Please Critique My Recipe

[Gheita]

Good Morning
:bunny:

I would like for this recipe to be critiqued so I could make a better bar of soap please.

I wanted to come up with a simple but good recipe.
My husband is complaining that his hands feel dry when he
use this Soap - I'm using hot process and the soap did sit for 4 weeks so far. I also think I may need to lower my water % - I was wondering if the cleaning number is to high and what is a good ball park number - I did notice that this bar give me a lot of lather not sure if it's because of the high % coconut oil?

I'm looking forward to learn

Total oil weight 36 oz
Water as percent of oil weight 38.00 %
Super Fat/Discount 10 %
Lye Concentration 25.993 %
Water : Lye Ratio 2.8473:1
Sat : Unsat Ratio 46 : 54
Iodine 51
INS 160
Fragrance Ratio 1
Fragrance Weight 2 oz
Pounds Ounces Grams
Water 0.855 13.68 387.82
Lye - NaOH 0.300 4.80 136.21
Oils 2.250 36.00 1,020.58
Fragrance 0.070 1.13 31.89

1 Coconut Oil, 76 deg (28.20 %) - 10.15oz
2 Olive Oil pomace (45%) - 16.20oz
3 Castor Oil (12%) - 4.32
4 Stearic Acid (14.8%) - 2.25

Soap Bar Quality Range Your Recipe
Hardness 29 - 54 45
Cleansing 12 - 22 19
Conditioning 44 - 69 52
Bubbly 14 - 46 30
Creamy 16 - 48 36
Iodine 41 - 70 51
INS 136 - 165 160
Lauric 14
Myristic 5
Palmitic 9
Stearic 17
Ricinoleic 11
Oleic 34
Linoleic 6
Linolenic 1

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Hello

Many struggle with too much coconut oil. I use 15%, which is fairly common here. "Cleansing" is a misleading term and a soap with 0 will still clean you.

That is also a lot of castor - 5% is a place where many find that they get the best results without it causing issues like softness.

Why the steric acid? When using an ffa you done have the corresponding glycerine molecule as you do when using a fat itself, so you are essentially missing out on 14% of the glycerine- that can possibly make the soap less pleasant compared to one made with only fats and no ffas.

Lastly, what is the drying like? A tightness that passes after a few moments, or literal drying with cracking and so on?

 

[Gheita]

Lastly, what is the drying like? A tightness that passes after a few moments, or literal drying with cracking and so on?

Thanks for your message. His fingertips was really dry with small cracks - I felt really bad - want him to LOVE my soap

I use the stearic to make the bar harder that's the only reason - will it be nice and hard if I don't use stearic?

 

[toxikon]

For hardness, you'll want to use hard oils. Do you have access to Palm Oil, Lard or Tallow? Most of us use one (or a combination) of those oils in percentages from 20-80% in our recipes. They are the main oils that help you produce a hard, long-lasting bar.

Most standard recipes use 20% or lower for coconut oil to prevent it from being too drying to the skin.

Castor oil is used in 5-10% - any higher and you will have a sticky bar.

If the oils you listed above are the only ones you have access to, I would recommend:

• 75% Olive Oil
• 20% Coconut Oil
• 5% Castor Oil
• 3-5% Superfat
• 25% Lye Concentration

If you can find Palm/Lard/Tallow, change it to:

• 50% Palm/Lard/Tallow
• 25% Olive Oil
• 20% Coconut Oil
• 5% Castor
• 3-5% Superfat
• 25% Lye Concentration

 

[Arimara]

Hello

"Cleansing" is a misleading term and a soap with 0 will still clean you.

Adding to this- think of cleansing as 'stripping'. the higher the cleansing level, the more the soap will strip your skin of it's natural oils, leading to drier skin. Hence, 15-20% coconut oil will often be plenty for a soap.

On a more personal note, I honestly think you may want to consider letting your hot processed soaps cure longer than 4 weeks. you could make a super gentle soap but it will still feel harsh if you don't let it cure properly.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

As Toxi (Konny? TK?) said, hardness can come from other places which might also bring more to the party than SA alone does. Those 3 "body" oils listed all contain a lot of stearic acid themselves, but also have the glycerine molecule still attached and have other acids present which brings a different feel. SA as an FFA is also a pain to work with, especially in CP, which is avoided when using an actual fat.

 

[dixiedragon]

Lard. lard lard lardy lard lard.

For your husband's very dry hands, I would do a 100% lard soap with 5% or 10% superfat and see where that goes.

Some people find olive oil to be drying/irritating, so maybe try a recipe with low OO or no OO.

 

[HowieRoll]

toxikon, just as an aside about water amounts, have you used a 40% lye concentration on a mostly olive oil hot process batch? I'm asking out of curiosity, because for the hot process soap I've made I've stuck to a 25-28% lye concentration, otherwise it dries out too much during cooking. But maybe it's different with a 75% olive oil batch (and it certainly would be nice for curing purposes!)? Just making sure, as the OP seems to be doing hot process.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Gheita, what oils do you have available and are there any which you don't want to use for some reason (such as no animal oils for vegans or no palm for sustainability concerns)?

 

[toxikon]

toxikon, just as an aside about water amounts, have you used a 40% lye concentration on a mostly olive oil hot process batch? I'm asking out of curiosity, because for the hot process soap I've made I've stuck to a 25-28% lye concentration, otherwise it dries out too much during cooking. But maybe it's different with a 75% olive oil batch (and it certainly would be nice for curing purposes!)? Just making sure, as the OP seems to be doing hot process.

My bad, I missed the "hot process" part. My brain always defaults to cold process because that's what I do! I'll edit my post.

