Making my first cold process soap batch

[lindakschickens]

Forgot to add that I most likely will not make another batch of soap with bother rapeseed and olive oil again just because it's way to soft and I doubt a very long day time will help that but I could be wrong. It does lather quite nicely tho. Also bought 3 new soap making books for the heck of it and just unmolded my new milk & honey with ground oats smells like carmalized ( is that right?) Honey oatmeal cookies with a . Not a bad smell really. But I do have pictures of this soap out of the mold and I will be cutting it now so I can dry it.

 

[lindakschickens]

has any one tried Babassu Oil in soap?

 

[earlene]

I have not used it in soap as yet, although I do use it for my deodorant. I may eventually try it in soap, but here it is rather expensive so I just haven't been motivated to do so. There are others here who have used it in soap and really liked it. You can find the threads when you do a search for babassu oil soaps.

 

[lindakschickens]

I think for 500g of it's I found it for like $10 roughly..

 

[penelopejane]

Forgot to add that I most likely will not make another batch of soap with bother rapeseed and olive oil again just because it's way to soft and I doubt a very long day time will help that but I could be wrong. It does lather quite nicely tho. Also bought 3 new soap making books for the heck of it and just unmolded my new milk & honey with ground oats smells like carmalized ( is that right?) Honey oatmeal cookies with a . Not a bad smell really. But I do have pictures of this soap out of the mold and I will be cutting it now so I can dry it.

Is that a metal or plastic tray your soap is sitting on?

 

[earlene]

Good catch, penelopejane. It looks a bit like a coated metal cooking sheet from my monitor, but even that's not a good choice. Teflon doesn't tolerate prolonged high alkaline environments, which will cause the coating to flake off, leaving the aluminum underneath exposed.

 

[cmzaha]

has any one tried Babassu Oil in soap?

Yes, and I find no real difference in soap made with Babassu versus Coconut oil. Babassu is replacement for CO and if you want a gentle soap I would not go over 20%, for me I do not go over 15-17%. You mention you want a moisturizing but uaws 30% CO in your soap. CO, Palm Kernel and Babassu are the oils that make soap very cleansing depending on the percentage. Most do not go over 20% but some do and love it. I have a soap here that I figure must be over 20% CO because it dries my hands out badly. It lathers like a champ, but it is not for me and it is not a soap I made.

As Earlene mentioned, Babassu is expensive here and I do not waste it. Actually I just checked the price per lb if I were to purchase it and it comes out to $7 per lb, which I consider expensive. I pay less than $1 per pound for Lard, Tallow or Palm Shortening. That is cheap.

It really is a waste to use over 5% Castor in cp or hp soap and accelerates trace noticeably. It is not a bubbly oil in soap it help support bubbles. I will also mention 1 liter is not a lot of Castor. Once you start making multiple batches you will find a liter of oil does not last long. Castor does have a long shelf life.

While I am not a fan of OO in soap it does make a nice soap, and will harden up during cure time. You simply cannot judge a few days old soap and know how it is going to feel after a 4-6 week cure. I prefer Avocado Oil, Canola (Rapeseed) HO, Sunflower HO, and Safflower HO (high Oleic). Many like to use Rice Bran since it is usually fairly inexpensive. Apricot Kernel and Peach Kernel Oil are lovely, and lend some bubbly factor but expensive.

Butters are wonderful for adding hardness to vegan soaps if you choose not to use palm, but I can and do make soaps that rival high butter soaps without using any of the expensive butters. All pure butters are imported or at least I do not know of any that are not imported at least in the US. Most butters such as pistachio, avocado, blueberry, aloe, horsetail, coffee butter etc are made by mixing the oil with either vegetable oil or CO. You can get the same effect in soap by using shortening and some of the oil. As for Aloe you might find it in gallons know as Aloe Juice. Here we can find it at Walmart stores for approx $7 per gallon. Amazon has the same aloe juice I buy but it is double the price.

 

[lindakschickens]

It's a metal try I believe it's stainless steel (unsure if its coated) under my silicon mold I put in under my molds when I come to unmolding them

 

[lindakschickens]

cmzaha yes I want a moisturizing bar but I all so need it to clean really as sometimes my husband and me have very oily skin. I know it seems daft having high CO in my soap but I like CO and have never felt like it was to drying. I have read up a bit more on Barbassu oil and concluded that I will not be using it as part of my soap making right now at the present time.

My husband bought lard but for some weird reason it has rosemary in it... oh well give it a go. not keen on tallow as I hear there is a bit more work in that and I don't like palm oil and that for various reasons. not keen on shorting as the closest thing to it here costs more then lard and rather by lard because of price.

As for castor oil based on my new books 1 ( natural soap second edition) says " castor seed oil used in soap for its high foaming properties, this oil is particularly useful in shampoos & shaving soaps but does accelerate trace. in my other book (pure soapmaking how to create nourishing natural skin care soaps) "Castor oil, an extract of the castor bean plant, is a thick,sticky oil with a distinctive odor. It is light yellow in colour, but this doesn't typically affect the colour of the final product. Castor oil creates a large, luxurious bubbles, but is typically used at 8% or below in recipes to avoid tackiness.

So that is most likely why I use as much castor as I was under the idea it makes lots of bubbles. I have also read you can get more bubbles if you add sugar to your base so this might be something for me to look more into. also it's nice to know castor has a long shelf life. was just gifted about 2 litres of it this morning so I'm set for a lot of soap lol.

