Making multiple pastes to combine

[HowieRoll]

Firstly, my apologies if this has been covered before (I was unable to find anything, but with my technology skills, that doesn't mean much).

I was down the soapy rabbit hole on the internet today and came across an interesting blog where the person made separate liquid soap pastes comprised of a single oil (in this instance it was 100% coconut oil for one and 100% olive oil for the other), and then would combine smaller portions of the pastes at different ratios depending on how she was going to use it (hand soap, shower soap, etc).

It made me wonder if anyone here had tried this? It would be a more involved process, but I can see where there might be benefits in being able to customize a liquid soap blend. However, I've only made exactly one batch of liquid soap paste before, so I'm not sure I'm missing any potential downsides? It just seemed like an interesting idea.

Thanks for any input and expertise!
-Angela

 

[Susie]

It has been done on here...by someone, I am fairly sure. I may be mixing it up with another liquid soapmaking group. I am a member of a couple or so. Try searching single oil soaps. I forget who did it.

I have made single oil soaps with Coconut Oil, and Olive Oil. I was not really interested in making single oil soaps of any others. I use the Coconut Oil for house cleaning tasks. I did not care at all for the Olive Oil one.

If you decide to do this, please post your results.

 

[cmzaha]

^^^By Me. I made 4 or 5 different single oil LS. I diluted all the single oil paste then would combine them until I found the ratio I liked. After that I had my percentages so I could make the paste as one. It is a great way to experiment and even find out how the different oils work. I found SAO would not make a hard paste, it stayed very sticky. Coconut forms a hard paste that I like to keep around for cleaning

 

[HowieRoll]

Thank you both for your input. Carolyn Z, you confirmed what I was thinking, that it would be a good way to figure out what percentages of which oils one likes the best, or, say, what one's tolerance to coconut oil is, etc.

Something I wondered about, however, is whether a 100% castor oil paste would work out okay? I can't see why it wouldn't, but at the same time I wasn't sure if its unique profile would make it do strange things.

I'm still working through the paste I made in July, but can see where this might be a fun project to do this winter. First I need to work out just how small of a batch I can go. If I do this, I will for sure post results and thoughts from the perspective of a newbie.

Thank you!

 

[cmzaha]

Thank you both for your input. Carolyn Z, you confirmed what I was thinking, that it would be a good way to figure out what percentages of which oils one likes the best, or, say, what one's tolerance to coconut oil is, etc.

Something I wondered about, however, is whether a 100% castor oil paste would work out okay? I can't see why it wouldn't, but at the same time I wasn't sure if its unique profile would make it do strange things.

I'm still working through the paste I made in July, but can see where this might be a fun project to do this winter. First I need to work out just how small of a batch I can go. If I do this, I will for sure post results and thoughts from the perspective of a newbie.

Thank you!

I did a Castor oil paste so I could dilute and add it to my soap mix. If I remember correctly I think it was another very soft paste

 

[Susie]

If you try to use less than 1 lb of oil, you are going to have 2 factors to watch for very closely:

1. You need an extremely accurate scale. I also advise you to weigh in grams. Much more accurate that way.
2. You are going to need a container and stick blender combo that will keep the entire bell of the stick blender submerged at all times during stick blending. Otherwise you are going to get air in there and the splatter risk goes up tremendously.

 

[HowieRoll]

I did a Castor oil paste so I could dilute and add it to my soap mix. If I remember correctly I think it was another very soft paste

Thank you for the additional information!

If you try to use less than 1 lb of oil, you are going to have 2 factors to watch for very closely:

1. You need an extremely accurate scale. I also advise you to weigh in grams. Much more accurate that way.
2. You are going to need a container and stick blender combo that will keep the entire bell of the stick blender submerged at all times during stick blending. Otherwise you are going to get air in there and the splatter risk goes up tremendously.

Yes, I agree with you on both counts, and have been thinking about this endeavor more carefully. The first batch of 100% coconut oil laundry soap I made (with NaOH) was with 14oz of oil and had a dickens of a time mixing it. I resolved not to do that again until I procured a tall, narrow container that could accommodate the bell of the stick blender and be more safe to mix. Aaah, the trials and tribulations of a new soaper!

Considering the one batch of liquid soap paste I've made only had 20oz of combined oils and it is lasting quite a while, I'm beginning to think making 3-4 single oil pastes (bare minimum 16-20oz each) might result in more paste than I care to have on hand at a given time. My husband and I only go through *so* much, in spite of me being a compulsive hand washer!

Thanks for helping me "talk" this out!