Help choosing ingredients

[Fat Cat]

Hi I am new to this and I am still in the reading stages I have ingredients and want to get started but I have a couple of questions, can someone tell me is there a place that lists ingredients eg: castor oil or shea butter and what there qualities are and why I would add them to my soap. It's just there are so many recipes and some with very few ingredients say they are great general soap so now I want to know why I would use all the other types I see listed in some recipes. Basically I want to know the benefits if someone can help me or point me in the right direction.

My goal is too make a coffee based all round bar of soap with some ground coffee in it.

I have
shea butter
olive oil
coconut oil
palm oil
castor oil
coffee
lye

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

 

[Lynnz]

Welcome to the board I will list a few of the qualities of each oil for you
Castor Oil will give you good lather...............I only use it at 3.5% of my recipe
Coconut oil is great for adding hardness to your bar and is also cleansing but can be drying if used at a high percentage good for the bubbles I believe
Olive oil is known more for its conditioning qualities it is soft in fresh soap but cures out over time to produce a great hard bar
Palm Oil Oh how I love thee It adds a beautiful creamy texture to the soap and produces a nice hard bar of soap and is known for its cleansing properties
Shea butter is great for the skin and will also assist in making a harder bar of soap but like cocoa butter it can speed the trace so keep that in mind especially for your first soaps
Coffee...............Havent used this myself but I understand it has a deodorising effect. I would imagine ground beans to be good but I am personally not a fan of too much exfoliating material in my soap Maybe someone else will add to this for you
Lye.................Well there is no soap without Lye cannot reccommend a particular brand as I am in Australia
Just a basic overview of the oils, I know just recently Hazel posted a nice beginners soap I will go see if I can find it for you
Soapcalc holds a wealth of information just put it in your google search and you will have a wealth of info to help you decide how to compose your oils for soap

 

[lsg]

Here is a recipe for a small batch.

Mechanics Dream Bar
8 ounces olive oil
4 ounces coconut oil
4 ounces palm oil
1 ounce of lanolin added at trace
1 teaspoon finely ground pumice added at trace
1/8 cup finely ground expresso added at trace
2.3 ounces lye
6.4 ounces water (I use strongly brewed, cold coffee instead of water.)
1 teaspoon Sandalwood Fragrance oil

 

[ToniD]

You can google oil properties in soap and get several places that will list properties.


Here is one. http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/oils.html

 

[Genny]

Here's another few links to the properties that different oils and butters bring to soap:
http://summerbeemeadow.com/content/prop ... aking-oils
http://www.millersoap.com/soapdesign.html
http://www.soapies-supplies.com/shop/pr ... chart.html
http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/mas ... apoils.pdf

 

[Jerry S]

Lyn has really given you a great critique on a lot of the common oils and butters used in soap making....just remember "soap calc." is your friend and for a quick reference you can find the properties of just about any oil or butter you want to use in soap making by clicking the box next to the oil and read the properties...

I couldn't help noticing that you have a recipe for Mechanics Dream Soap…..I haven’t tried one similar to this but may add that my mother (Minnesota farm girl)..would make an excellent hand soap for all the farm hands by using almost all Lard with a bit of OO, or beef tallow and she’d throw in a small amount of Borax, but I don’t know how much Borax she’d use. This stuff would clean your hands so well but at the same time it wouldn’t dry your skin out. A lot of the guys who worked on machinery would swear by it, saying that it cleaned hands as good as pure bacon grease…..lol. Just couldn’t help mentioning this when I saw you “mechanics dream soap”. Happy soaping…
Jerry

 

[Fat Cat]

Wow, thanks for all your advice. I am a coffee roaster and I'm looking to create a soap using my coffee. I have been a bit overwhelmed with all the different recipes and the calculators but I am going to jump in and give it a go! My hubby made me a really cool wooden loaf mold so no excuses!

thanks again, I will post how I get on.

 

[Lynnz]

Cant wait to see how your first soap goes..............take pics and share

 

[Fat Cat]

I will do.
Has anyone here used the room temp method? It sounds much easier, what are the drawbacks?

Thanks

 

[Genny]

Has anyone here used the room temp method? It sounds much easier, what are the drawbacks?

That's the only way I soap. The only drawbacks that I can think of is that it takes longer for your soap to trace. Also if you're using butters in your recipe, they might start to solidify back up which can sometimes create problems.

 

[judymoody]

Just some advice, grind that coffee super fine or it will be uncomfortably scratchy in your finished soap.

Here is another link that may be helpful.

http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm

I also got a lot out of this site when I first began soaping:

www.millersoap.com