Recipe feedback

[doggonegardener]

Here it is...what do you think?

45% OO
30% CO
12 % Lard
8 % Cocoa Butter
5% Castor Oil

Hardness 41
Cleansing 20
Conditioning 54
Bubbles 25
Creaminess 26
Iodine 55
INS 159

I wish it were whiter. Don't want to use palm. Ideas?

I usually HP but am going to do some CP tonight and see how it feels.

I have tried coconut milk in my lye and it worked ok in the end but it curdles and seized up a bit in the lye container. I did coconut milk as a complete water replacement. Is that too much?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Rene

Moved

 

[shunt2011]

I would drop the CO to at least 25% as your recipe is pretty cleansing an it would be drying for me. I would add the difference in lard. You can certainly use coconut milk as 100% water. It will thicken a lot. I usually only do 50% and mix lye with water and add coconut milk to my oils before lye mixture. Otherwise your recipe looks great to me. Good luck!! You'll have to let us know how it goes.

 

[Obsidian]

I would lower the CO to 20% and make it up with lard. Using plain OO instead of extra virgin will help make a whiter bar. When I use coconut milk, I only do 50/50 water/milk. Dissolve your lye in just water, add the coconut milk to the oils and blend it in well before adding your lye solution.

 

[goji_fries]

Less CO

 

[doggonegardener]

I will try all those suggestions. Thanks for taking the time to post. So you'd keep the cocoa butter instead of switching to shea? I will try the coconut milk at 50% and in with my oils instead of my lye. Can't wait to try this. Going to be tomorrow at this point.

 

[lenarenee]

To make it whiter drastically up the lard and reduce the oo. My whitest bars were 55 to 75% lard. (No olive oil in the 75% lard recipe....20 Co and 5 castor. It's so white it's looks like I used titanium dioxide. Only cured 10 days and already a gentle creamy bar)

 

[goji_fries]

To make it whiter drastically up the lard and reduce the oo. My whitest bars were 55 to 75% lard. (No olive oil in the 75% lard recipe....20 Co and 5 castor. It's so white it's looks like I used titanium dioxide. Only cured 10 days and already a gentle creamy bar)

^ Is it a CP bar? I use my CP bars way early, so impatient

 

[Seawolfe]

I've used cocoa butter and shea when I didn't want to use palm and was out of lard - but your recipe is fine with the suggestions given. I quite like cocoa butter in my soap, makes a nice hard white bar.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

What is it about this recipe that YOU like, OP? Why these amounts of these ingredients?

I find this question hard to answer when formulating new ideas, but to get some real understanding of the principles, it is worthwhile.

 

[doggonegardener]

what I like (to answer EG)

I haven't used it for long enough to see if I like it. I did make this already. It's still pretty soft. I HP'd a plain batch, no color or fragrance.

It lathered well enough. I wish it were whiter. I don't yet have a sense for hardness. I am just starting out and have never used another soaper's soap. Just mine and commercial soap so hardness is difficult to evaluate. My bars are not as hard as Dove but I doubt that's really possible.

Up until now I have been making primarily a bastile with OO and CO and some Castor. It's hard and I really like it. Looking forward seasonally, my skin gets really dry in winter so I was shooting for formulating my own recipe with less CO. I have only been soaping for a few months so I don't know if the bastile will dry me out in our Wyoming winters or not. This will be my first winter with my own soaps. I was curious to try lard just because.

So, things I am seeking in a recipe...hard bar, non drying for our Wyoming winters, white.

It would be nice to have something that works well HP and CP. I am going to try my hand at some CP this week.

Rene

 

[Obsidian]

When you mention hardness, do you mean physically hard or long lasting? They don't necessarily go together. 100% coconut oil soap is very hard but soluble so it doesn't last as long, 100% tallow is also hard but not as soluble so will last longer. The higher your steric acid number are, the long the soap will last. Hardness in soapcalc is just a measure of the physical harness.

I live in Idaho and also have very dry skin, winter can be really rough for me. I have a gentle, high lard bar that I really like. Its not super bubbly like store bought soap but it doesn't dry me out and is long lasting. Its also quite white. Its 80% lard, 20% coconut with a 8% superfat. Next time I make it I will lower the lard to 75% and add in 5% castor to help increase the lather.

Is your coco butter refined or natural? If its natural, it will give your soap a slight color. Personally I dislike coco butter in soap, it leaves me feeling sticky and the soap is draggy on the skin.

 

[Susie]

I am with Obsidian, you can't beat a high lard soap for conditioning dry skin. I don't like cocoa butter either, and for the same reasons.

I am going to make the following for my winter recipe:

Superfat-10%
Lard-70%
Coconut Oil, 76 degree-10%
Olive Oil, pomace-15%
Castor Oil-5%
Honey-1 tablespoon PPO
Milk, evaporated-50% of water volume(Or oat milk, not decided yet.)

 

[lenarenee]

^ Is it a CP bar? I use my CP bars way early, so impatient

And you should! It's your soap, you get to be the boss!

I absolutely test my soap early on, and if it doesn't dry my skin I'll use it. It does disappear faster, but so what? :evil: I can always make more!

 

[goji_fries]

And you should! It's your soap, you get to be the boss!

I absolutely test my soap early on, and if it doesn't dry my skin I'll use it. It does disappear faster, but so what? :evil: I can always make more!

this is true

 

[lenarenee]

I live in Idaho and also have very dry skin, winter can be really rough for me. I have a gentle, high lard bar that I really like. Its not super bubbly like store bought soap but it doesn't dry me out and is long lasting. Its also quite white. Its 80% lard, 20% coconut with a 8% superfat. Next time I make it I will lower the lard to 75% and add in 5% castor to help increase the lather.

(The above is quoted from obsidian's post, but isn't showing get up like of each for some reason.)

Aha! Found you at last! I want to thank you for this lovely bar of week old soap sitting at the bathroom sink, but forgot which soaper to give credit to. I had read about your 80/20 lard soap many times but never tried it until a little sample of bb neroli fo showed up. Thought I'd try a 1 lb test batch: I always use castor so did the 75 lard, 20 co you mentioned above. I am counting the days until it's fully cured, if it's mild enough to use for hand washing now....it's going to be a great soap for the winter! Thank you!