New soaper needing help

[JorgeSeven]

Hello everyone,
I just got into soap making and I’ve been trial and error testing with a few recipes and I’ve gotten to a point I believe i have a decent soap, but I would like some outside input.

My recipe is 25% coconut oil, 25% extra virgin olive oil, 20% lard, 15% palm oil, 10% shea butter, 5% castor oil. With 30% water as percent of oil weight.

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[bookworm42]

Looks good to me .
What superfat are you going to do? I recommend anywhere between 3-5%.
Also have you made soap with that high of coconut oil before? Some people find above 15% to be too drying, but others are fine with it that high. You won't know what you prefer unless you make it and try it yourself.

 

[justsomeguy]

You might want to make your lye concentration 33% instead of using the water as a percent of oils

 

[Nona'sFarm]

When I first started soaping, some of the best advice I got was to learn to use a soap calculator and to start with small batches.
I put your recipe in a soap calculator and here are the results. So looks like a decent recipe to start with and then you can tweak from here, depending on how the soap feels after curing.
Happy experimenting!

 

[Zing]

WELCOME to the Forum! I don't use lard but your recipe is kind of similar to mine. I really wanted to get it to fewer than 6 oils/butters but that didn't happen. I love coconut oil and use it at 24%. We like photos too, just saying.

 

[dibbles]

I think your recipe looks fine. I also use coconut oil at 25% and my family, friends and I all are fine with that amount. I do know others find it too drying. If your end goal is selling your soap, I would suggest giving samples to lots of friends/family who have different skin types to get feedback. You can then adjust your recipe by lowering the coconut oil percentage, or think about making an 'extra gentle' bar that might not lather as well, but isn't as drying (cleansing on the so@p calculators).

With the price of olive oil these days, I would switch from EVOO to regular (not pomace) olive oil. I haven't found that EVOO adds anything to my soaps that warrants the higher cost. And I completely agree with @Nona'sFarm that if you haven't learned to use a so@p calculator, it is important that you take the time for that.

 

[JorgeSeven]

Looks good to me .
What superfat are you going to do? I recommend anywhere between 3-5%.
Also have you made soap with that high of coconut oil before? Some people find above 15% to be too drying, but others are fine with it that high. You won't know what you prefer unless you make it and try it yourself.

Thanks! I’m running 5% superfat, I usually keep it in the 20-25% range for the coconut oil, I’m not sure if I drop it any lower than that would it sud enough. Could I increase the castor oil to increase the sud production? Or would this make my soap too soft

You might want to make your lye concentration 33% instead of using the water as a percent of oils

I’ll give that a go! It seems like that percentage on soap calc decreases the amount of water by .45 oz for my batch size.

When I first started soaping, some of the best advice I got was to learn to use a soap calculator and to start with small batches.
I put your recipe in a soap calculator and here are the results. So looks like a decent recipe to start with and then you can tweak from here, depending on how the soap feels after curing.
Happy experimenting!
View attachment 79968

Thanks for the website I’ll check it out!

WELCOME to the Forum! I don't use lard but your recipe is kind of similar to mine. I really wanted to get it to fewer than 6 oils/butters but that didn't happen. I love coconut oil and use it at 24%. We like photos too, just saying.

Thank you thank you, glad to be here
I am still a bit hesitant with the lard because of how people may react to it for religious and personal reasons, but I read a lot of people on here do enjoy it in their own soaps so I’ve been using it. I’ll attach a photo of a few of my soaps so far!

I think your recipe looks fine. I also use coconut oil at 25% and my family, friends and I all are fine with that amount. I do know others find it too drying. If your end goal is selling your soap, I would suggest giving samples to lots of friends/family who have different skin types to get feedback. You can then adjust your recipe by lowering the coconut oil percentage, or think about making an 'extra gentle' bar that might not lather as well, but isn't as drying (cleansing on the so@p calculators).

