Help Please - very new here

[Rawan]

Dear all,
I am new to the soap world and I love it,, I am fascinated with the CP Soap method and tried my first attempt a few days ago and it turned out great but because I added a table spoon of white sugar the mixture hardened very quickly (I fortunately managed it well after all).
I am already hooked But I have a few questions regarding some things:-
- I'm planning to use 100 grams of coconut oil, 100 grams of corn oil and 150 grams olive oil only, as these are the only once I can get easily here (I live in Bahrain, in the middle East) so is it a good combination? Or is it better if I used sunflower instead of corn oil? Do I have to put less of any of the oils or is it fine just the way it is?

- The average temperature here is constantly around 35 – 45 Degrees Celsius, that’s around 110 degrees Fahrenheit already, so do I wait until the lye solution reaches room temperature and skip heating the oils?

- In my second attempt (I used the same recipe), but I insulated the batch after pouring,, it got stuck in the mold and I am unable to unmold it after 60 hours already :? it is a plastic mold (the same one I used with the first batch,, but I didn't insulate it the first time). I have a feeling it oooooooover heated (it wrinkled on the surface and the soap is Semi transparent),, am I right?? So do I skip the insulation accordingly?

- Oooh, and what's with the ash (just a little, not all over the surface)?


Regards..
Rawan

 

[petrine65]

Hi Rawan,
nice that you've discovered soapmaking, you will see that it makes you addicted

To your questions:
I would not use corn oil, it makes the soft soap and is suspected to make rancid soap.
If you want to use sunflower oil, I would not use more than 10%, this oil also makes your soap soft.
Maybe you want to try this recipe:

Olive oil 60%
Coconut oil 30%
Sunflower oil 10%

To get the soap a little bit harder, you can dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in the lye.

Your temperatures are relatively high, I think you can save yourself the heating. Simply adjusting all of the oils for a while at your workplace, and then the coconut oil is already melted. (If you have air condition, melt the coconut oil and after melting add the liquid oils.)

If you use ice cubes instead of water for your lye, the lye will not get so hot and you dont't have to wait so long.

For your "unmoldable" mold: You can put it into the fridge for a few hours and then the soap should come out.

I hope, I could help you a little bit )

Best wishes from Germany at 14 degrees....
Petra

 

[Rawan]

Hi Petra,
I can't possibly thank you enough
I really appreciate your reply.
I will start freezing some distilled water for my lye solution from now on (the coconut oil is constantly melted).

I'll try your recipe with sunflower, and will put my unmolded mold in the fridge for a while and try again.

*So I guess insulation is uncalled for ha..

Enjoy that lovely weather Petra & thanks again

 

[FreeRabbit]

I would think if you cannot find any other oil (not even palm) maybe you can go for castile soaps?

 

[Rawan]

I thought about it but olive oil tends to be quite expensive,, I mean I don't mind but I'll have to adjust my prices accordingly,

I also read somewhere on the internet that it takes olive oil much longer to cure,,

Another concern is whether I'll be able to make bright bars out of it as I intend to do some coloring and designs..

 

[carebear]

I disagree. I would keep the corn oil to 10% or less. 2-3 months is not remotely a reasonable amount of time. And that will be considerably shorter if the ambient temperatures in the storage areas are high as they are likely to be where you live.

Further - results from single oil soap swaps and from my experiences show that corn oil lends an off odor to soaps. I'd avoid it, or keep it very low.

You can actually make marvelous soaps with just the coconut oil! Look around the forum and see the discussions on it - there have been a few.

as for temps - it's whatever works for you. certainly you don't need to heat the oils if they are already liquid - that thing about matching temps of lye and oils is a bit of a fallacy. It's easier for new soapers, because it's simpler - but the reality is that you can do whatever you like.

 

[Fyrja]

Hi there Rawan,

I live in South Mississippi and the temperatures here range from 90 degrees Fahrenheit up into about 110 here in the summer.

I've found that my soap comes out best if I soap at around 100 degrees fahrenheit or at room temp if my oils allow. As long as they are liquid.

I also put my mold into the freezer after I pour my soap. I let it set for a few hours and then remove it and let it come to room temp. It usually takes a day or two before I can cut it, but this prevents overheating issues.

This prevents a gel for the most part, but I'd rather go without a gel than have my soap overheat. So it's a trade off.

Keep in mind that the sugar will cause your lye to heat up more, and if you start to use things like goats milk and honey, they can easily cause overheating as well. But if used properly they make a fabulous bar of soap!

All of my olive oil always makes a bright white bar which is perfect for coloring, but as you are in the middle east your olive oil might be different than what we have here. I know when I was in Greece the Castile bars produced locally ranged from a creamy white, to a light green depending on the oil, the region and the soapmaker.

 

[Jezzy]

What do you mean by you have to adjust your prices accordingly? You aren't really going to sell it are you? After 2 batches?

I am not in america either and have to order most of my oils online. I am sure if you looked around you could find something.

I agree with Carebear. Coconut oil soaps are wonderful!

 

[Rawan]

Thank you all,
I am truly amazed to see so many replies
I am going through the discussion on the ash issue right now.

As for selling my soaps I can only dream about it coming true,, and until it does I'll keep on learning, I know it could take a very long time but I'll try again every time I fail

Yes the olive oil over here is quite dark, but I'll look for other brands with lighter colors.

Is it a good idea to consider Crisco with coconut & olive oil?


Thanks Fyrja for the special hot tips

 

[Jezzy]

The only time I had dos was with a batch with crisco.

 

[carebear]

I have a recipe in which I used Crisco at 15% . But Crisco is a funny thing because the formula for it is different in different regions, and recently has changed a few times - so I decided not to use it any longer as I could not know what I was getting. But I've personally never had any DOS with it at 15%. I did use it in a soap that was 75% coconut oil and 25% crisco and did get DOS after about a year which I consider too soon - so I'd avoid it at high levels, at least.

 

[Rawan]

It was very nice of all of you to help so much
I placed my mold in the fridge for 3 hours and it finally came out, turned out fine after all,, with a little bit of chopped off edges though :roll:


I will stick with the 60% Olive Oil, 30% Coconut Oil, 10% Sunflower Oil
Thanks again