Recipe critique?

[NewlyCreative]

Please take a moment to critique my recipes. I’m new to this and trying to use new soap making ingredient (Walmart shortening) and left over oils from other projects.

I’ve read so many how to posts that I can’t keep the oils straight anymore.

Most of the recipe is straight forward olive oil, coconut oil, shortening (replace palm). I’m using grape seed oil because it’s cheap and Ive heard it can replace argan or other more expensive oils?

It’s down to safflower vs sweet almond oil.

I’m also not sure if sodium lactate is needed.

I tried sodium lactate a few weeks ago and my soap went solid so quick! I’m too embarrassed to post pictures because it’s so ugly, lol!

Smaller details
I have some spare neroli Hydrosol I’m trying to use up and no fragrance oils on hand.

Green clay because it’s here and I’ve got no micas or other dyes to try.

I’m also thinking about using seabuckthom oil/extract as orange coloring to match orange scent.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Hi @NewlyCreative - I want to follow your post so I can check my thinking about the recipe feedback you’ll receive from other more experienced and technical soapers here. You’ll get way better and more detailed advice from others on knowledge I’m still learning
I’ll give 3 thoughts others may expand on…
1. I like your 5% castor - that’s the perfect % for me - soap isn’t sticky and nice bubbles
2. The sweet almond or safflower at only 5% probably won’t be very noticeable. I love Sweet Almond but I use 10% at minimum of oils/fats (except castor) to notice their properties in my finished soap.
3. Sodium Lactate -if the batch you mention seizing up and being ugly had a similar amount to the recipes you shared, I can’t imagine it being the cause. I use SL at 1% of fats, so maybe that’s a smidge less compared, but even when I’ve used more than you called for, I haven’t had it be a factor in speeding on batter up.

Anywho, welcome to the forum, and let’s see what everyone else says to guide you.

 

[NewlyCreative]

Thank you!

 

[AliOop]

@dmcgee5034 gave you good advice on the recipe.with her tips in mind, I think it looks pretty good!

For the one that traced fast (“got solid quick”) the SL would not have caused this. How much did you stickblend? For a batch your size, 3 seconds of stickblending could be too much.

Did you use any EO or FO? Any clays, TD, or other oxides? And how hot were your oils and lye when you combined them? All of those things affect trace.

 

[NewlyCreative]

Thank you!

I went ahead and made the soap with safflower oil.

I also used seabuktom oil to give an orange color to the soap. I split the batter into roughly half with seabuckthom oil/sweet orange essential oil added to one half of the batter.

I added the seabuckkthom oil mixed with sweet orange essential oil after trace.

I tried to swirl but I over stick blended and the batter was pretty thick when I placed into mold so we’ll see how that goes.

Here’s a pic - we’ll see how it goes!

FWIW - the ugly previous batches used several butters (mango and kokum, plus jojoba oil) to make up for no palm oil so they aren’t really comparable. That said despite being ugly they are turning into some nice soap!

 

[AliOop]

FWIW - the ugly previous batches used several butters (mango and kokum, plus jojoba oil) to make up for no palm oil so they aren’t really comparable. That said despite being ugly they are turning into some nice soap!

The butters may have been what sped up your batter. They are known for moving fast, esp when warmer.

 

[NewlyCreative]

The butters may have been what sped up your batter. They are known for moving fast, esp when warmer.

Sorry didn’t see your response!

Yes I used clay and the temp was around 110 F. I used Lavender EO. I agree that the butters were the main culprits for speeding up trace!

 

[AliOop]

Sorry didn’t see your response!

Yes I used clay and the temp was around 110 F. I used Lavender EO. I agree that the butters were the main culprits for speeding up trace!

Definitely it wasn’t the SL - if anything, that keeps batter more fluid.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Congratulations on making good soap! I agree with the comments above. To add a bit more, your basic recipe looks fine to me except that I would drop the grapeseed down a bit and increase the safflower or sweet almond oil. You could just switch the percentages. Grapeseed oil is very high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic & linolenic). These FAs contribute to nice bubbles and add a slip/silky feel, but they also increase the risk that your soap will develop rancidity (DOS or dreaded orange spots) due to oxidation. The rule of thumb is to keep the combined percentage of those two FAs at 15% or lower. When you have some time, you may also want to do a little research on adding a chelator to your soap, and especially if you stick with using grapeseed oil, because it will help to slow down the oxidation of the oils. Increasing the safflower or SAO to 15% and dropping the grapeseed to 5% won’t take away from the lather, but the bubbles may be a little smaller and denser (foamy). I also encourage you to drop the clay down to a teaspoon or less for this size recipe because a tablespoon of French green clay for 340 g of fats is very high. Green clay absorbs a lot of water, but for your batch size and lye concentration (33%) you should be fine with 3/4-1 tsp.

 

[NewlyCreative]

Thank you so much for the heads up on grape seed oil! I read up on citric acid and other chelators.

Is rancidity why people use high oleic safflower oil?

