RECIPE HELP!!

[JennaMarie]

Hello everyone! My name is Jenna. My next adventure into the life of crafting and thriftiness is SOAP MAKING! I'm super excited. I've been gathering my ingredients and here's what I have so far...

Lye
Canola Oil
Avocado Oil
Coconut Oil
Hazelnut Oil
Shea Butter

Also have the "at home typicals"... olive oil, regular vegetable oil, etc.

I'm looking to make a couple different types of soap. I would love any tips, RECIPES, etc. I was trying to use "soapcalc" and it just confused the bejeezes out of me.

Specifically looking to make a soap with coffee in it for the kitchen to get all of those nasty stinky smells out of skin/nails (I thought the Hazelnut oil would smell fantastic with this?).
Also a VERY MOISTURIZING soap- making these for Christmas for my family and Psoriasis has beaten down both my mother and brother. The CRAP that's sold on shelves I'm sure isn't making things better, so I thought I might be able to make something better.

THANK YOU in advance for the help! I've been researching until my eyes bleed, just don't want to ruin my first batch. Any and ALL tips are welcome!!

 

[JennaMarie]

OH! I also have a few VERY SMALL bottles of... peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, and sweet almond oil. I was planning to use these to make hard lotion once I get beeswax and more shea butter (tips on hard lotion also welcome!).

Thanks!

 

[Seifenblasen]

The smell of hazelnut oil is not likely to come through in CP/HP soap.

Canola oil, while it is cheap, is slow to trace and prone to going rancid. I have never used it before. But it is probably OK to use, say 10 - 15%. Avocado, hazelnut, and shea and all kind of expensive. Unless you are making a soap with special purposes, normally people use 5 to 10% of these oils. The normal usage of coconut oil is 20 to 30%. It gives a hard, bubbly bar but too much coconut oil can be "too cleansing" and leaves one's skin dry. But for a kitchen soap (and not used to bathe or wash your face with), it is probably fine to use a higher percentage of coconut oil.

Olive oil is good, but stay away from "vegetable oil" as you don't know what kind and what percentage of what oils are in it, therefore you cannot accurately calculate the sponification value.

If I were limited to the kind of oils you have on hand, I would probably do this:

Kitchen Soap
35% coconut
40% olive
15% shea
10% avocado

If I had a choice, my kitchen soap would look more like:

30% coconut
5% castor
30% tallow
25% olive
10% cocoa butter

Soap for Problem Skin
100% olive oil, unscented

It is really best for you to go back to Soap Calc's home page (link attached below) to explore and learn about the different oils. If you have a firm understanding of the hows and whys of making soap, the lye calculator will not seem that confusing.

http://www.soapcalc.net/

Also check out a few other soap making sites, such as soap making resources, soap queen, majestic mountain sage (just google them).

Lastly, not sure if you are making CP or HP. CP needs at least 4 - 6 weeks of curing time. I like my 100% olive oil soaps cure for at least 6 months, and they get even better after 1 year. If you start making CP soaps today, while usable by Christmas, probably won't be "at their prime" till sometime in January.

 

[judymoody]

When I first started making soap, I found Kathy Miller's site, millersoap.com to be very helpful. I also second soap queen and our very own Amanda's lovinsoap.com. Alicia Grosso has just come out with a new edition of the Everything Soap Book which is a very helpful resource between two covers.

I also agree with keeping it simple when you are starting out. If you are after crafty/thrifty, hazelnut oil and other exotic oils are not the way to go. I have experimented with many over the past few years and nowadays my main soaping oils are olive, palm, coconut, castor, and cocoa butter. I will sometimes use avocado oil just for me. Canola is prone to spoilage; if you must use it, keep it under 10%

Find yourself a good supplier as oils, lye, and fragrances are generally cheaper if bought on line by a specialized vendor. Brambleberry offers just about everything you'd need as does soapmakingresource.com I like New Directions Aromatics and Liberty Natural for reasonably priced and high quality essential oils. There are many fragrance oil suppliers out there. Aside from Brambleberry, you could check out Aroma Haven, The Scent Works, Nature's Garden, Oregon Trail, Daystar, and Peak Candle. There are many others out there. Peak and Nature's Garden offer good deals on sample packs.