 

[shunt2011]

I agree on lard. I dislike high olive oil soap and find it drying to my skin. Plus it takes too long to cure. High lard, a bit of CO and Castor. 5-6% SF.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Lard. lard lard lardy lard lard. :smile:

ROFL Dixie, you cracked me up!

I would like for this recipe to be critiqued so I could make a better bar of soap please. I wanted to come up with a simple but good recipe. My husband is complaining that his hands feel dry when he use this Soap - I'm using hot process and the soap did sit for 4 weeks so far. I also think I may need to lower my water % - I was wondering if the cleaning number is to high and what is a good ball park number - I did notice that this bar give me a lot of lather not sure if it's because of the high % coconut oil?

Sat : Unsat Ratio 46 : 54 <<<< Good

Coconut Oil, 76 deg (28.20 %) <<<< Good (could go lower)
Olive Oil pomace (45%) <<<< Good (could go higher)
Castor Oil (12%) <<<< High; 5% would be better.
Stearic Acid (14.8%) <<<< WHOA! almost 15%?! I think that may be why your soap feels drying. IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) and IME (In My Experience) you don't need it with this recipe. It's hard enough without SA.

---IMO, HP soap with a 4-week cure should be ready to use. I'd take a bar and try it. If it needs more cure time, your skin will let you know.
---Altho some may disagree, I encourage Newbies to use the default numbers for water % and SF % on SoapCalc when first designing formulas -- until you become familiar with why you would want to change those numbers.
---A good ballpark number for "cleansing" (or any other value) can be found in the "Range" recommended for that value. Those are guidelines to help you reach your goal. If your numbers are within the Range, you're good.
---This bar gave a lot of lather because of the high % of coconut oil and castor oil.

My advice is to try reformulating without the SA and possibly without the castor and see how you come out. I'd also take Dixie's advice and add either lard, tallow, or palm. All 3 of those oils serve basically the same purpose in a balanced formula.

Everyone is different, what works for others may not work as well for you. Here's a link that may help you to formulate your best soap:

http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/secret-to-the-best-soap-recipe/
:bunny:

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Zany, can you also explain WHY things are good or bad? Like sat to unsat ratios matter, rather than just saying "good" or "not good"? Is that ratio good because the unsat is higher than the sat? If so, then a 10:90 must be amazing!

Without saying why something is good or bad, you're h_lp__g - it's like helping, but with massive gaps that really can matter.

 

[Nevada]

Coconut Oil 20%
Olive Oil Pomace 80%
SF 5%

While your soap is curing go onto Etsy and buy Hubby a Lanolin Lotion Stick. It'll heal those rough hands straightaway.

Thanks for your message. His fingertips was really dry with small cracks - I felt really bad - want him to LOVE my soap

I use the stearic to make the bar harder that's the only reason - will it be nice and hard if I don't use stearic?

 

[HowieRoll]

My bad, I missed the "hot process" part. My brain always defaults to cold process because that's what I do! I'll edit my post.

No worries, I was just hoping you'd successfully done a 40% lye concentration hot process batch because I thought it might help with the pesky warping issues I have!

 

[Susie]

I am going to suggest a high lard soap, also. I will also repeat the "too much CO, too much castor oil, too much stearic acid" rant going on previously.

My favorite soap recipe for dry, cracked hands (I used to get them, no more since I started only using my own soap.)

Lard 65%-this is the fat that is closest to human fats, so it absorbs better.
Olive Oil 15%-it brings something indefinable to soap at this percentage, but I definitely miss it when I don't use it!
Coconut Oil 15%-this is my personal magic number for maximum bubbles for minimum dryness. If you need to go lower, that is fine, but don't go higher until your hubby's fingers heal.
Castor Oil 5%-supports the lather to keep it around longer, not so much that it makes the bars soft.

Superfat 5-8% I would start higher then work lower as you see it is tolerated well.

 

[Gheita]

Gheita, what oils do you have available and are there any which you don't want to use for some reason (such as no animal oils for vegans or no palm for sustainability concerns)?

Thank you for everyone's input I truly appreciate it - This is why they say soap making is an Art, so many little things that could make a big difference

Hi BrewerGeorge.
Getting any oil is no problem - I will Google to find what I need , do you have suggestions or favorite oils you think could help me make a good skin loving soap for my husband?

I'm so thankful for all the advise and I will print this to revisit from time to time.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

...
Hi BrewerGeorge.
Getting any oil is no problem - I will Google to find what I need , do you have suggestions or favorite oils you think could help me make a good skin loving soap for my husband?
...

My current favorite is
50% lard
20% coconut
20% olive
5% castor
5% avocado

at 7% superfat

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Zany, can you also explain WHY things are good or bad? Like sat to unsat ratios matter, rather than just saying "good" or "not good"? Is that ratio good because the unsat is higher than the sat? If so, then a 10:90 must be amazing! Without saying why something is good or bad, you're h_lp__g - it's like helping, but with massive gaps that really can matter.

LOL Ya know, Sir, you're the first person of the male persuasion to ask me to explain more! Our 3 sons are always asking me to "Get to the bottom line, Mom!"

That being said, the reason I didn't explain more is because I went to lunch and intended to take advantage of the Edit button later on. Which I did. :mrgreen:

Also, I have a tendency to assume the person using SoapCalc has read all the information offered before using it to start designing formulas, i.e., they know what the "Soap Quality Range" means.

Good point about the Sat:Unsat ratio. In a balanced recipe, you want them to be about equal. It's just another guideline to get to where you want to be, me thinks, and that's just me, and how I like to formulate with SoapCalc.

Thank you for your critique. I know you're just trying to be helpful to all concerned. :bath1:
​

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

The "why" for me is always so key to learning, especially in a soap-making context. Never fear going in to too much detail here!