More questions than answers....

[shandelle mcgregor]

Does anyone know if this recipe would actually work? What was being aimed for is the usual holy grail of long lasting, rich creamy, non drying hard bar soap that cleans well, and doesnt leave a huge amount of soap scum in the shower.

 

[DeeAnna]

Uh, well ... first thing is you have specified using KOH which makes LIQUID soap not bar soap. I gather you want to make bar soap, so recalculate the recipe using NaOH, not KOH.

With the exception of castor oil, I don't use any fat at less than 5% unless it's for label appeal (or I'm using up dribs and drabs of fats that need to be used up). So the olive, shea, black cumin, argan, and tamanu are in the recipe mainly as garnish.

On a related note, don't confuse the properties of the fat with the properties of the soap made from that fat. Expensive, exotic, luxury oils are demolished into glycerin and fatty acids, so the tamanu, etc. aren't going to stay as tamanu, etc. You're better off saving those fancy oils for a lotion or other leave-on product.

A 70% tallow soap will make a rock-hard bar, so I fail to see why the recipe author is also using beeswax. And over 3% is a lot of beeswax to melt and manage, as well as a lot of beeswax that's going to affect the lather and skin feel of the finished soap. If you're a newer soap maker, I'd suggest you avoid beeswax while you build your soap making skills. In the end, that's your call, though.

Frankly, this is a pretty unbalanced recipe. IMO, the soap, while it will last forever, may also not lather well and might feel uncomfortably hard when used in the bath. While it's nice to have a long lived, physically hard bar, there's such a thing as "too much of a good thing" and I suspect this recipe might be an example. I'd lower the % of tallow, keep the castor, and increase the % of high oleic oil, such as olive, to around 30-40%. Omit the beeswax and the luxury oils.

If you are a newer soap maker or this recipe is new to you, DON'T make such a huge batch. If you make a mistake or just don't like the soap, you've invested a lot of resources into something you can't or don't want to use. Stick with 16 oz / 500 g of fats when learning or testing.

Also, start using lye concentration or water:lye ratio, not "water as % of oils". Set the lye concentration at 33% (water:lye ratio at 2:1) as a reasonable setting to get started.

 

[AliOop]

^^what she said. .

For an easier beginner recipe using some of the ingredients from that recipe, consider something like:

45% tallow
30% olive oil
20% coconut oil
5% castor

Plug those oil percentages into the soap calculator.

Select bar soap, which will ensure that the recipe uses NaOH and not KOH.

Set your batch size to 1lb or 450 to 500 grams, as you prefer.

Set the superfat to 3%.

Select lye concentration and set it to 33%.

That should give you a nice starting point to begin learning what you like in a soap bar. Good luck!

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

For an easier beginner recipe using some of the ingredients from that recipe, consider something like:

45% tallow
30% olive oil
20% coconut oil
5% castor

That looks like my go-to recipe, @AliOop.

For years I added beeswax, too, at 5% along with jojoba oil (a liquid wax). Beeswax changes the feel of the soap, which friends raved about. They didn’t miss the reduced bubbles, but did notice skin conditioning deposited on the skin from the unsaponifiables in beeswax and jojoba. At least, that was the theory. Regardless, the bars felt different. A few years ago I altered my formula to use just 2% beeswax. The beeswax adds a sticky quality to the soap bars. For some formulas, when I want more bubbles, I omit it all together. In my Beeswax and Honey soap I still use the 5% rate. I figure a waxy-feeling bar is still appropriate when “beeswax” is in the name of the soap.

 

[cmzaha]

I like 40% Tallow
20% Lard
17% -19% CO I prefer 17%
3-5% Castor
balance Liquid oil of choice
low superfat I use lower than 5% but if you are not comfortable with lower do not go over 5%
30-33% Lye Concentration
With a 2-3 month cure time you end up with a nice long-lasting bar. I also add in chelators to cut soap scum especially if your water is hard.

 

[AliOop]

@ScentimentallyYours that sounds like a wonderful recipe - I may have to try it since I have an excess of beeswax from a friend who keeps bees.

@cmzaha I know from first-hand experience that yours is a very lovely recipe - checks all the boxes for me. My original suggestion didn't include lard because the OP originally showed a location in the UK, and other UK members here have said they have a hard time sourcing lard (and tallow, for that matter). But if the OP can get both tallow and lard, that is a winner combination in my book.

 

[Shelley D]

That looks like my go-to recipe, @AliOop.

For years I added beeswax, too, at 5% along with jojoba oil (a liquid wax). Beeswax changes the feel of the soap, which friends raved about. They didn’t miss the reduced bubbles, but did notice skin conditioning deposited on the skin from the unsaponifiables in beeswax and jojoba. At least, that was the theory. Regardless, the bars felt different. A few years ago I altered my formula to use just 2% beeswax. The beeswax adds a sticky quality to the soap bars. For some formulas, when I want more bubbles, I omit it all together. In my Beeswax and Honey soap I still use the 5% rate. I figure a waxy-feeling bar is still appropriate when “beeswax” is in the name of the soap.

I've been curious about using beeswax ~ I think you summed up your experience quite well. Thank you!

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Forgot to mention that you need to soap at higher temps with beeswax to keep the oils from re-solidifying. Patterns with color swirls are difficult, too, with higher beeswax and higher temps because the working time is short. Some folks here on SMF use small bubble wrap to create a honeycomb texture. One inspirational bar finished the honeycomb soap by pouring honey colored M&P over the honeycomb impressions to mimic honey. Wow! Lots of good ideas here if you do a search or two.