Help me, Argentina It’s destroying my soaps!

[Oriana Rangel]

Hello, i was so excited with a recipe I find on YouTube (royalty soaps) it’s creamy, with big fluffy bubbles and it feels amazing in the skin, the problem? It last, in this hot summer, just 5 day of daily use, 5 DAYS!
Before the recipe that I now love, I use hard oils almost exclusively to make my soaps, I experiment with salt too, but using the 30% on Himalayan salt, I find out to be to much, almost not cream, poor bubbles and it can be harsh in some places of the body and face, so… what can I do?

I think, please tell me your opinions, do two batches. One with 15% salt and the other using stearic acid and see which one last longer allowing me enjoy the maximum of the creaminess of the original recipe.

The recipe of royalty soaps:
40% olive oil
30% coconut oil
20% palm oil ( I don’t have palm so I used cocoa butter)*
5% sweet almond oil ( also don’t have, so used cocoa) *
5% castor oil .

 

[Blufuz]

Hi! Not sure I understood everything correctly, but here’s maybe some helpful advice:

For salt bars, you need to use high coconut oil; this helps the bubbles survive. Then, you need to let it cure a long time, at least 6 months. Also Himalayan salt that is sold for cooking often is too scratchy for soap. I use just normal table salt.

I use this recipe and am very happy with how they come out:
https://www.rebootedmom.com/make-sea-salt-soap/
Then keep in mind if you switch out oils, you have to re-calculate the amount of lye, because different oils require different amounts of lye. I don’t know if this was a problem for you, but just be careful

I don’t know how your soaps could last so little, but there’s a lot of ways to get longer lasting soap.

You can first of all make the bars bigger

Then, you could try making 100% olive oil soap, and cure it for 1 year. Another good recipe that I think is the most common when I see hand soaps in markets is something like 70-90% olive oil, the rest coconut oil.

Then the superfat can change how long the soap lasts I think. The more superfat the less the soap lasts.

Also, salt bars last less than normal soap, because of course a certain percentage is just salt which dissolves fairly quickly in water.

I’m sure more experienced soapers have even more advice

 

[MellonFriend]

How long did you let your bars cure before using them? I live in a very humid environment and I don't really enjoy a high olive oil bar because they are much better after a significantly long cure time. My high olive oil bars are much longer lasting at about the three month+ mark. If it were me, I'd steer clear of any recipe with olive oil higher than 15%.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Hola! If you use a higher amount of stearic and palmitic fatty acids in your soap recipe you will have better longevity. You should always use a soap calculator to figure out how much of each ingredient to use. When I put your ingredients into SoapCalc this is what I get:

Have look at the bottom right box and you will see that your palmitic and stearic fatty acids add up to 25%. You need to try and get that number up to 35% minimum for a longer lasting bar. Also, please check how much water you used compared to what this calculator says - if you use too much water it will dissolve faster (especially if it hasn't cured long) and in addition to that, coconut oil is very bubbly, but that causes the soap to dissolve faster too.
It is not the heat of Argentina that is causing your soap to dissolve, it is your recipe. Our bathroom is currently averaging about 26 - 32 degrees now in summer and it doesn't make any difference to a well formulated recipe.
My advice is to reduce the amount of water and CO in the recipe, and increase the amount of palmitic and stearic fatty acids. You can do this by using animal fats, cocoa and/or shea butter, or soy wax.

Further advice is to find some other ingredients that you can add to increase the performance of your recipe. Can you get Shea butter? Avocado oil?

Buena suerte

 

[Oriana Rangel]

How long did you let your bars cure before using them? I live in a very humid environment and I don't really enjoy a high olive oil bar because they are much better after a significantly long cure time. My high olive oil bars are much longer lasting at about the three month+ mark. If it were me, I'd steer clear of any recipe with olive oil higher than 15%.

Good point there! I let it cure just for 4 weeks, In Argentine it’s horrible the humidity in summer, and I try to test the longevity of the soap to the max, so I use it a lot.

Hola! If you use a higher amount of stearic and palmitic fatty acids in your soap recipe you will have better longevity. You should always use a soap calculator to figure out how much of each ingredient to use. When I put your ingredients into SoapCalc this is what I get:
View attachment 75992

Have look at the bottom right box and you will see that your palmitic and stearic fatty acids add up to 25%. You need to try and get that number up to 35% minimum for a longer lasting bar. Also, please check how much water you used compared to what this calculator says - if you use too much water it will dissolve faster (especially if it hasn't cured long) and in addition to that, coconut oil is very bubbly, but that causes the soap to dissolve faster too.
It is not the heat of Argentina that is causing your soap to dissolve, it is your recipe. Our bathroom is currently averaging about 26 - 32 degrees now in summer and it doesn't make any difference to a well formulated recipe.
My advice is to reduce the amount of water and CO in the recipe, and increase the amount of palmitic and stearic fatty acids. You can do this by using animal fats, cocoa and/or shea butter, or soy wax.

Further advice is to find some other ingredients that you can add to increase the performance of your recipe. Can you get Shea butter? Avocado oil?

Buena suerte

Kiwi, thank you so much for the time and amazing advice, yes I have shea butter! And I’m going to chance the recipe following your advice, less water and coconut oil¡ I’m feeling excited!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Kiwi, thank you so much for the time and amazing advice, yes I have shea butter! And I’m going to chance the recipe following your advice, less water and coconut oil¡ I’m feeling excited!

Que bueno! Maybe try something like this? This is for a 500g batch:

I have reduced the superfat a little because the butters can decrease bubbles somewhat, so this will help to counter that.