won't be very cleansing though doesn't it?

Thank you all for time and advice on here. It is much appreciated. I think i will let it cure as advised and try it out before any further action. have a great weekend everyone.

 

[earlene]

No, to me SoapCalc shows it will be too cleansing. The cleansing number is 34. If you adhere to the suggested range (I don't, I prefer a lower cleansing number myself), the suggested range is between 12 & 22. That's why I ask what cleansing number you normally use?

And how does your skin react to those soaps you normally make if they have a significantly higher cleansing number? Mine would not handle it well. Of course, that depends somewhat on your SF, as well, but I also SF low for the most part.

For more on cleansing numbers and, in fact what all the fatty acids do in soap and those soap quality numbers, this may help:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/your-thoughts-on-bubbly-creamy-numbers.47938/#post-445721
Click on both links within that post for more information on what the soap quality numbers mean.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/soapcalc-soap-bar-quality-range-question.62106/

https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/the-most-popular-fatty-acid-profiles-in-soapmaking/

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to include this valuable resource:

https://classicbells.com/soap/soapCalcNumbers.html

 

[Bubblesgalore]

No, to me SoapCalc shows it will be too cleansing. The cleansing number is 34. If you adhere to the suggested range (I don't, I prefer a lower cleansing number myself), the suggested range is between 12 & 22. That's why I ask what cleansing number you normally use?

And how does your skin react to those soaps you normally make if they have a significantly higher cleansing number? Mine would not handle it well. Of course, that depends somewhat on your SF, as well, but I also SF low for the most part.

For more on cleansing numbers and, in fact what all the fatty acids do in soap and those soap quality numbers, this may help:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/your-thoughts-on-bubbly-creamy-numbers.47938/#post-445721
Click on both links within that post for more information on what the soap quality numbers mean.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/soapcalc-soap-bar-quality-range-question.62106/

https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/the-most-popular-fatty-acid-profiles-in-soapmaking/

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to include this valuable resource:

https://classicbells.com/soap/soapCalcNumbers.html

Thank you earlene, I will take a look at those resources. I do 20% superfat with 100% coconut oil soap and that is fine for my skin and hair. I just do a 5% superfat with my mixed oil recipe and that is great for skin but not hair.

 

[dixiedragon]

Shea vs coconut oil battle royale, lol. 50% coconut oil - too dry, harsh, cleansing. but 50% shea and 20% superfat....no bubbles, no cleansing. I really can't venture a guess, so I suppose I'd trust Soap Calc on this one and assume it's going to be too harsh cleansing.

4 lbs - that's roughly 16 bars? (4 oz per bar). I think I would set aside a few bars, just to test the recipe at 2, 3, 4 months etc. I'd cut the others into bits and mix them up with a regular batch of soap. Not in the usual 50/50 percentage of confetti soaps - maybe blend the chunks with other scraps, or just throw in a few here or there.

 

[Primrose]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I don't think it will be horrible soap. Cure it and try it

 

[amd]

Shea vs coconut oil battle royale, lol. 50% coconut oil - too dry, harsh, cleansing. but 50% shea and 20% superfat....no bubbles, no cleansing. I really can't venture a guess, so I suppose I'd trust Soap Calc on this one and assume it's going to be too harsh cleansing.

I think the coconut salt bars are an excellent example of "the soap calc can be misleading"

These have a cleansing of 54 - but yet after a long cure they have a cult following on this forum.
The OP's recipe "only" has a cleansing of 34, and I suspect the unsaponifiables in the shea butter will cut some of the harsh cleansing. I think it will be a nice lathering soap despite claims that butters cut lather - I can't recall seeing this effect in some of my early day experiments with different oils at different ratios. I'm actually kind of curious to try this recipe to see first hand what happens.

 

[Dean]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I don't think it will be horrible soap. Cure it and try it

I agree.

I think ur mistake may be expensive, but will produce a much better soap than ur intended recipie.

 

[lenarenee]

Yeah, I don't think it's going to be all that bad. In fact, I'm very curious how it will turn out.

 

[lsg]

After it cures for several weeks, try it to see how it feels on your skin. If you don't have any trouble with drying, use it up. You can always grate it up and use it in a homemade laundry soap mixture.

 

[DeeAnna]

If the OP used a high-fat coconut milk and NaOH with a typical purity, the actual superfat is at least 30% and probably a tad more. If a lower-fat milk was used, the superfat is probably more like 25%. In either case, that's higher than I'd use for a 100% coconut oil soap, but at least with the lower-fat milk, the superfat is somewhere within the realm of reason.

I'm with the others -- let it cure and see how it does. It might surprise you.

 

[WeaversPort]

I'll be curious to see how it turns out! Keep us posted

 

[Zany_in_CO]

...I think i will let it cure as advised and try it out before any further action.