While yes day old soap will be not be any where near soap that has been left to cure I personally want to see what soap is like after 24-48 hours after 2-3 weeks after etc. Like right now all 3 soaps I have made are creamy but produce lots of bubbles and I mean lots at 2day(s) old which seems promising to me for when they are 4 weeks that they will have a decent level of bubbles but that's. me. I found my first batch is still really soft and hope as I leave longer it will harden but thus far unsure about using OO and rapeseed (canola) oil in the same soap base again as I think that is why that batch is so soft as compared to the other 2 batches I have made which are very hard after 24-48 hrs.

I though most butters would be imported to one extant or another, I did find a place that I can get raw unrefined organic (not mush more costly here in the UK compared to refined really) cocoa butter for well $17 for 2lbs 4oz not bad, shea butter for the same amount 2lbs 4oz well under $13. Before I moved to the UK from the USA I was paying $20 for a lb of each. might be cheaper due to the me living in the UK idk. I remember paying around $15 for half a lb of mango butter living in the USA making my own lotion/cold cream stuff. I personally would love to make my own butters if you will be can't be bothered I know lazy lol

But I will admit I totally forgot aloe juice! so thank you for saying so I will be looking for this now! thank you!

 

[shunt2011]

I don’t know where you were shopping in the US. I have never paid what you did for cocoa or Shea butter even with shipping. I think what you are paying where your are is expensive. Cocoa is about 5.00 and Shea 3.50 per pound.

 

[lindakschickens]

this was also about 4-5 years ago before I left the USA and the shea and cocoa butter were raw, organic and unrefined as I like the smell (still do thats prob why the cost is more anyway). it's still roughly $8+ from the dealer I bought from, even the refined stuff I tried from brambleberry is $10.95 for a pound of cocoa butter plus side tho their shea butter is only $6.90 a pound now. I have no clue where you are buying your shea and cocoa butters from but that is dirt cheap is it refined and all that is it organic etc? I would also be leery of it being so cheap bought really cheap butters once about 5-6 years back and I felt like I had acid on me thats why I don't mind paying more.

 

[shunt2011]

I’ve been making soap for 8 years and have never paid that. Yes, organic raw. I purchase from soapmaking supply company with an excellent reputation. Many use the same company. Brambleberry is expensive though so may be why.

Never purchased raw materials there. Thank goodness.

Also, buying in 10 lb or more helps greatly. I wouldn’t have been able to make and sell soap at those prices. Would have had to change recipes for sure and save butters for other applications only.

 

[lindakschickens]

Thankfully I am only making for family and friends as I'm not paying £180+ to run tests an such on my soap base just to sell legally here in the UK but that may change down the line at some point once I graduate from my hand and foot reflexology classes as well as holistic back pain management course as well . there are only a few reputable sellers I know of here in the UK hopefully as time goes on I'll find a cheaper reputable seller. I already have loads of stuff in my house including 4-5 years worth of xmas bath and body products I don't use for one reason or another I have no clue where I would put 10lb boxes of shea and cocoa butters.. to be fair tho the house would prob smell really nice due to the cocoa butter lol.

Down side it seems a lot of places say soap making supplies but only have M&P bases and colours/ fragrance.

 

[penelopejane]

It's a metal try I believe it's stainless steel (unsure if its coated) under my silicon mold I put in under my molds when I come to unmolding them

I would be really careful about putting soap on metal at anytime during cure. DOS is one of the horrible results of using metal.

I have not seen coated SS.

 

[lindakschickens]

I would be really careful about putting soap on metal at anytime during cure. DOS is one of the horrible results of using metal.

I have not seen coated SS.

What is DOS?

 

[cmzaha]

cmzaha yes I want a moisturizing bar but I all so need it to clean really as sometimes my husband and me have very oily skin. I know it seems daft having high CO in my soap but I like CO and have never felt like it was to drying. I have read up a bit more on Barbassu oil and concluded that I will not be using it as part of my soap making right now at the present time.

Not to sound like a broken record, but you cannot get a high cleansing and a soap you think is moisturizing in the same bar, so maybe you need to design two soaps. To make CO not drying at 30% your would need to up superfat, which will defeat the purpose of a highly cleansing soap. For a gentle soap use 10-15% CO, PKO or Babassu.

As Shunt mentioned I have never paid such high prices as you mention and have been making and selling for approx 9 yrs. I also would not be able to make and sell if I paid such high prices for butters and oils. If you have doubts about castor oil in soap try making a single oil castor soap and see how it is.

 

[shunt2011]

DOS is dreaded orange spots. Rancidity. Generally caused by short shelf oils, metals etc.....

 

[lindakschickens]

cmzaha, right ok so it can't be high cleansing and avg to high moisturizing but now i'm confused most soap recipes in my new books that are supposedly highly moisturizing run on soapcalc are over 22+ (round 24-27) when it comes to cleaning and around 50+ on moisture how can it be moisturizing if it is high in cleansing?

and thanks shunt2011 had no clue what DOS was!

 

[shunt2011]

And once again, soap is not moisturizing, just less cleansing. It’s a wash off product. If you have a lot of CO, it’s going to strip the oils from your skin. SF trying to counteract the cleansing can help but if too high may be a crap bar of soap due to too much free oils. And could be a cause of DOS.

 

[lindakschickens]

then how do so many places get away with selling natural lye based soaps that are labeled as highly moisturizing when they are not then?