Hi from Spain

[Dorado]

Hello from Spain.

I am a Danish woman living in Spain, half of the year, the other half I live in Denmark. I am a trained tailor, but do not work anymore.

I have the last weeks has been totally absorbed surfing homemade soap on the internet. :wtf:
It is not that easy for me, I have to read in english and spanish - we do not have a lot about homemade sope in danish.

I have already made ??my first batch CP soap, with very good results - I think - but I have to wait 4-6 weeks before I finally know whether it is okay.

I repeatedly ended up here at the forum and thought it's great forum, so I joined.

I read yet, want to know as much as possible, preferably all at once, although I know it is not possible.

Right now, I learn just from the experience of others, and become stronger and stronger in my belief that what I know / do is not so bad after all. 8)

My second soap experiment will be CP again, a baby soap with camille flower for my allergic son at 30 years. I am probably ready in a few days. :think:

Great with so many soap experts in the same place, nice to know where there is help available if things go wrong, which I obviously do not hope it does.

In addition to soap, I knit a lot, dye my own yarn, make my own recipes, and I sew, of course, a lot. :think:
I love doing new things from scratch, nice I have the time to do it.

 

[Hazel]

Welcome to the forum!

Please don't worry about your English. I think it's fine. Do you think watching videos would help? If so, soapqueen (Anne-Marie of Brambleberry) has posted CP videos on youtube. Click here to get to her Cold Process Soapmaking series.

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome, Dorado!

IrishLass

 

[Dorado]

Thank you Hazel & Iris.

I am ok with the cold process, what I'm looking for now is more, if I can add extra glycerine and possibly lanolin after I poured Lye and oil together, as an additive along with any color and essential oil.

Trying to find different oil compositions for good moisturizing soaps. Incredibly fascinating reading.
I'm looking recipes, playing with Lye calculatoren, trying to find tips and ideas, reading of the various oils, and infusion of oils.

Tomorrow I'm going to a market to buy camille flowers, so I can make an infusion to my son's soap.
I think I'll try half a pound of flowers to 2 pounds of olive oil and leave it in the sun for 4 hours,let it rest for a couble of days and then through a cheese cloth. Does that sound reasonable?

So far I have bought soapmolds, coconut oil, palm oil, almond oil, castoroil, shea butter, olive oil and some essensielle oils and a little color.
Thought it may be fine to start soapmaking.

 

[Hazel]

You don't have to add extra glycerin since saponification produces glycerin in the soap. I've heard people use lanolin in soap but I think it was recommended just as a small percentage. I remember something about if too much is used it makes a soft soap but it does make the lather creamier. But you'd have to check on this because I might be confusing it with another additive.

I'm not sure what you mean by camille flowers. Do you mean Camellia sinensis for green tea? I haven't made infusions but here are some links that may give you further info. I do know it's recommended to used dry leaves so you won't get mold in the oil.

http://www.anniesremedy.com/chart_remedy.php?prep_ID=30
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31878&p=285338
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30176&p=272123

What essential oils have you purchased? Some EOs fade in CP especially citrus based ones so you want to be careful which ones you're adding to a batch. Also, we can help you formulate a recipe if you want one that is more conditioning. Do you already have a recipe?

 

[Dorado]

Many thanks for the link, very interesting reading.

Extra Glycerine and lanolin I think might give extra moisture to the soap, but I'm not finished studying - will not use them in my next soap.
Lanolin is great for my son - it has been good for his skin since he was born.

I will buy organic chamomile flowers in my market today.
I think I will use low-heat method, although I actually prefer sun method, but I would love to get started, so I take the quickest route.
I have found a recipe for baby soap containing

Olive oil (with chamomile) 1.361gr / 48.75 oz (92%)
Castor oil 113gr / 4.25 oz (8%)
Water 567gr
Lye 186gr.
Super fat 8%

No EO or other additives.

edit: Just tested the recipe in SoapCalc. - not very good - must work on that
found it here: http://www.soap-making-resource.com/bab ... ecipe.html

Have not been through Lye kalculator yet.
I would like to add
Almond oil and
shea Butter
I'm not quite done with calculations, tips are welcome.

