Lye has arrived

[whitewitchbeauty]

I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas presents time while awaiting my 10 lbs of Lye. It arrived yesterday! Yipee! Now I can make my 2nd try at CP soap making. Im trying 3 recipes.
1. 4 oz olive oil
4 oz shea butter
5 oz coconut oil
2 oz castor oil
2 oz hemp oil
7 oz water
2.3 lye
.5 oz eo

2. 6 oz. olive oil
10 oz lard
2.1 oz lye
6.4 oz water
.16 oz FO OR EO
3. 8 oz crisco
4 oz olive oil
4 oz coconut oil (can i sub hempseed oil???)
6 oz water
2.3 oz lye
1 tsp EO

I am trying out 3 because I thought it would help me learn better. And i think I'm addicted. Is this the right support group to help my addiction lol
In the tune of Simon n Garfunkel's song- lye lye lye! Lye lye lye lye lye lye lye, lye lye lye!

 

[Seawolfe]

Have fun experimenting

No, you don't want to sub in hemp for coconut, they do two very different things. Coconut lathers, hemp conditions. And while you can make a useable soap with crisco, I wouldn't waste my hemp on a crisco soap. It's like using truffle butter in boxed Kraft Mac n cheeze, to my mind.

I'm not awake enough to figure out your percentages, but don't use more than 20% coconut oil on a 5% sf soap, and I would use all lard and no crisco, see the 80% lard soap thread for why.

If using hemp oil, I like to let it shine and use it to the max recommended 20%? It does go rancid easily and can contribute to DOS, but makes a lovely soap. I keep mine in the fridge and add an antioxidant like Rosemary oleoresins to it when I open the bottle.

 

[rparrny]

I'm not awake enough to figure out your percentages, but don't use more than 20% coconut oil on a 5% sf soap,

Why is that? I have been using 30% with OO and Shea with no problems, and I have sensitive skin...if changing it will give me a better bar I'm all for it...

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

Cr*p i hate being so inexperienced! Thank you for correcting me i haven't started yet.

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

Where can i find a list of what oils condition, what oils clean... Lathers...Etc?

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

I decided on just making the 2 kinds. Ive omitted the crisco recipe. Is crisco just not good to use in general?

 

[Seawolfe]

Why is that? I have been using 30% with OO and Shea with no problems, and I have sensitive skin...if changing it will give me a better bar I'm all for it...

If I use coconut at 30% my husband loves it at 5% super fat, but I need 6-7% sf. Some people here react to more than 20%. I thinks it has to do with diff skin types AND how pure the lye you are using actually is. Go with what works for you.

I decided on just making the 2 kinds. Ive omitted the crisco recipe. Is crisco just not good to use in general?

In my opinion crisco is serviceable, but lard is excellent in soap.

 

[Seawolfe]

Where can i find a list of what oils condition, what oils clean... Lathers...Etc?

Here is a good starting place: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-b...s-guide-to-soapmaking-common-soapmaking-oils/

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

Thank you
A bonus, just watched some Monty Python to raise my spirits before I begin.

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

I changed the recipes because of the soap calculator.
1.
Olive oil 6 oz.
Lard 10 oz.
Almond oil 2 oz.
Castor oil 1 oz.
CO 6 oz.
Grapeseed oil 4 oz.
Jojoba 1 oz.
EO .5 oz
Water 11.40 oz.
Lye 4.10 oz.

2.
Castor oil 1 oz.
CO 5 oz.
Olive oil 4 oz
Shea butter 4 oz.
Hemp oil 2 oz.
EO .5 oz
Water 6.08 oz.
Lye 2.25 oz.

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

I have desperate-dry skin that is sensitive and moody, so different than my personality

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

muhahaha

 

[cmzaha]

I decided on just making the 2 kinds. Ive omitted the crisco recipe. Is crisco just not good to use in general?

