New Soap, worried I over did the Cocoa butter

[SoapieCP]

Hi fellow Soapers

On Monday this week I made a new soap with:

60% Olive Oil
20% Hemp Oil
15% Cocoa Butter
5% Golden Jojoba

5% Superfatted

I put the oils and butter through thesage.com sap calc prior to finding SoapCalc which gives a far better understanding of the ranges I should be looking at, to produce the lovely bar of foamy conditioning soap I was looking for.
Having put the above through Soapcalc I am worried that the bars will be too conditioning and not cleansing at all.

I know that due to the high Olive Oil content I should expect to cure the bars for 5wks + before I can get a real idea of how they'll com behave. Grr what to do now?

I am aiming for a really conditioning bar that feels creamy not greasy and doesn't turn to mush when it hits the water. I would like to use the above ingredients as a base as these I have plenty of and the hemp is a particular fave.
I also do not wish to use Palm Oil even though it has such handy qualities for soapers.

Oh blimey I can see many experiments ahead which is a good thing of course, but I loathe waste and worry that I will be making tons of no good soap before I crack it.

Pics:

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[SimplyE]

Your bar will be super conditioning with minimal bubbles, but I would probably love it! Try Babassu for a cleansing plus bubbly. It is an awesome oil. Also, hemp is another one of my favorites. If it weren't so $$$, i would use it everytime. Try smaller batches. I always make 1# batches when I am experimenting. You have given me a couple of REALLY good ideas with what you came up with!

 

[SimplyE]

By the way, your bars look amazing! Way to go! I missed the pics the first time around!

 

[happychicken]

Hi there, i ran your recipe through soap cal and saw that your soap is, hardness 20, cleansing 0, conditioning 74, bubbly 0, creamy 20, i use this soap cal www.soapcalc.com to creat my recipe as it gives me an idea how my soaps are going to be, then i use the mms calc and print my recipe out. just play around with the soap calc and go from there. start of with a small test batch first i'd say roughly 500g of oils, maybe someone more experienced can give you more help. by the way your soaps are lovely.

 

[LomondSoap]

Just my opinion, but I would definately add some coconut or castor to get some bubbles. I've only ever made one castille batch and I didn't like it at all :roll: I think soap should have some cleansing element. Your base sounds lovely but maybe sub some of the olive for something bubbly?

 

[SoapieCP]

Fingers crossed for these little ones
Glad you have some new ideas I like to share though this recipe is not ideal I have no doubt it could be fabby with some tweaks. :wink:

 

[SoapieCP]

I ll defo be using the SoapCalc calc in future.
I agree that Coconut oil would be a good sub, just didnt have any and was a little unsure as to whether it might be too drying. Think I should give it a chance before I write it off.
TBH I have never tried pure Castile before, as until recently I have avoided soap all together due to commercial soaps being so harsh for my skin. I now know that what I like to call 'true soap' isn't like that at all.

I wash my face with Rhassoul mud BTW and love it.
I do hope that I will be able to create a soap that I like as much as R Mud on my skin soon.

 

[LomondSoap]

I've added rhassoul to my soaps and it makes a lovely creamy lather, almost like a cream. I'm sure you'll find a recipe you like, but don't discount coconut, it's the soapmakers best friend :wink:

 

[topcat]

Hi Soapy - I know you have seen soapcalc shows 0 cleansing, however soap by its very nature is cleansing, so don't take soapcalc as gospel :wink:

With 60% olive it will end up being a hard bar that will get harder as it ages, so like a fine wine or cheese....just wait for it to improve! And it is fabulously conditioning so you may find your recipe suits you perfectly. I always do like to add CO to my soap because I am a fluffy lather ho, however each to their own.

I bet at six weeks cure you will love it!

Tanya

 

[Inodoro Pereyra]

I'm not sure this is going to help, but in case it does, here it goes.
A few months ago I made my, to date, only successful batch of CP soap, using the following recipe:

25% Biodiesel glycerin
25% Olive oil
25% Lard
25%Coconut oil

Since at the time I didn't know about Soapcalc, I "designed" the recipe in a completely empirical way, and my only justifications for going that way are that it was easy, and that all fats were available at Wal Mart.
Once I finished curing it, since my skin is about as sensitive as sandpaper, I gave some bars away to several people I know, including several ladies, and some guys I work with, under the condition that I wanted their HONEST opinion in return. To make the story short, some of them still ask me when am I going to make more of it.
One of the ladies who tried it normally needs to use lotions and creams after taking a shower, because commercial soaps leave her skin tight otherwise. She loved it.

I don't know how sensitive your skin is, but if you were to modify your recipe lowering the olive oil to 40%, and adding 20% coconut oil, the numbers in Soapcalc would be: Hardness=33, cleansing=13, conditioning=60, bubbly=13, creamy=19. Still a very conditioning bar, but now it also cleans a little...

 

[SoapieCP]

Aww guys thanks for all the support and useful advice.

I will indeed rethink Coconut Oil and I like the idea of reducing the Olive Oil so I can add in the Coconut.

Fingers crossed Topcat, Thanks for the tip about the cleansing aspect. I was imagining that the bar would end up like a bath melt/massage bar ie: not so cleansing but very conditioning.

CP Soap really is a fascinating subject. The chemistry side of me loves the science of soap aspect, and the end product feeds my love of making naturally beautiful things for such a good use.

I m hooked and there is no going back now.
X

 

[SimplyE]

Hi Soapy - I know you have seen soapcalc shows 0 cleansing, however soap by its very nature is cleansing, so don't take soapcalc as gospel :wink:

I bet at six weeks cure you will love it!

I agree with topcat! Your bar is going to be yummy at six weeks, and I am very interested in how it turns out! I am very excited about creating a recipe that you have inspired me with! Keep us posted!

 

[smellitlikeitissoaps]

Here is my suggestion to you. Because the soap qualities of all your oils are not "conditioning" they need enhancers to do their job.

This is a recipe that I came up with for you.

Olive 30%
Hemp 20%
Coconut 25%
Shea 15%
Jojoba 10%

You can superfat with the cocoa butter @ 5%

Hardness 33
Cleansing 17
Condition 55
Bubbly 17
Creamy 16

 

[SoapieCP]

WOW smellitlikeitissoaps,
Looks like a great combo! I can't wait to give it a go.

I just need to get some coconut oil for the recipe, already have wild crafted Shea so I'm nearly ready to go for it.
Really excited now
XX

I will keep you updated on the over conditioning current batch, and hope it suprises me as ya'll expect, in 6wks or so. :shock: :wink:

 

[smellitlikeitissoaps]

Glad you liked it. Let me know if you run into any issues. :wink:

 

[SoapieCP]

Will do :wink:
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