Making my first cold process soap batch

[lindakschickens]

I have used melt and pour bases in the past just because they are quick simple no real wait time but I wanted something more traditional if you will. So I have decided I am going to make a batch of cold process soap I bought the things I would like in a soap like raw unrefined shea butter & cocoa butter as well as castor oil (hear it helps with lather and such), apricot kernel oil, aloe vera butter, coconut oil. I also bought the much needed lye (caustic soda) I also bought some natural orange/yellow dye, some peach color mica and a peach fragrance. Heck I even made my own oat milk to use as my liquid in my soap.

All of my soap stuff will be here tomorrow and I'm pretty excited. But now I have a slight worry I have used a soap calculator to figure out the water and lye and it says just for my base:

Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) 76.70 g
Grams of liquid 173.25 g
Total 249.95 g

Aloe Butter 100.00 g 19.0 %
Apricot Kernel Oil 100.00 g 19.0 %
Castor Oil 25.00 g 4.8 %
Cocoa Butter 100.00 g 19.0 %
Coconut Oil (Virgin) 100.00 g 19.0 %
Shea Butter (Unrefined) 100.00 g 19.0 %
Total 525.00 g 100 %

Totals
Lye & Liquid 249.95 g
Oils & Fats 525.00 g

Total batch yield: 774.95

But I'm unsure if this is right amount of lye and liquid (I am horrid at math).

Do I also have to add and figure out the dye/mica and fragrance into the soap?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[earlene]

It looks right in terms of water & NaOH for a 30.7% Lye Concentration and a 3% SF, so the lye calculator information is correct, if that is your question. If you are not using Lye Concentration in your calculations, but using Water to Lye Ratio this is what you ended up with : Water : Lye Ratio - 2.257 : 1


As for figuring out the fragrance, the lye calculator does that too. In soapee, at 3%, in this formula, you would use 15.8 grams. But you need to know the safe usage rate for the fragrance you bought in case you need to change the percentage rate in the lye calculator. If your lye calculator does not figure the fragrance amount needed for you, you can do it by hand or try another calculator that does. I use soapee most often but have used several others as well. My second choice is soapcalc. But there are many others. I just feel that soapee is the easiest to use with the least amount of extra steps and it gives me results on-the-fly if I decide to make changes.

Soapee: http://soapee.com/calculator

SoapCalc: http://soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcwp.asp

Out of curiosity, which soap calculator did you use? I am always interested in seeing new ones (new to me.) If you have a link, I'd love to take a look.

To address the amount of mica: That is such a personal thing, as it depends on how pale or dark you want the soap color. However, too much can lead to colored lather, and sometimes staining of wash cloths, so that's something to be aware of. I recommend checking the vendor where you bought the micas and dyes for the recommended amount in CP soap (if you are doing HP soap, it should be the same amount.) If your vendor does not say how much is standard usage in soap, I'd start out by testing small amounts and document those amounts in your notebook or on the notes section of your online calculator. I generally use a very small amount of micas and my measuring device is a small plastic babyfood spoon. I've weighed micas in grams, but they don't all weigh the same, so it's hard to say how much weight is right for unknown micas, etc. I'd start out with 1/2 babyspoonful for pale color and 1 babyspoonful for more color. But again, it really depends on the particular colorant and your own personal taste.

 

[IrishLass]

Is your question: "Is this a good superfat % and lye concentration to use for my formula?" or is it: "Is the calculator giving me correct info?"

If it is the latter question, then ditto what Earlene said. I got the same results as she did using SoapCalc, i.e., the given lye amount that you posted for your batch results in having a 3% superfat, and the given water amount results in a 30.7 lye concentration. If that is your desired superfat and lye concentration, go for it!


IrishLass

 

[dixiedragon]

IMO that's not a very good recipe. You have 20% shea and 20% cocoa butter - that's going to make for a soap recipe that gets very thick very fast, and I think it will have very poor lather. If you are just dead set on it, go for it, but be prepared to move fast.

