I'm making a soy milk soap but..

[Sekar]

I am a pharmacy college student and my final project is to make a formulation of soy milk soap.
I'm about to add excipients such as:
1. Soymilk, as the main ingredient.
2. Coconut oil and olive oil as the combination of oil bases,
3. NLS as surfactant (to add more foam - I don't know what to call for it),
4. NaOH as the alkalizing agent,
5. Combination of propylparaben and methylparaben as the preservative,
6. Stearic acid to harden the soap (it's a fatty acid - at least that's what I know #sendhelp),
7. Citric acid, as the chelating agent (so it does not react with metals - that might be on water),
8. Essence (I am aiming for jasmine cause it smells good),
9. And water.

My questions are:
1. How much soymilk do I have to add? I've read some threads saying it has to be on the same concentration as oils/lyes? (But I cannot take reference from any articles but journals and stuff)
2. Is there anything wrong in my recipe? Please let me know! I haven't done any optimations yet but still any helps are very much appreciated!
3. Please send me links of pdfs that could help my research :') I am struggling to find one :")

Ps. English is not my native language - I am so sorry. Please help me *cries in bubbles*

 

[earlene]

Welcome, Sekar. Have you made soap before? Will you be using a lye calculator, or are you required to do all the calculations 'from scratch'? If you are allowed to use a lye calculator, I recommend soapee: http://soapee.com/calculator

All you have to do is enter your oils (olive oil & coconut oil and stearic acide are what you listed), in the amounts you choose. The lye calculator calculates the amount of NaOH you need for the batch and the amount of liquid, which is usually water. But you can replace part of the water with soymilk. However, I would not mix the lye with soymilk; I'd mix it with distilled water, and use powdered soymilk instead.

For references that are allowed by your professor, would Scientific Soapmaking by Dr. Kevin Dunn be acceptable? He is a chemistry professor in the USA who has done extensive research on soapmaking. Also, can you use other soapmaking books, or are they only allowed to be chemistry/science based?

Some issues that I see with your intended ingredients:

You don't need to add preservatives to soap, so I am wondering why they are listed. Is it a required element in your assignment?

I don't know what NLS is, but adding surfactants to soap is not necessary.

What percentages of each oil are you planning to use? Are you allowed to use other additional oils or only those 2 plus the stearic acid?

I assume you plan to use the hot process method because stearic acid requires a higher heat than we usually use for cold process.

 

[Sekar]

Aww hello, Earlene! ))
I didn't get notified when you reply - so I just logged in and read your reply immediately!
(as you can see I'm unfamiliar with this site - I literally had to spend 30 minutes just to find out a new thread button ahaha)

Sadly I haven't. On my last experiment on that lecture, I didn't have the chance to make one (but a group did since we were taking care of one product per group) But I'm about to try to ask my friends, too. They're all busy :')

Also yes! I'll try the lye calculator it sounds helpful

I wish I could use the powdered ones, but sadly I couldn't. I have to process the milk by myself using the raw, fresh soy. Which is kinda troubles me but- ahaha HA yeah I'm ruined.

Yes, please! When it comes to English language literature it doesn't have to be really scientific, I guess. But yes I'll note that one title down. If you can name me some more reference specifically about milk soap please let me know!

Yeah, I was thinking the same but I still have to add the preservative. I have to store the resulted soap product for at least a month and evaluate the stability and its physical attribute, pH, hardness and its ability to produce foam/bubbles. But uhm- yeah? :')

Oh yes! I've been told not to using it if without it I could form some foam. But yes still that one ingredient would be really necessary when it couldn't form enough foam~

I had a super quick appoinment with my lecturer today, and she said to just use the olive oil instead of combining it with the coconut ones - since our coconut oil in here doesn't smell good (even the VCO ones idek why)

Oh it is??? That's a new information for me, tysm ♡
Also I'm kinda puzzled - isn't milk soap supposed to be done by cold process? I don't know either - I guess I'll have to work it out on lab later on.

Thank you very much for your feedback! It really makes my day (or night, right now - at least in my place)
I hope you have an amazing day! ♡♡

 

[shunt2011]

Hello and welcome!

There are a few things that jump out to me. 1. Preservative is not needed with CP/HP soap. The PH is too high and don't need preserving. I have soap 6+ years still going strong.
2. Stearic will make your soap move really fast and once you add Jasmine FO it will move even faster. I wouldn't recommend it being your first soap.
3. Make sure you calculate the extra lye needed when using Citric Acid as a chelator.
4. a Surfactant is not needed. A well formulated soap will have great lather after appropriate cure.
5. When using milk as a water replacement, you can use it as all your liquid or I prefer the 50/50 route. I use just enough water to dissolve my lye 1:1 or 1.5:1 and add the remainder as milk to my oils before my lye water. I just blend it really well with a stick blender and then add my lye mixture.
6. Always, always run recipes through a soap calculator. Either soapcalc.net or Soapee. Measure everything in grams for best results.
7. Have fun!

 

[Sekar]

Oh hello shunt2011!
(wow an admin replied I AM HAPPY)

Okay so based on your experience I shouldn't add it. I'll take it into consideration
But erhm.. soy milk doesn't smell pleasing (actually it has pretty bad odor) so should I just take the stearic acid off instead?
Oh yeah I will! *swaps notes*
*keeps on swapping notes*
... I WILL THANK YOU VERY MUCH ♡

Thank you very much! So much appreciated!
(also if you have any ebook or pdfs that comes in handy - especially about milk soap please let me know~)
I'll make sure to update the progress on this thread!
(also I'm loving this site already. Definitely gon make handmade soap if this one turns out well ahaha ha wish me luck ♡)

 

[earlene]

Sekar, glad to see your answers. I expected as much regarding why you were including those ingredients, and if it is required in your assignment that all of them are added, then you have no choice.

But I am still not sure if you are required to use the stearic acid? Is that one also required or are you allowed to leave it out?

Regarding more references, please take a look at these for using citric acid in lye soap:

https://classicbells.com/soap/citrate.html

In fact, if you want some very good information, founded in scientific fact, but written in easy to understand laymen's terms, everything on here is useful: https://classicbells.com/soap/soapyStuff.html

A link to information about Kevin Dunn's book, Scientific Soapmaking: http://cavemanchemistry.com/scisoap/
There are also links to some of his lectures and articles. I have been fortunate to be able to attend a couple of his lectures and highly recommend his and articles to you. One article of his I refer to periodically is this: http://cavemanchemistry.com/DreadedOrangeSpot-Dunn.pdf
but I am not sure you need that one in reference to this project.

Here is a link to Anne Watson's soapmaking books: http://www.annelwatson.com/soapmaking/
I have read one of her books, but not the one on Milk soapmaking.

That's all I have time for right now. I hope someone else comes along with more helpful advice and references for you.
When you have time, look up the melting point of stearic acid.