Newbie need help with th hardness of my soap recipe

[debbs]

Hi iam trying to get a nice moisturising soap for my skin, but the more of the soft moisturising oils i use the softer the soap comes up in soapcalc. I dont like to much co as i find it to drying. Here is my recipe iam thinking of

5% sweet almond oil
15% coconut
15% caster oil
22% lard ( as i heard this is nice in soap)
20% palm oil

superfat/discount of 5

The conditioning comes to 59
but the hardness is 37 will my soap turn out to soap at this hardness level

the cleansing is 12

Will be grateful for any help or input

 

[busymakinsoap!]

When I first started out, I was advised on this forum to add bees wax. I've used it a couple of times with 'softer' recipes and it seems to work. It doesnt have any properties listed on soap calc which is a bit anoying.

I have used it at 1% I think you can go up to 2? maybe someone with more experience will chime in.

 

[carebear]

you don't need beeswax. the recipe will be plenty hard. BUT I'd really recommend backing off on the castor oil to about 10% maximum. I know some go high on it, but I find that it makes my soap a bit sticky at that level. Make up the difference in palm or lard - they are kinda equivalent.

 

[carebear]

When I first started out, I was advised on this forum to add bees wax. I've used it a couple of times with 'softer' recipes and it seems to work. It doesnt have any properties listed on soap calc which is a bit anoying.

beeswax doesn't do anything but harden soap somewhat and interfere with soap behaviors. it doesn't really have any "properties" - it doesn't lather, or condition, or cleanse.

 

[KnowWhat]

What is missing? It doesn't add up to 100%

 

[debbs]

oops no it doesnt add up to 100 i miss out the olive oil

So if i do something like

5% Almond
10% caster
15% Coconut
20% lard
20% palm
30% Olive

I will do a superfat/discount of 7%

Ive made quite a few recipes now but just havent found the right one for my skin, i think i may be a bit sensitive to c o or some thing, as after using soap i get a bit itchy :?

 

[carebear]

Lotion is your friend.

 

[DottieF.]

I wouldn't use more than 5% castor oil. Too much can make your soap soft. If you think you have issues with coconut oil why not give palm kernel oil a try. If you do try the pko, I'd increase the amount of pko and ditch the castor completely. You will have great lather without it.

 

[gilligan]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I have a related question (I posted it in the lye calculator sticky but I don't think anyone's seen it).

About soapcalc and the values on the lefthand column (#5):

How important are they? When I put in 100% olive oil, it says 0 for cleansing, yet this soap cleans me. Also, some of the combinations I put in say that they won't be hard, so I'm afraid to waste my fats/oils on them.

Am I worrying about such things too much or is that column very important?

 

[carebear]

it's not very important, but it's kinda useful for comparison purposes.

it's got some major flaws - and you hit on one of them - the misinformation on olive oil. despite what it says, olive oil soap does get ROCK hard, and does cleanse.

it is also unable to take into account unsaponifiables (like in shea butter) and more importantly it doesn't use the superfat/lye discount in calculating the properties.

a 100% olive oil soap will cleanse (mildly) and will get rock hard.
a 100% coconut oil soap can be nice and mild with a 20% superfat.

 

[KD]

hardness in soap

I use cocoa butter in equal proportions to my palm oil, and my soap is hard right down to the last sliver. I omitted it for a year as a test, but I went back to it. Besides hardness, it is nice and creamy, and gentle on the skin. Of course, an allergy would nix that.

 

[gilligan]

Thanks! Maybe I'll continue to experament with small batches so I can learn.

 

[Guest]

This is the link to the soap calculator I use, it has beeswax listed. I have seen sea salt listed on ingredients on home made soap. Does it enhance the hardening of soap?

http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp