Recipe or Advice on HP Crock pot soap for beginner

[melissabug]

I am selling soap at our local Farmer's Market and have been doing M&P soap. I would like to do HP crock pot soap since it won't have to cure long. I am new - advice? Recipe? I have the lye, distilled water and coconut and olive oil on hand - Is there a recipe just using these things? Will Lavender EO work well to scent it? Any advice is welcome!!

 

[djk17]

Melissabug, you have all the ingredients on hand to start an excellent basic soap.

as others have wisely written on this forum, it is not a good idea to sell soap until you have considerable practise at it...however, it is fully wise to practise
I prefer cp to hp; when I began cp soaping some years back, I made recipes using 70% olive oil and 30% coconut. I called it "Canadian Castille"

it's not an earth-trembler but over time it makes a very nice soap indeed

It is a great place to start. Eventually the soap becomes quite hard, although it takes a long time to trace (I finally twigged that a stick blender was a good idea)

have fun! take notes! (I only started taking notes a few years ago, and wish I had kept info from the beginning, if only to see how far I have come)

and always remember that there are multiple ways of doing pretty much everything--and people on this forum have lots of wonderful input for doing things different ways, but it is also okay to find your own way!

 

[soapsmurf]

Just wanted to add that while it's sometimes touted as not needing to cure (or for as long) HP soaps will still benefit from curing, and should still be cured. Definitely suggest you cure whatever you make for at least a couple weeks.

 

[Maria]

The crock pot is ok for practice but when you are ready to sell, it is useless as you would have to make much larger batches. I had to switch early on from CP to HP as I had more demand than expected and had soap curing all over the house in various stages of ready.
Once you get how to do it, get large stainless pots and relearn. You cannot make 5 or 10 pound batches in a crock pot. I dry my soaps in a small room with a dehumidifier running.

 

[Hazel]

Just wanted to add that while it's sometimes touted as not needing to cure (or for as long) HP soaps will still benefit from curing, and should still be cured. Definitely suggest you cure whatever you make for at least a couple weeks.

Good advice from the soapy blue one. (I love your username soapsmurf.)

I started using my HP soap before it was fully cured since patience isn't one of my strengths. :roll: It was so soft that it mushed up and dissolved quickly. It also broke in half because of softness.

 

[melissabug]

OK. So I will stick with the M & P to sell right now - but I will begin my journey with HP tomorrow. I want to fill a 2 lb mold.
I want to use the crock pot. Do-able? Can anyone tell me a recipe they use - specifically....how many oz of oo, how many oz of co...how much lye and water...be very specific with me. I am understanding that my scale MUST be digital - hope that darn scale I have in the closet is digital...

Thanks also for the advise about taking/making notes. I can see how that would be great and I might not have thought to do that.

I don't plan on coloring this batch but I have seen those peacock colors and they look great - for now, I think I will do the best I can and make this plain soap. Anyone know if lavender EO makes it prone to seizing?
You guys are sooo wonderful - thanks for all the help and advice, soap-sisters!

 

[honor435]

ive never done just oo and co, I really think po adds a lot to soap. but I would add some castor. Do you know how to use soapcalc? It is very helpful for making your own recipes and calculating lye amts. etc.
Heres one
oo 20 oz
co 9 oz
castor 3 oz 10.5 water, 4.5 lye
could you find some palm at a health store? It is disguised as shortening.
add the lavender eo after its done cooking, I wouldnt use 1oz per lb, that stuff is strong! good luck. You could get some cheap soap color at michaels and add some purple.

 

[melissabug]

I live in a small rural community and I called all over today to find Palm oil - nobody had it...what kind of shortening is palm oil - What is Crisco shortening??
The original HP recipe I have is co 20oz, oo20oz, po 26oz, distilled water24oz and lye 9.5 oz.... I just could not find the palm oil locally and need it sooner I can order it

 

[NancyRogers]

If you have a Whole Foods in your area, they have palm oil. It's called organic vegetable shortening.

 

[melissabug]

Oh Nancy - Thanks , but sadly I do not have a Whole Foods near me - 2 hours away from one, I think.

I do have a Martin's and a Kroger...anyone know if they have a brand?

 

[Hazel]

I've used Crisco in HP. You have to make sure that you get the Crisco with palm oil.

Soapcalc.com has it on their list.

honor435 came up with this recipe for me when I asked for help. It came out great.

30% Coconut Oil, 76 deg
27% Olive Oil
16.5% Crisco, new w/palm
16.5% Cocoa Butter
10% Castor Oil

7% superfat
water as % of oil weight 33%

You don't have to use the cocoa butter. I just had some that I wanted to use up.

 

[Jezzy]

I have never made cphp but I read this tutorial and thought it was good!

http://gracefruit.blogspot.com/2006/01/crock-pot-hot-process-soap-tutorial.html

 

[BakingNana]

Agree with being careful choosing Crisco. Old formula used cottonseed oil. Cottonseed is loaded with pesticides unless it's organic. Don't want to eat it; don't want to wash with it!

 

[NancyRogers]

If you are not opposed to beef tallow, you could try Wal-Mart's Great Value Shortening. It has tallow, palm and soy. I use it in some of my recipes. You can actually make a decent bar of soap just from oils you get a Wal-Mart. I'd try some combination of GV Shortening (not the all veggie kind), Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and Castor Oil (which you should be able to find by the laxatives.)

Just play around in soap calc with those ingredients and you should be able to put together a recipe you like.

 

[melissabug]

Jezzy, yes- thanks. I have seen that tut and thought it was a good one.

Appreciate the recipes. The thing about using a shortening combo is that I can't tell how much of each oil is in the can and soap calc is wonderful but I would need to know what persentage of which oils are in the shortening - right?

I did get my palm oil yesterday after work- thanks to you telling me about the organic palm oil shortening. Bless you! I will hopefully get working on a batch sometime this week. I need a couple more items (don't think my thermometer is reliable)

I want to say I appreciate all of you who make suggestions (or caution me) without insults or sarcastic remarks. Thanks for you suggestions and assistance.

 

[Hazel]

melissabug,

You don't have to know the percentages of the palm and soybean in Crisco. Soapcalc has it listed among their oils. You'll see it when your scroll down the list. It will say "Crisco, w/palm".

 

[BakingNana]

Just read a post from someone who used Crisco and the soap went rancid right away and had DOS. Might want to search for Crisco posts before deciding to use it. I've read this quite a bit, I think. Can't speak from personal experience, though.

Happy Soaping!

 

[Jezzy]

I made a crisco batch and it does go rancid right away! Lots and lots of DOS! After a couple weeks of curing!!

 

[melissabug]

Thanks, Hazel- Oh - wow can't believe soap calc had it listed. I am going to stick with coconut oil, palm oil and olive oil for a while- I think.

I was just irritated because I could not find palm oil locally till someone told me about spectrum shortening.

 

[Hazel]

Did they use the old Crisco with cottonseed oil?

I haven't had any problem with my Crisco batches. But I keep it stored in the frig so maybe that makes a difference.