With the price of olive oil these days, I would switch from EVOO to regular (not pomace) olive oil. I haven't found that EVOO adds anything to my soaps that warrants the higher cost. And I completely agree with @Nona'sFarm that if you haven't learned to use a so@p calculator, it is important that you take the time for that.

I’ve been giving out some soaps to friends and family I haven’t gotten much feedback yet lol I’ve been able to use a few of my bars and they seem to lather really nicely and to me aren’t too harsh. But I don’t have very sensitive skin. I’ll decrease the coconut oil on my next batch. Do you have a recommendation on which oil I should increase? I’d really like a bar that lasts longer and doesn’t dissolve after only a few washes.

I’ve been buying my olive oil from Costco and the cost for evoo vs olive oil seems to be almost the same maybe a few dollars more, but nothing drastic. It is the most expensive oil in my recipe though, I’ve been looking around for a cheaper source but Costco I think is the best seller for the amount I’m buying

I’ve been using soap calc, it doesn’t include any additives, but it does help with the base recipe. I’ll have to give the soap making friend calc a go.

 

[bookworm42]

@JorgeSeven those are so pretty!
I wouldn't go higher than 5% for the castor oil. Around 10% and people say it makes soap sticky. You can always increase the lard. I use a recipe with 15% CO and 60% lard. To me it lathers quite well.
For olive oil I also buy at Costco. I buy the cheapest and the price difference is about $12/L vs $9/L where I am.

 

[Ekuzo]

Welcome, great looking bars!

Great advices were given above, everything is sound.

Personally, 25% coconut is okay for me, it doesn't bother me at all - water as % of oils does though. Definitely switch to lye concentration for more consistent results.

Don't increase the castor. If you decide to use less coconut, you can use some sugar to get good suds. Or why not use both 25% coconut AND sugar, if you like it that way? Lol

I use pomace and never used other types of olive oils - for the simple reason it's the cheapest out here. I'm not concerned about hexane extraction - pomace is still food grade oil, so in soap it's just fine. People say it accelerates trace - my point of reference is my recipes where I use high oleic sunflower oil instead of pomace olive oil, and they move kinda more slowly, so there's that. HTH!

 

[Zing]

Thanks! I’m running 5% superfat, I usually keep it in the 20-25% range for the coconut oil, I’m not sure if I drop it any lower than that would it sud enough. Could I increase the castor oil to increase the sud production? Or would this make my soap too soft


I’ll give that a go! It seems like that percentage on soap calc decreases the amount of water by .45 oz for my batch size.


Thanks for the website I’ll check it out!


Thank you thank you, glad to be here
I am still a bit hesitant with the lard because of how people may react to it for religious and personal reasons, but I read a lot of people on here do enjoy it in their own soaps so I’ve been using it. I’ll attach a photo of a few of my soaps so far!


I’ve been giving out some soaps to friends and family I haven’t gotten much feedback yet lol I’ve been able to use a few of my bars and they seem to lather really nicely and to me aren’t too harsh. But I don’t have very sensitive skin. I’ll decrease the coconut oil on my next batch. Do you have a recommendation on which oil I should increase? I’d really like a bar that lasts longer and doesn’t dissolve after only a few washes.

I’ve been buying my olive oil from Costco and the cost for evoo vs olive oil seems to be almost the same maybe a few dollars more, but nothing drastic. It is the most expensive oil in my recipe though, I’ve been looking around for a cheaper source but Costco I think is the best seller for the amount I’m buying

I’ve been using soap calc, it doesn’t include any additives, but it does help with the base recipe. I’ll have to give the soap making friend calc a go.

Wait, what, you just started making soap?! Those look awesome. I especially like the black and red. Chiming in on the 5% max castor.

 

[ackosel]

I love the blue/cream in the upper left corner. So pretty! All your soaps look marvelous. Keep up the great work!

 

[Cindy D.]

