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I have no idea what SW is (can't find it on the acronym thread) but I wonder where the other 10% in your posted recipe went to. My math may be off though.
More bubbles please
- Thread starter KiwiMoose
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SW is Soy Wax - and I added up the recipe too after I read this and thought "oh no I've missed something!" Then i realised that it's 10% Shea and 10% AVO - which if you add it up again you will see it works out to 100%.
If someone likes girly scents and does not like beer soap, try wine soap, or even aloe vera (I just buy the jug of stuff in the pharmacy section.) Works about the same, and no hoppy scent.
Marilyn Norgart
Well-Known Member
try the aloe vera juice--I really love the bubbles I get from mine--I find the GM bubbly also. after all the talk of adding sugar in this post--I think my next soap needs to have sugar added 
I have only added butters once to my soap as I felt it wasn't very bubbly--I have some in storage, so after 6 months maybe I need to re-try
I have only added butters once to my soap as I felt it wasn't very bubbly--I have some in storage, so after 6 months maybe I need to re-tryI have hard water, so I masterbatch my simple syrup and EDTA mixtures together for ease of making soap. I use it in every single batch.
I have some champagne soap and some apple cider ( hard - as you call it in the US) so maybe I should get her to try that?
I took her over some soap from one of my newer recipes on Sunday and she said it's much better.
A
amd
I'm going to ask an "odd" question - just because some of my first test subjects had this same problem. Is she using enough water when she tries to lather? Some of my family when they first tried handmade soap, had a hard time getting soap to lather. I had my mom show me because I couldn't believe she wasn't getting lather. She was barely using any water! I showed her if there's no lather to add more water and BOOM! Hello lather. My mom was going from commercial bar soap, to body wash, to handmade soap which is a bit backwards from the other two. Need more lather from body wash or commercial bars, add more soap. Handmade, less soap more water. Go figure. I had to show my husband this last week when he was trying to get lather from a castile soap too.
snappyllama
Supporting Member
I haven't tried soy wax but my guess is that might be limiting your bubbles. To counteract, you could try adding in sugar/honey or subbing in a liquid with a lot of sugar (like the alcohol that was mentioned or some kind of fruit puree). Like others mentioned, EDTA might help cut through any minerals in the water.
You could try out a salt bar recipe - they bubble like crazy after the minimum 3 month cure.
You could try out a salt bar recipe - they bubble like crazy after the minimum 3 month cure.
Thanks Snappy - but the bar she was complaining about had no soy wax in it at all. It was one of my earlier soaps before I started using SW.
snappyllama
Supporting Member
Whoops, sorry I missed that!
My suggestion is, before you up the amount of coconut oil or do other experimental things with your recipe, to give dual lye a try.
If you next time use a lye calculator that does dual lye, and put in 95% NaoH and 5% KoH, the calculator will do the maths for you. It should help a lot to boost your lather, and you will still have the same recipe as you have today in terms of oils and eventual additives. 5% KoH does not really soften your soap so much that you will notice it or can make any problems. It will feel and look like normal, I think. But it does for sure lather more immediately and more abundant.
I would definately not make the soap more cleansing and harsh by adding more coconut to it to boost bubbles when it can be done better by doing changes to the lye. The lather from dual lye is not the same as lather from coconut, I think. I feel dual lye give a more dense and rich lather compared to using more coconut. But of course that is a personal preference thing.
If you have not tried dual lye already, I think you should. If you don't like it you can always go back. When I tried it I immediately liked it so much I will not make NaoH only soaps again unless I run out of KoH or something.
If you next time use a lye calculator that does dual lye, and put in 95% NaoH and 5% KoH, the calculator will do the maths for you. It should help a lot to boost your lather, and you will still have the same recipe as you have today in terms of oils and eventual additives. 5% KoH does not really soften your soap so much that you will notice it or can make any problems. It will feel and look like normal, I think. But it does for sure lather more immediately and more abundant.
I would definately not make the soap more cleansing and harsh by adding more coconut to it to boost bubbles when it can be done better by doing changes to the lye. The lather from dual lye is not the same as lather from coconut, I think. I feel dual lye give a more dense and rich lather compared to using more coconut. But of course that is a personal preference thing.
If you have not tried dual lye already, I think you should. If you don't like it you can always go back. When I tried it I immediately liked it so much I will not make NaoH only soaps again unless I run out of KoH or something.