Crisco does make a decent soap, but the Great Value Shortening with tallow and palm makes an even better soap. It is one of Walmart's shortenings.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shortening-42-oz/10451501
Crisco is soybean, hydrogenated palm oil and palm. Soybean oil can be prone to dos at least in my testings

I changed the recipes because of the soap calculator.
1.
Olive oil 6 oz.
Lard 10 oz.
Almond oil 2 oz.
Castor oil 1 oz.
CO 6 oz.
Grapeseed oil 4 oz.
Jojoba 1 oz.
EO .5 oz
Water 11.40 oz.
Lye 4.10 oz.

2.
Castor oil 1 oz.
CO 5 oz.
Olive oil 4 oz
Shea butter 4 oz.
Hemp oil 2 oz.
EO .5 oz
Water 6.08 oz.
Lye 2.25 oz.

Maybe try 60% lard, 20% olive oil, 15% coconut oil, 5% castor oil. This will really give you a good Control soap to start tweaking with the addition of butters and the more expensive oils. Jojoba is expensive to use in soap and I never find it adds anything worth justifying the cost. Hemp is prone to dos and short shelf life. Grapeseed oil is high in Linoleic fatty acid which makes a soft dos prone soap. It can be used at 10% or less without to much concern. I do use grapeseed in a mango facial bar that I want to have some astringent properties. Unless you like very subtle fragrance I would use 1oz ppo instead of soapcalcs default of .5oz ppo

 

[Susie]

Think hard about using 3-4 oils MAX for the first 2-3 batches. Then you can add ONE new oil at the time to test it.

I am going to third or fourth the no Crisco issue. Just brings nothing good to the soap.

The GV Shortening from Walmart is palm and tallow as Carolyn said.

If I were to make a suggestion, I would try lard in one recipe, then an equal amount of GV Shortening in another with all the same amounts of all the other oils so I could test one against the other. That will give you a good idea of what each bring to the soap. That is one thing SoapCalc can't tell you. Then you will know for yourself.

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

Ok thanks for the tips! Here is what it looks like for now-

 

[IrishLass]

Cool beans, WWB- we have the same stick-blender! Mine is still going strong after 10 years of use!

Where can i find a list of what oils condition, what oils clean... Lathers...Etc?

This is just a short, basic reference list that I have up my sleeve:

Cleansing oils: Coconut, PKO, Babassu
Bubbly oils: same as above
Oils/fats that lend creamy lather: Castor, Lard, Tallow, HO Soybean, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Mango Butter, Kokum Butter, etc...
Oils/fats that lend hardness: Coconut, Palm, PKO, Babassu, Tallow, Lard, Cocoa Butter, Mango Butter, Illipe Butter, Kokum Butter (basically, any of the hard butters), also olive oil after a long cure.
Conditioning oils: any of those with a high linoleic content such as apricot kernel oil, canola oil, Crisco (new or old formula), hemp, grapeseed, rice bran oil, safflower, sunflower, etc... and also those with a high oleic content such as olive, almond oil, avocado oil, HO canola oil, hazelnut oil, lard, HO safflower, HO sunflower, etc...., and also any oil/fat low in myristic and lauric acids.

Why is that? I have been using 30% with OO and Shea with no problems, and I have sensitive skin...if changing it will give me a better bar I'm all for it...

If your formula works for you, there's no reason to change it, for everyone's skin-likes are different. Sometimes I feel like the odd peg out around here because I use between 28% and 31% of the bubbly oils (CO, PKO, Babassu) in my 2 main formulas, but it works for me and mine without any issues. Actually, whenever I've gone much lower than that, I've gotten complaints from my soapy fans (as well as from myself), so that's what I stick with.


IrishLass

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

That list is extremely helpful, thank you very very much!!!

 

[rparrny]

If your formula works for you, there's no reason to change it, for everyone's skin-likes are different. Sometimes I feel like the odd peg out around here because I use between 28% and 31% of the bubbly oils (CO, PKO, Babassu) in my 2 main formulas, but it works for me and mine without any issues. Actually, whenever I've gone much lower than that, I've gotten complaints from my soapy fans (as well as from myself), so that's what I stick with.
IrishLass

I use 30% CO with my blend as well...looks like my recipe doesn't follow any of the rules...:wtf:

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

I just finished my 2nd batch. This is the one with shea butter, i used tea tree, lemon, lemongrass, and bergamot EO's for fragrance around 1 oz.