 

[Hazel]

Sorry, I didn't realize you meant chamomile. I've heard it's good for sensitive skin but I've also heard people who are allergic to ragweed may find it irritating.

Why do you think the recipe you tested on soapcalc isn't very good? It's going to be very mild and conditioning. It just will take a long time to cure - depending on what you like it could take 6 months to a year. Olive oil's lather is rather thin but it gets better over time. Also, it gets very hard with a long cure even though it's shown as a soft soap on soapcalc. I personally don't care for a high percentage of olive oil unless I add some coconut oil or palm kernel oil to the recipe to help improve the lather. However, it still takes a long time to cure (6-9 months) before I feel the lather is good enough. But this is just personal preference. Some people have mentioned they start using these type of soaps after a couple of months - maybe 3 months. I don't remember what everyone said and I'll have to see if I can find that discussion.

A variation of the above recipe which I like

65% Olive oil
25% Coconut oil
10% Castor oil

If you'd prefer it to be slightly milder

70% Olive oil
20% Coconut oil
10% Castor oil

These also might be nice but I haven't used shea butter in a high percentage olive oil batch so I can't tell you anything from personal experience. But they look like they'd make nice creamy lather.

65% Olive oil
20% Coconut oil
10% Castor oil
5% Shea butter

60% Olive oil
25% Coconut oil
10% Castor oil
5% Shea butter

55% Olive oil
25% Coconut oil
10% Castor oil
10% Shea butter

I didn't add almond oil because its properties are similar to olive (except it doesn't get hard like olive) and also because I don't use it. So I can't tell you how it is after saponification but maybe someone else will be able to tell you more. I hope this gives you some ideas.

 

[Pamela]

Welcome Dorado...your going to love soap making but watch out it's addicting

 

[Dorado]

Thank you Hazel - you are the greatest :hug:


Some missing informations in my earlier post is:
My son has multiple allergies. Therefore he has a delicate skin. Very dry and very damaged.
He has his own carpentry business, and becomes quite dirty at work, so I need to have a mild cleaning effect too.
The cleaningeffect was 0 in the lyecalculator

Almond oil and Shea Butter was ment to be a little luxury to put in the soap. Sweet Almond oil is cheap here, have only paid 12 euros for a liter.

I have calculated oil% and herbal oil-infusions today, and ended up with this composition:

70 % Olive Oil (chamomille infusion) Edit: 65% - must ask to have my school money back.
15 % Coconot oil
10 % Castor Oil
5 % Shea Butter
5 % Almond Oil
And superfat 8%

But actually, I like your last suggestion:

55% Olive oil
25% Coconut oil
10% Castor oil
10% Shea butter

I think I will follow yours.

Today I have infused 1 liter of OliveOil grade A with 125 gr dryed chamomilleflowers (sweat), they have been in the spanish sun for about 4 hours,
I will leave them in the jar until I start my 2. CP thursday or friday.
Time diff. here, The time here is 19.00 pm right now.
Thanks again for your help Hazel

 

[Hazel]

You're welcome! I'm glad to help if I can.

Even though the original recipe shows a 0 cleansing value, it will still clean because it is soap. It's just going to be extremely mild. You could always add goat milk, buttermilk or cream to your soap once you get more experienced with making CP. Milk products add a bit of luxury to soap in my opinion but I'm a big fan of buttermilk and cream.

I looked up sweet almond oil to see what the benefits would be in soap. It does sound nice since it's recommended for sensitive skin and is said to help produce a silkiness to the lather. But it's not going to add hardness so I don't think you'd want to include a lot into a batch. You also want to think about its shelf life. You could substitute it for some of the olive but I wouldn't recommend using more than 10% but this is just my opinion. Also, since there is a possibility of rancidity with both olive and almond, you might want to consider using a slightly lower superfat to make sure more oils are saponified. You don't want to want to find dreaded orange spots (DOS) on your lovely bars after a long cure. You can still use the soap but there might be a slight rancid odor. The soap will still be conditioning even with a lower SF because of the olive and almond.

