New to the addiction

makes_scents · Aug 22, 2015

I used green chrome oxide from BB. I was surprised by how little color it took. I need to come up with a recipe to use the amounts of oils I have left. Olive and Coconut are what I have the least of at the current moment. I have plenty of Shea Butter, Avocado and Castor oil left...any suggestions? All of these amounts started off at 16 oz. My recipe last night used 9.6 oz of both the coconut and olive oil.

snappyllama · Aug 22, 2015

Do you have access to lard? It's very inexpensive at the grocery store and is an excellent soaping oil. We have a lard parade on here, and I'm totally in the float wearing a big, ironic piggy costume throwing beads.

AO acts a lot like OO in recipes. Something I'd like:

Lard 55%
Castor: 5%
CO: 15%
Shea: 5%
The rest in OO or AO or a combo

not_ally · Aug 23, 2015

Totally agree w/Snappy. Shea and castor are best used in lesser amounts - for a new soaper, shea up to 10%, most people suggest 5% for castor (although castor boosts lather in existing oils, too much makes the soap soft and too much butter will really decrease your lather.) You might change these numbers as you gain experience, based on what you see of interactions w/the fatty acids in your recipes as they change, but for now I would just stay simple. Lard, on the other hand, it is hard to go wrong with, even at the get-go.

If you live in the US, you probably can find lard locally, that is what I would do, then use your existing oils for the balance as she suggested.

TeresaT · Aug 23, 2015

Lard!! Go with the lard. Come to the Lard Side...

(BTW: totally amazing soap! Cannot believe it's your first. You rock.)

Jstar · Aug 23, 2015

Yup, Lard...I've been working mainly with tallow I rendered a long while back..have yet to do a lard/tallow..but Im thinking my next batch just may be that..been hearing the great stories of these combo's

I have coco butter and shea, and ya know I just dont use them much anymore..I find that my soaps feel just as nice without them...I prefer now to just use coconut milk at 100% and kaolin clay in all my soaps and save the butters for body butter making