Recipe feedback?

[dmcgee5034]

Hi soapy pals! Hoping to get some feedback on this recipe.
I’d like to do a few things:
1. I’m going to break into this jug of canola oil, so adding it to my recipe
2. Reduce or eliminate soda ash
3. Have a nice bubbly lather
What you don’t see is that I use goat milk from powder for 100% of my liquid. For this batch, I used Aloe Vera juice to reconstitute my GM before freezing into cubes. Hoping that positively impact bubbles…

Side note, can some link me to info on learning about fatty acids? Assuming I should at least somewhat understand what that data is telling me.

 

[AliOop]

Are you really using palm stearin, rather than palm oil? They have the same SAP value, but the FA values different enough that using one over the other will make a different soap.

Personally, that much CO would be very stripping for my skin. I try to keep my cleansing number at 12 or below; remember that even a soap with 0 on the cleansing graph will still get you clean. I'd knock the CO down to 20% max, or even 18% since you will already have a nice bubble boost from the AVJ and the GMP. Use that 6-8% to add some cocoa butter or even tallow if you aren't opposed to it, so you can boost the stearic a bit for more longevity.

I'm not sure that castor at 2% will do much, so another possibility would be: CO at 18%, cocoa butter at 5% and castor at 5%.

PS: You can read a bit about fatty acids here and here.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Ohhhh thanks @AliOop! Appreciate the links, too!
I did catch the palm oil goof before I started
Your advice is so helpful - I wasn’t sure about CO to Palm ratio - thank you.
That was all the castor I had on hand til my order arrives, I’ve been doing 3-5%, and will go back to that like you suggest. And I just got cocoa butter, so yay for that!
I watched Lisa of I Dream in Soap do a Mantra Swirl and gave it a go for the first time with this recipe (will tweak next soaping) and will post pics over in the gallery later this week once it’s cut. Hoping to not have soda ash, but it seems to happen every time…..

 

[AliOop]

I hear ya, I've often made soap with the dribs and drabs of what I have left in various bottles. Most of it turned out pretty decently after curing.

If you can work with a higher lye concentration, that would help reduce ash. But if you need that fluidity to do your design, then you can try forcing it through gel, whether in the oven or on a heating pad.

The other thing I've been doing is cutting the loaf when it's ready to cut, but then cover it all back up with plastic wrap for a few more days. That way, it doesn't get too hard to cut, while still getting the benefit of a few more days of limited exposure to air.

HTH, and hope you will show us how it turns out!