My First Soap Recipe

[SusanFrank]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Susan and I am a newbie to soap making. I have decided to take my first plunge and make my first batch. I have devised a recipe and was please wanting some feedback on it. Thanks


4.8 oz Olive Oil 30 %

4.oz Coconut Oil 25%

4 oz Palm Oil 25%

2.4 oz Shea Butter 15%

.8 oz Castor Oil 5%

2.25 oz Lye

6.10 oz Distilled Water

 

[IrishLass]

It looks fine to me.

IrishLass

 

[fiddletree]

recipe looks good but that is a lot of water. It won't hurt anything to use that much, but it will take longer to cure....

 

[Maythorn]

Looks like a swell recipe to me.

 

[SusanFrank]

Thank you IrishLass and Fiddletree. Fiddletree how much water would you recommend?I ran the recipe through soap calc and it said 6.08oz of water.So I just rounded off to 6.10 oz.I then ran the recipe through the lye calculator at sage.com and it said between 4-6 of water,so I am not really sure,what would be best.Thank you

 

[SusanFrank]

Thank you Maythorn

 

[SusanFrank]

Thank you Maythorn

 

[ericllucas]

recipe looks good but that is a lot of water. It won't hurt anything to use that much, but it will take longer to cure....

While my affection for water discounting agrees the water is a bit on the high side, for the first batch, I think it perfectly appropriate. Nothing is going to happen too fast when she starts mixing this batch and she's bound to have a positive experience. When she is feeling confident and ready for things to happen faster, she can drop the water down to 5 or 4.5 ounces.

Just offering my tuppence.

 

[SusanFrank]

Thank you for the advice Eric.

 

[ToniD]

liquid amount is something you can change a bit for various reasons.

More liquid can take a bit longer to trace, a bit longer to firm up enough to come out of the mold, but it also gives you more time to work with a design.
It also is helpful to have more liquid when working with some fragrances that accelerate trace.

In soap calc, I comfortably lowered my water amount to 36percent of oils for my beginning batches.

 

[fiddletree]

recipe looks good but that is a lot of water. It won't hurt anything to use that much, but it will take longer to cure....

While my affection for water discounting agrees the water is a bit on the high side, for the first batch, I think it perfectly appropriate. Nothing is going to happen too fast when she starts mixing this batch and she's bound to have a positive experience. When she is feeling confident and ready for things to happen faster, she can drop the water down to 5 or 4.5 ounces.

Just offering my tuppence.

Fair enough!

 

[carolyntn]

Your first batch is so exciting! Happy soaping!

Carolyn

 

[SusanFrank]

Thank you everyone for all the feedback.