For lye, essential depot. For soaping oils, Soapers' Choice.

Good luck, enjoy, and welcome!

 

[JennaMarie]

I picked up canola as I had read Olive Oil isn't the most wonderful to wash with... any other experiences with this?

Thanks for all the tips, I'll look into it all!

 

[JennaMarie]

Ok. So for the coffee soap here's what I'm thinking...

20oz Olive oil
10oz Coconut oil
2oz Hazelnut oil
About 2tbsp of sweet almond oil
12oz cold coffee mixed with 4.8oz lye

At the end add in some coffee grounds.

I'm going to do this warm process in a metal tin that I used to make candles with.

How does this sound?

 

[judymoody]

Your mix of oils seems OK to me although I'd convert all of it to weight.

The metal container is cause for concern. What kind of metal is it? Aluminum and lye can be an explosive combination, literally! If you are doing hot process, a crockpot is appropriate or a large stainless steel pot with plenty of head space.

 

[JennaMarie]

I did this earlier... and here's the result!

Converted everything to weights, used a small scale I have at home for beer brewing. Seemed to work well.

Read about the aluminum... thankfully! Went out to Walmart and bought a 12qt stainless steel pot.

SEEMS to have worked fine. I'm a bit nervous about it setting up and actually forming something resembling soap. I put it all in some christmas tree molds and a pringles can that I'll cut into small round blocks. Currently have it insulated with a few towels. When I put it into the molds it had an odd texture. Waxy, slightly lumpy... and THICK! Hoping it was right.

 

[judymoody]

I did this earlier... and here's the result!

Converted everything to weights, used a small scale I have at home for beer brewing. Seemed to work well.

Read about the aluminum... thankfully! Went out to Walmart and bought a 12qt stainless steel pot.

SEEMS to have worked fine. I'm a bit nervous about it setting up and actually forming something resembling soap. I put it all in some christmas tree molds and a pringles can that I'll cut into small round blocks. Currently have it insulated with a few towels. When I put it into the molds it had an odd texture. Waxy, slightly lumpy... and THICK! Hoping it was right.

HP tends to be thick, lumpy and waxy. It gets glopped into the mold rather than a smooth pour. Adding sodium lactate or a bit of milk before pouring seems to smooth it out a bit.

 

[JennaMarie]

Thank you! That makes me feel a bit better. I've cleaned up everything and will be "un-insulating" soon. Hoping for the best as these will be for Christmas... with a warning not to use right away so they can properly cure!

I did notice that the olive oil smell was a bit overwhelming. Is there any way to avoid this so that the smells of the other things I added are more apparent? I love the smell of olive oil, just not in things I wash myself with. Or do I just need to switch oil types?

 

[JennaMarie]

OK. So it's been a few days now... I thought I had waited MORE than enough time to take my soap out of the molds... but NO. They're still ridiculously soft. What did I do wrong?

 

[Seifenblasen]

Could you post a picture?

I ran it through Soap Calc, and assume 2 tablespoons sweet almond oil as 1 oz, and it seems to be all right. If anything else it could be just a bit lye heavy (It gave me 4.71oz instead of 4.8 oz lye, with 5% superfat).

As to the smell of olive oil, what kind do you use? It should also fade somewhat as the soap cures.

 

[lizflowers42]

OH! I also have a few VERY SMALL bottles of... peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, and sweet almond oil. I was planning to use these to make hard lotion once I get beeswax and more shea butter (tips on hard lotion also welcome!).

Thanks!

I just posted my recipe for lotion bars somewhere on this forum! Use equal weights of beeswax, coconut oil, and cocoa butter!