I didn’t end up using the French clay and opted for seabuckthom oil instead. I added .1 ounce seabuckthom oil and .2 ounces sweet orange essential oil after trace and the SB oil did make a nice light orange color and the orange EO boosts the hydrosol scent. Looking back I’ll be amazed if the soap doesn’t develop DOS over time between all the orange ingredients and used of grape seed and safflower oils with no chelator.

I unmolded today and the soap is a lot softer than my attempts from two weeks ago! It’s like cutting through butter/semi-hard cheese! I don’t know if it will harden more with time or stay really soft.

As for using the hydrosol - the scent survived the lye process! I ended up using one half distilled water/one half neroli hydrosol because I didn’t freeze enough of the hydrosol. Orange goo did precipitate out in the lye as it cooled, so I poured the lye solution through a strainer.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Is rancidity why people use high oleic safflower oil? Yes. I use HO Sunflower because I can get it at a better price.

Looking back I’ll be amazed if the soap doesn’t develop DOS over time between all the orange ingredients and used of grape seed and safflower oils with no chelator. A good quality orange EO is unlikely to contribute to DOS, but with soap it's always "never say never". Sea Buckthorn oil is high in the PUFAs, but you used a small amount so that wouldn't be the major concern relative to using grapeseed and regular safflower oils.

I unmolded today and the soap is a lot softer than my attempts from two weeks ago! It’s like cutting through butter/semi-hard cheese! I don’t know if it will harden more with time or stay really soft. Softer soap happens sometimes. Was your lye fresh and used soon after it was made? Possibly it has something to do with the orange goo you mentioned below. There's a good chance that the soap will be nice and firm if you put it aside to cure for about 8 weeks and then check back on it.

As for using the hydrosol - the scent survived the lye process! I ended up using one half distilled water/one half neroli hydrosol because I didn’t freeze enough of the hydrosol. Orange goo did precipitate out in the lye as it cooled, so I poured the lye solution through a strainer. I've never tried this but it's interesting since neroli tends to dissipate relatively quickly from cp soap.

 

[NewlyCreative]

Is rancidity why people use high oleic safflower oil? Yes. I use HO Sunflower because I can get it at a better price.

Looking back I’ll be amazed if the soap doesn’t develop DOS over time between all the orange ingredients and used of grape seed and safflower oils with no chelator. A good quality orange EO is unlikely to contribute to DOS, but with soap it's always "never say never". Sea Buckthorn oil is high in the PUFAs, but you used a small amount so that wouldn't be the major concern relative to using grapeseed and regular safflower oils.

I unmolded today and the soap is a lot softer than my attempts from two weeks ago! It’s like cutting through butter/semi-hard cheese! I don’t know if it will harden more with time or stay really soft. Softer soap happens sometimes. Was your lye fresh and used soon after it was made? Possibly it has something to do with the orange goo you mentioned below. There's a good chance that the soap will be nice and firm if you put it aside to cure for about 8 weeks and then check back on it.

As for using the hydrosol - the scent survived the lye process! I ended up using one half distilled water/one half neroli hydrosol because I didn’t freeze enough of the hydrosol. Orange goo did precipitate out in the lye as it cooled, so I poured the lye solution through a strainer. I've never tried this but it's interesting since neroli tends to dissipate relatively quickly from cp soap.

Thank you again for all the feedback!

Re: Was your lye fresh and used soon after it was made? Possibly it has something to do with the orange goo you mentioned below.

Yes, the lye solution was used within about 40 minutes of being mixed and the container of powdered lye granules is new as well. I’m pretty sure the orange was bits of orange from the hydrosol. They appeared about 15 minutes after making the lye solution with hydrosol and distilled water.

Re: I've never tried this but it's interesting since neroli tends to dissipate relatively quickly from cp soap.

We’ll see how it is in 2 - 4 weeks The soap I made two weeks ago has lost most of the essential oil scent - one batch was frankincense and the other lavender. Both were really strong at first but lost intensity over a week.

I ordered a more standard oil blend, micas, and fragrance oils from brambleberry last week and they are due to arrive late this week. I’ll see how soaping with more standard ingredients works out. My goal is to try to create a small CP soap batch a week to see if I can find a technique/oil blend I like.

 

[NewlyCreative]

New recipe!
My soap made last week was a lot softer than previous attempts so I tweaked the recipe. Although they are finally starting to harden today, almost a week later.

I took out the olive oil and replaced with high oleic safflower oil and increased the lye concentration.

Let me know what you think!

And I included a pic of the soap I made last week. Surprisingly no soda ash despite the relatively high water content. The color is from just .1 oz seabuckthom oil. Also orange scent is remaining strong! I honestly think it was the neroli hydrosol! Using essential oils in other soaps did not retain the scent like this.

Actually .. I think this recipe may be better?

 

[NewlyCreative]

Just updating that the soap has finally hardened and the whites are so white they are bordering on translucent. Orange color is still there. Orange scent has faded but comes back strong with using the soap in hot water.