But for something more tried and true:

50% lard (or tallow or palm)
15% coconut
5% castor
30% olive (or sunflower or rice bran)
5% superfat
You could drop the 30% olive to 25% and use 5% apricot kernel.

I don't recommend the aloe butter because it is soybean shortening blended with aloe. The lye monster will gobble up that aloe. It would be cheaper to use Crisco (or a store brand shortening).

I also like this:
Castor 5
Coconut 20
Shea butter 50
Sunflower 25
2% superfat. Use the lower superfat here because the unsaponifiables (things that don't become soap) in the shea butter will kill lather, and the low superfat makes up for it.

 

[lindakschickens]

Earlene I used https://www.brambleberry.com/pages/lye-calculator.aspx for the calculations also no they did not give any usage info on the mica and dyes nor did they give me anything for the peach fragrance either. IrishLass it's a bit of both I suck at asking questions and end up rolling about 8 into 1 half the time.

Dixiedragon I would have thought that 19% of shea & cocoa butter along with 19% aloe butter, apricot kernel oil, virgin coconut oil would balance it out a lil bit but that's me as I read cocoa butter has a poor to average lather ability and shea is labeled as poor to average to and castor oil has the came poor to average lather apricot is supposedly a average lather .My thought tho was coupled those with coconut oil that is suppose to have a large fluffy lather would make a bar that is average lather. Also my aloe butter is not aloe blended with soybean shorting it's blended with coconut oil so basically a double dose of coconut oil with added aloe. I really have no intention of going above a 3% superfat. I also don't like lard/tallow or palm for various reasons. but I do like the idea of sunflower so thanks for giving me that idea as I have some laying around

 

[lindakschickens]

I'm also thinking of making a cold process soap with charcoal in it for problematic skin has anyone done this or maybe some suggestions?

 

[dixiedragon]

I've done charcoal. You definitely need to blend it with some water or glycerin before you add it. Oil might work, I'm not sure about that. I would suggest ordering it only or getting the charcoal capsules in the gel cap. The aquarium stuff is in small granules that you will have to grind down really fine, and unless you have a mortar and pestle that's hard to do.

 

[shunt2011]

I mix my charcoal with a bit of oil from my batch with no problem. I agree with your recipe not being that good. I would drop the butter percentage and I’ve not used aloe butter so can’t speak to that. But you can certainly give it a try.

 

[lindakschickens]

Dixiedragon cheers I'll definitely look into charcoal gel caps.

We'll I'm going to make a small test batch of my soap base in a similar ratio but only enough to make a small bar or 2 so that way I can tweek it a bit if I don't like it. Then again I'm not overly worried about lather just need something that will really moisturize my skin well.

 

[lindakschickens]

Right so I'm making a really small batch of this soap I'm thinking I'll get any where from 2-6 bars i'm going to be pouring the soap base into some really cool half sphere silicon molds I just go from the hubby. I'm will be replacing normal water with homemade oat milk, I'm also going to add the color and fragrance to the melted fats/oil this may or may not go in my favor but someone told me it might be easier to do that if I'm unsure how quickly this will thicken ( which if I read dixidragon's comment right she hit on that).

I did run it thought the Soapcalc that Earlene stated I did alter it a little added a screen shot thingy for you guys to look at and tell me what you all think. Got most of my stuff I need well minus the castor oil and cocoa butter but that should be here soon (amazon blasted slow when you really need something but what you can wait on they deliver really quick *rolls eyes*).

 

[shunt2011]

Right so I'm making a really small batch of this soap I'm thinking I'll get any where from 2-6 bars i'm going to be pouring the soap base into some really cool half sphere silicon molds I just go from the hubby. I'm will be replacing normal water with homemade oat milk, I'm also going to add the color and fragrance to the melted fats/oil this may or may not go in my favor but someone told me it might be easier to do that if I'm unsure how quickly this will thicken ( which if I read dixidragon's comment right she hit on that).