I like the look of your recipe (your percentages come up to 105% but I'm just being picky ). Change the olive to 65% and it sounds like it may be a lovely soap. You should try it because you never know how a batch will turn out when you're experimenting. SoapCalc's values are really just guidelines. The synergistic reaction of the oils become so much more when combined and you won't know until you try it. I don't use SAO because one of my sisters has a severe allergy to almonds. I don't know if a cosmetic or soap with SAO in it would affect her but I prefer not to use it because of this reason.

I checked and you are 6 hours ahead of where I am so it might be getting close to 20:00 pm for you right now.

 

[judymoody]

Welcome to the forum! I see that Hazel has already made you welcome with lots of good advice.

 

[Dorado]

Thank you Hazel.
I must read your response a little more thoroughly, so I'm sure I understand correctly, just wanted to respond to you a little fast.

I have worked with allergies for many years. Have been a consultant for allergic families for 5 years, so I'm not totally green.

You could be allergic to nuts and almonds without being allergic to almond- and nut-oils. It depends, why you are allergic.
Almonds and nuts can contain fungi spores, and they are the ones most people are allergic to. If you bake almonds or nuts on high heat a few minutes, the fungal spores disappear.
Almond and nut oils do not contain fungal spores, nor essensielle oils.

If you put a small drop on the upper arm and let it sit in up to 30 minutes, you could see if you are allergic to the oil. You will then have a red spot that itches.
Clean the stain with alcohol, and it stops itching.
If no response is on the droplet, you can put a small drop of the lip, and see whether there is a reaction there, just to be 100% sure. If not you can safely use these oils in the soap.

However, if there is any reaction to the arm or lip after shorter time, clean immediately with alcohol to remove the oil 100%

Will now read your answer again - have to read it several times - just because i am a foreigner and because it is late for me now.

 

[Dorado]

Thank you judymoody.

Yep - Hazel just made my day(s) I feel very lucky

It's amazing how much I've learned since I found this forum.

 

[Dorado]

Reply to Hazel:

Yes, I know soap cleans although the figure says 0 But since my son has both glue and resin on his skin, a little tougher but still mild methods is prefered.

I dare not add dairy products from Spain, do not trust them. Have had several bad experiences.

Thank you for liking my recipe - it makes me a bit proud. 8)
Ok, I removed the 5% olive oil, there are now 65% instead of 70%, so now there is room for almond oil.
No, I'd better wait with almond oil, I'll save it for next batch.
I would not like soap flakes, orange spots or nasty smell in my soap. ( I only have 1 son, would like to keep himas a freind)

And my grams / ounce / oz calculations are shown not quite good - I think I'm messing around with English and American measuring systems, it's not quite the same. I grew up with the metric system, so your system is a little complicated for me. Have found another converter. :mrgreen:

Anyway, tomorrow my oilinfusion drags a little in the sun again, I will later give it a low heat on the cooker, then, when they are sooled of, they will be sieved over night. Friday, I want to be ready for soapmaking, and then I'll create a topic in CP forum on my second soap production.

 

[Hazel]

You didn't have to respond quickly. I had wandered off for awhile. Thank you for the info on how to find out if you're allergic to an oil. I didn't know this and it's very helpful to me. I like hazelnut oil in soap and bath products but I haven't included it into anything for my sister. I'll have to try this with her and find out if it can be used.

Yes, glue and resin would be a lot harder to clean. I made a soap which was too harsh for my skin but a nephew liked it. He said it cleaned resin off better than the commercial brand they used at work. However, it was very drying and wouldn't work for your son. It would probably cause more damage to his skin. Also, you may not be able to use milk products right now but you might want to try it when you return to Denmark.

I like to write recipe amounts in percentages so it's easier for people to calculate amounts in whatever weight units they prefer. But you can use the metric system if it's easier for you because I also use grams for some recipes. Later, you might want to consider learning how to make lotions for your son. The almond oil would be nice in a leave on product.

Good luck with the infused oil batch and I'll watch for your post.

 

[Dorado]

Thanks Hazel.
I Love recipe amounts in percentages too, a lot easier.
Looking forward going to Denmark - just to go shopping
Book: The SoapCookingBook :clap:
Palmin (coconut fat)
Lard, (very cheap in DK)
Milkproducts (perfect quality and organic)
However, must bring oliveoil (too expensive there)
Wool - must buy wool, and a sushi mat, have a dream about felted soap.