Very pretty soaps, great job! I can't do less than 6% super fat or my hands get all dried out and I get a ton of hang nails that get infected. At 6% all my family wants soap, it keeps their hands soft all winter.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Love your soaps! Really beautiful color combinations. What is the black with white specks, on the top right?
As far as castor oil, I would keep it at 5%. If you are looking for more suds, you can add sugar at 2% of the oil weight (approximately 1 TB ppo) and/or use aloe vera to replace the water. I do both and have really nice sudsing soap. If you want to decrease the coconut, additional lard never hurts. My recipes are between 55-75% lard. Looks like you are off to a great start!

 

[melinda48]

For additional suds, I add 1tsp PPO of powdered sugar to my oils. Works great for me.

 

[JorgeSeven]

@JorgeSeven those are so pretty!
I wouldn't go higher than 5% for the castor oil. Around 10% and people say it makes soap sticky. You can always increase the lard. I use a recipe with 15% CO and 60% lard. To me it lathers quite well.
For olive oil I also buy at Costco. I buy the cheapest and the price difference is about $12/L vs $9/L where I am.

Thanks I’ll keep the castor at 5%, I really am aiming for a harder bar that lathers well not a sticky one lol. I just made a new batch today dropped coconut down from 25 to 20 and threw the extra 5% into the lard, so we will see!
I’ll have to check out the prices again the next time I’m in Costco

 

[JorgeSeven]

Welcome, great looking bars!

Great advices were given above, everything is sound.

Personally, 25% coconut is okay for me, it doesn't bother me at all - water as % of oils does though. Definitely switch to lye concentration for more consistent results.

Don't increase the castor. If you decide to use less coconut, you can use some sugar to get good suds. Or why not use both 25% coconut AND sugar, if you like it that way? Lol

I use pomace and never used other types of olive oils - for the simple reason it's the cheapest out here. I'm not concerned about hexane extraction - pomace is still food grade oil, so in soap it's just fine. People say it accelerates trace - my point of reference is my recipes where I use high oleic sunflower oil instead of pomace olive oil, and they move kinda more slowly, so there's that. HTH!

Thank you thank you, I think I’ll give sugar a go on my next batch forgot to add it on this last one. Hopefully I still get the suds with the 20 percent coconut
I’ll have to look into the olive oil pomace if it is a cheaper alternative with the same outcome

 

[JorgeSeven]

Wait, what, you just started making soap?! Those look awesome. I especially like the black and red. Chiming in on the 5% max castor.

Hehe thank you very much, that was my very first bar and I’ve been trying to repeat it every time without being able to get the same result lol I think it’s in the saponification and when it went into gel phase it really made the colors pop, but I got a bit of the glycerin rivers which I think adds to the look

 

[JorgeSeven]

I love the blue/cream in the upper left corner. So pretty! All your soaps look marvelous. Keep up the great work!

Thank you very much! That one is a bay rum scent. I tried to make it look like a wave crashing on the beach

 

[JorgeSeven]

Very pretty soaps, great job! I can't do less than 6% super fat or my hands get all dried out and I get a ton of hang nails that get infected. At 6% all my family wants soap, it keeps their hands soft all winter.

Thank you! I do use glyercin to add my color so I’m thinking that will add a bit of super fat or conditioning to my bars, I’m not sure if I need to include that in the calculation?

 

[JorgeSeven]

Love your soaps! Really beautiful color combinations. What is the black with white specks, on the top right?
As far as castor oil, I would keep it at 5%. If you are looking for more suds, you can add sugar at 2% of the oil weight (approximately 1 TB ppo) and/or use aloe vera to replace the water. I do both and have really nice sudsing soap. If you want to decrease the coconut, additional lard never hurts. My recipes are between 55-75% lard. Looks like you are off to a great start!

Thanks! That one is a pine tar soap with a citrus and cedarwood scent it’s got activated charcoal, oats, and a little pumice for exfoliation. I will give the sugar a try on my next batch, but how does the aloe Vera affect the soap? Is that something I need to punch into soap calc?