hot process ratio tips

[paos_Fx]

I've been researching hot process endlessly it seems, the last several months, and i am getting ready to buy ingredients for my first batch, but the one thing i cannot seem to get clarified is:

How to determine what combination/in what ratio to use ingredients???

If it helps establish a baseline for what I want, i really like barrister and mann's soap, and they have a page listing their ingredients in it here: http://www.barristerandmann.com/tallow-shaving-soap-ingredients

I was using this as sort of guidelines for what ingredients I would need since I know i already like the soap.

I would prefer making a functional first batch, and not wasting ingredients, so I would really like to have a better handle on this before I attempt it.

thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Seawolfe]

Selecting ratios and combinations is the craft of it all. I would recommend reading this thread for ideas of what works to get some ideas.

 

[Dorymae]

Stearic acid, tallow,water, glycerin, castor oil, coconut milk, cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil, lanolin, comfrey infusion, tussah silk powder, and vitamin E.


That is one heck of an ingredients list for a first go at making shaving soap!

This is a hard puck soap correct?

The first problem is the ingredients are most likely not in order on the website. Do you have this soap with the ingredients on the package? The package will list them in order of the most used to the least. It will give you a place to start on figuring the percentages.

Perhaps someone else would like to give it a go. My first instinct would be that the stearic and tallow are correct then probably coconut, cocoa butter and shea. The water, glycerin, and coconut milk, and silk are probably used with the lye. The rest are probably added after trace.

Again not an expert just what I would think.

This is a very involved recipe for a first shot.

 

[wetshavingproducts]

B&M is a pretty soft shaving soap. As shaving soaps go anyway. It's not a cream, but moldable.

Unsure if that's the saponified list, but if it's raw ingredients, it's probably something like 45% stearic, 40% tallow, 10-15% glycerin, and the rest of the oils are 5-10% of the oil weight since glycerin isn't part of the oil weight. The vitamin E & powder are definitely additives.

Also unsure whether B&M is hot process or not.

 

[Dorymae]

They list them on the site as saponified.

 

[paos_Fx]

B&M is a pretty soft shaving soap. As shaving soaps go anyway. It's not a cream, but moldable.

Unsure if that's the saponified list, but if it's raw ingredients, it's probably something like 45% stearic, 40% tallow, 10-15% glycerin, and the rest of the oils are 5-10% of the oil weight since glycerin isn't part of the oil weight. The vitamin E & powder are definitely additives.

Also unsure whether B&M is hot process or not.

i've spoken with the guy who makes their batches, and he's given me a few hints. Its definitely hot processed, he said: "with the amount of stearic acid we use, any other method would make it instantly seize"

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Seems to be the way most people go with high steric, some exceptions noted of course.

But I would suggest doing a search on this site for "Songwind shaving" and look for the thread "My first shaving soap is a success" - it is a treasure trove. In fact, it seems to be doing the rounds again so searching might not be needed.

I agree with others that the recipe might be a bit strange to play with as the first attempt. Maybe look at some of them in the Songwind thread and have a play.

 

[cmzaha]

I would venture to say the list of ingredients on their site is in order.