Need A Second Opinion - CP recipe

[Mestiza Girl]

My last batch was high in OO and I'm looking to reduce this by adding a new oil- sweet almond. I know everything is about trial and error, but I'm hoping to get some suggestions and opinions on this recipe before I jump into it. I want a decent lather and a fairly hard bar.

 

[lsg]

You will have a bar that is high in conditioning fatty acids with some creamy lather. It will take a while to cure because of the high percentage of olive oil. It does not show a high longevity number. Try out your recipes on the Soapmaking Friend lye calculator.

https://www.soapmakingfriend.com/soap-making-recipe-builder-lye-calculator/

 

[SoaperForLife]

Taken from the SoapMakingFriend site concerning longevity:
"It may not be what you add- it's the combination of ingredients. What I mean is, no matter what you add to an 80% olive oil soap, it just won't last that long in the shower compared to many other formulations. The short answer is to add more 'hard' oils. That is, oils that are solid at room temperature. Think tallow, lard, palm oil, coconut oil, shea butter, etc. Now, too much coconut oil can be drying to the skin, so the recipe matters. Make sure the soap is fully cured- and even the bars with lower longevity in the calculator will last longer. "Hardness" means how hard the bar is after curing. For example.,100% olive oil bars will eventually get hard enough to pound nails. But, it won't last that long in the shower because it does sort of melt a bit and get slimy"

 

[penelopejane]

Taken from the SoapMakingFriend site concerning longevity:
"It may not be what you add- it's the combination of ingredients. What I mean is, no matter what you add to an 80% olive oil soap, it just won't last that long in the shower compared to many other formulations. The short answer is to add more 'hard' oils. That is, oils that are solid at room temperature. Think tallow, lard, palm oil, coconut oil, shea butter, etc. Now, too much coconut oil can be drying to the skin, so the recipe matters. Make sure the soap is fully cured- and even the bars with lower longevity in the calculator will last longer. "Hardness" means how hard the bar is after curing. For example.,100% olive oil bars will eventually get hard enough to pound nails. But, it won't last that long in the shower because it does sort of melt a bit and get slimy"

Obviously whoever wrote that doesn't know how to make castile or high OO soaps.

Your recipe looks fine for those who don't mind high CO soap. I would reduce the poppy seed to 1 teaspoon for that amount of soap. They are really, really scratchy. My sons even find cinnamon scratchy!!! You might want to try vanilla bean paste. It is less scratchy than poppy seeds and cinnamon but gives a good effect. You can buy it in the cake making section of the supermarket (here in Oz anyway!).

 

[Dawni]

I'd make this as is and see if it works for me after it cures... Which, with 40% olive oil, will still need upwards of 8wks for the lather to be better than just ok, and to reap the benefits of olive oil soap.

It could be very different for you of course, but my skin doesn't like a lot of olive oil (no idea why lol) so if I do use it, and I don't always, it's rarely more than 20-30%.

So if it was me, I'd take 5% and increase my sweet almond, and another 5% to increase my cocoa butter (but a high butter soap needs longer to cure than one with less, IMO). Or like I said, see if you like it as is. It's all about experimentation