Opinions please lovely people :-)

[Rachyroo]

Hiya, would you mind telling me your views on the below please? I've been messing about with it for ages now so thought I would ask the pro's,,,,,any issues as far as you can see? How it might turn out? I've noticed previously I have had alot more ingredients than others so thought I'd chop it down a little.

Olive oil - 20oz
Coconut oil - 14oz
Castor oil - 10oz
Rapeseed oil - 8oz
Shea butter - 7oz
Water - 22.4oz
Lye - 8oz
5% discount

Thanks Rach x

 

[BrewerGeorge]

That's about 3 times as much castor as you need. It's probably into detrimental territory but I've never personally gone that high to be able to say that definitively.

If your rapeseed (canola) is high-oleic, you're not far off from the same thing as 50% olive, so that's fine. If it's NOT high-oleic, I wouldn't use it in soap personally.

Shea is good.

Coconut is okay, if maybe a shade high at ~24%. If your skin doesn't mind that, go for it. It could be a good balance to the high-oleic of the olive and HO canola.

From the recipe, I'm assuming you're trying to avoid animal fats and palm. (If you're not, let us know because that makes things A LOT easier!) With that in mind, I would personally drop the castor to 3 oz and make up the difference with shea. Replace the rapeseed with more olive if it's not HO, or leave it alone.

Additionally, re-work the whole thing to use grams instead of ounces. Your electronic kitchen scale probably measures to the half gram resolution, so using grams instead of ounces is a lot more precise.

 

[cmzaha]

Welcome Rachyroo.
The first thing that screams no is the 16.9% castor, you want to keep it in the 5% range. Castor oil does not give bubbly lather it helps supports lather. Second the Coconut percentage is high for most but not all and many do not go over 20%, but that is one you have to try to see how your skin accepts the higher percentages. CO is a cleansing oil along with it being a bubbly oil, which will strip the natural skin oils. Third, you really need some palm, lard or tallow to help with longevity of your soap, even with the shea your soap is going to go away pretty quick, since it is on the high end of solubility. If you can I would add in some lard, tallow or palm. You could up the olive oil, but, this is my opinion, if you go over 40% you will need a longer cure time. While butters are great in soap and will add in longevity, without a very long cure, they tend to cut lather.

This is what I would do with your oils above, but adding in tallow, lard or palm
25% lard/tallow/palm
30% OO
20% CO
Shea Butter 10%
Rapeseed Oil 10%
Castor 5%
I would also recommend making a 1 lb test batch, since most never make a fantastic the first time around. It takes a lot of time and testing to come up with the "perfect bar".

Oops Brewer George beat me ...

 

[Saponificarian]

I use rapeseed at 25%. It is really nice in soap. The fatty acid is almost comparable with sweet almond oil so I would use it. I find that if I am not using at least 30% solid oil(s) like Palm, Tallow and butters, I can do 15% Palm Kernel oil or Coconut and the lather will still be great and it won't dry me out so like BG said you need to give your coconut oil a looksee . Castor is a bit on the high side but I rarely use it so what do I know...

 

[Rachyroo]

Thank you very much for your replies Yes, you guessed it, I'm trying to avoid animal fats and palm. Not that I oppose it at all, I love a bit of tallow in my soap, just to see how to make a nice soap without it. I'm struggling to get the solid factor in though. I do have slightly dry skin, so, pass the tallow!!! lol x

 

[penelopejane]

I’d replace the rapeseed with avocado or almond or macadamia and reduce the castor to 5% and reduce the coconut to 20% or less - especially for dry skin.

 

[Rachyroo]

Welcome Rachyroo.
The first thing that screams no is the 16.9% castor, you want to keep it in the 5% range. Castor oil does not give bubbly lather it helps supports lather. Second the Coconut percentage is high for most but not all and many do not go over 20%, but that is one you have to try to see how your skin accepts the higher percentages. CO is a cleansing oil along with it being a bubbly oil, which will strip the natural skin oils. Third, you really need some palm, lard or tallow to help with longevity of your soap, even with the shea your soap is going to go away pretty quick, since it is on the high end of solubility. If you can I would add in some lard, tallow or palm. You could up the olive oil, but, this is my opinion, if you go over 40% you will need a longer cure time. While butters are great in soap and will add in longevity, without a very long cure, they tend to cut lather.

This is what I would do with your oils above, but adding in tallow, lard or palm
25% lard/tallow/palm
30% OO
20% CO
Shea Butter 10%
Rapeseed Oil 10%
Castor 5%
I would also recommend making a 1 lb test batch, since most never make a fantastic the first time around. It takes a lot of time and testing to come up with the "perfect bar".

Oops Brewer George beat me ...

Hiya, what sort of bar would this make please? I'm confuddled. Would the above make a bubbly/creamy lather? If not what could I add/change?

Thanks Rach x

 

[SunRiseArts]