I did run it thought the Soapcalc that Earlene stated I did alter it a little added a screen shot thingy for you guys to look at and tell me what you all think. Got most of my stuff I need well minus the castor oil and cocoa butter but that should be here soon (amazon blasted slow when you really need something but what you can wait on they deliver really quick *rolls eyes*).

Too much castor oil. You don't want to go over 10%. You will end up with sticky soap. Also, too much CO with that low of a SF. Will be very stripping (cleansing 37) to the skin.

 

[lindakschickens]

Sticky soap would that not mean it would be soft and not hard? also I was under the impression that if cleansing is high but the conditioning is higher that it would slightly even out if thats wrong any suggestions would greatly help to fix the balance would be great

 

[dixiedragon]

Coconut oil soap is very cleansing and harsh. If you have dry skin, I'd drop the coconut oil to 10% or so and try that. Soap is a wash-off product so it isn't moisturizing really. I'd focus on a gentle/mild soap, which means low or no coconut.

 

[lindakschickens]

Dixiedragon I think I will reduce the coconut oil a bit. I did find on that soap calc that aloe butter is stated as
Hardness 74
Cleansing 63
Condition 9
Bubbly 63
Creamy 11
Iodine 9
INS241

thankfully I only put in 10g of the stuff I did find I have pure rapeseed oil in my place also found my good bottle (well 2 bottles really) ove 100% pure extra virgin olive oil from Spain which I decided to put a lil of both of these in my new base any looks more level if you will I have a new pic of the levels which I'm pretty happy with what do you all think?

 

[dixiedragon]

I wanted to add that a 1-bar batch is IMO too small - to easy to make an error. I'd recommend at least 1 (4 bars) - preferably 2. If you don't care for the resulting soap, you can always give it away!

TBH, I think your special olive oil would be totally wasted in soap. I use Grade A olive oil, vs extra virgin. I buy mine at Costco.

 

[lindakschickens]

I think I'll get maybe 2-4 bars at 1-2oz ea in half a sphere form easier for me to store smaller bars. I would not say it's special olive oil I just say good as I bought it really cheap but it's really good all round tastes great in a vinaigrette tho lol. I managed to now burn my eyes out or get lye on me tho so that is a major plus *thumbs up*

 

[earlene]

I can't read your formula because it's just too small, so what I have say does not reflect your specific amounts.

Being in the UK, I understand costs are bou d to be different than for soaperswho in the US. That's actually true in many o the countries as well. So using EVOO is not a waste if the price is right. Same goes for other oils that I might consider a luxury item. If it were more affordable I'd use them in soap, too.

Another thing I have read from other soapers in the UK was that many people like soap with higher percentages of CO. I wonder if it is related to some environmental differences, like lots of fog in London keeping the skin more moist, for example.

But when folks here say your batch size is too small, it's really about accuracy of weights and the potential for higher error rates related to using a scale that may not measure accurately at very low amounts. If you don't have a scale that weighs accurately to 0.001 grams, the potential for error in making a batch weighting, say, 350 grams or less is really quite high.

I have two scales to accommodate the need to measure different amounts. My bigger scale measures to 0.01 gram accuracy and the small one measures to 0.001 grams. The smaller scale is necessary to get accurate weights for fragrances in small batches, and other ingredients where the amounts need to be more accurate.

So it's not about what's easier.; it's about what's safer. Measuring caustic in very small amounts means you need a scale that is accurate to 0.001 grams, otherwise you could potentially end up with lye heavy soap.

I am using my tablet, so for some reason I can't fix the typos in my above post.


Bound should have an n.

Other countries, not "o countries"

 

[lindakschickens]

thankfully i have a good scale. but seriously how long does it take to trace soap by hand

 

[Obsidian]

It depends on the recipe, could take 10 minutes, could take two hours.

 

[lindakschickens]

well i have been at it 45min to a hr omg.. im buying a stick blender asap