serenaglynn
Well-Known Member
I’m looking for a basic recipe that just uses coconut oil and sunflower oil - as these are so readily available for me. Many thanks in advance. Xx
Recipe Request - coconut and sunflower
- Thread starter serenaglynn
- Start date
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Just run different amount through a soap calculator until you like it. I would use more sunflower than coconut. Not more than 25-30%. Not going to be the greatest bar of soap. Or you can make 80% Coconut, 20% Sunflower and a 20% SF. Add salt at 30-100% of the weight for a salt bar. Either way they will both need a longer cure.
If it were me, I would try 72% sunflower oil and 28% coconut oil with a 5% superfat/lye discount. If you have access to high oleic sunflower oil, all the better, because it has properties similar to olive oil, i.e., much more oleic acid/much less linoleic acid, which will help reduce the chances of your soap getting DOS (dreaded orange spots/rancidity. A high linoleic acid content reduces the shelf life of an oil. The linoleic acid content is very high in regular sunflower oil, but very low in high oleic (HO) sunflower oil.
IrishLass
IrishLass
serenaglynn
Well-Known Member
I could always add olive oil too. I’ve lost the link to the soap calc tho,,
soapcalc.net or soapee.com
I would personally add some olive unless you know your sunflower is high or mid oleic. Otherwise it may go rancid quicker.
serenaglynn
Well-Known Member
A
amd
Are you using fractionated coconut oil or solid coconut oil (76)? I've never made soap with FCO, so I don't know how well it works.
50% CO is a lot, although you do have a good SF number for high CO. You may find this soap to be very drying.
Make sure your Sunflower is high oleic. From personal experience, I used a "not high oleic" sunflower oil and everything over 15% developed DOS very quickly.
Looking at these numbers:
For me, this soap would not be a good soap - hardness is probably deceiving because of the CO, this soap will likely be used up very quickly.
Cleansing, as mentioned, will be high. Not always a good thing.
Conditioning is under the ideal - but I usually ignore this number anyways.
I usually go for bubbly and creamy settings in the mid-range.
This is where my recipe sits:
50% CO is a lot, although you do have a good SF number for high CO. You may find this soap to be very drying.
Make sure your Sunflower is high oleic. From personal experience, I used a "not high oleic" sunflower oil and everything over 15% developed DOS very quickly.
Looking at these numbers:
For me, this soap would not be a good soap - hardness is probably deceiving because of the CO, this soap will likely be used up very quickly.
Cleansing, as mentioned, will be high. Not always a good thing.
Conditioning is under the ideal - but I usually ignore this number anyways.
I usually go for bubbly and creamy settings in the mid-range.
This is where my recipe sits:
serenaglynn
Well-Known Member
Thanks, it’s been a few years since I’ve made soap so I’m a bit rusty. Using hard coconut oil. Should I reduce the amount of the coconut and replace it with sUnflower? Does the fragrance or EO look ok to you?
Last edited:
Kamahido
Paladin of Soap
If you want a harder bar of soap you have to use more hard oils.
You need to use either palm, lard, tallow or butters (shea, cocoa, mango etc) to get a harder bar. But then you look at 100% OO and after a good long cure it's a hard bar of soap. I just don't like high OO soap.
A
amd
I have 65% hard oils in my recipe, but I really wasn't formulating my recipe with the hardness number in mind. I was looking for something low coconut oil that didn't leave my skin feeling itchy - I have really dry skin, I'm scaly looking even in the summer - so I wound up with a recipe low in CO, high in tallow/lard with shea and cocoa butter. My point for OP was the majority of the ranges are out of line with recommended ranges [ranges don't always mean bad soap, some soaps out of range are nice soap because they use nice oils, I don't think high CO, OO & SFO will be a nice soap]. If you're happy with your soap I don't see a problem with a 38 hardness. Hardness doesn't translate to "long lasting".
serenaglynn
Well-Known Member
jcandleattic
Well-Known Member
It's specific oils that will create creaminess. If you don't want to use other oils, you probably will not be able to raise your numbers a whole lot.
you could try raising your OO, and dropping your sunflower and coconut oils.
I would do OO at 40-50%, CO at 15% with the remainder being your sunflower and see what that gives you.
you could try raising your OO, and dropping your sunflower and coconut oils.
I would do OO at 40-50%, CO at 15% with the remainder being your sunflower and see what that gives you.
dixiedragon
Well-Known Member
100% olive oil gives a creamy of 17.
Also, your SF is way too high. 25% will not be a nice soap. Try switching your Olive and Sunflower and lower your CO.
serenaglynn
Well-Known Member
That didn’t raise it at all. Is vegetable oil a viable option rather than sunflower oil?
Use 60% OO, 25% Sunflower & 15% CO. Ups your creaminess to 15. May be the best you can do with limited oils. I wouldn't use vegetable oil unless you know exactly what's in it and can find a sap value for it.
You're limiting your possibilities with very few choices.
You're limiting your possibilities with very few choices.
dixiedragon
Well-Known Member
I don't know what factors Soap Calc uses to calculator "creaminess". And their definition may be different than yours. What do you want?
100% castor oil gives a creamy rating of 90.
Here's a recipe that a lot of people here have described as "creamy".
Avocado Oil: 30%
Castor Oil: 10%
Olive Oil: 40%
Shea Butter: 10%
Soybean Oil: 10%
This is actually Lindy's shampoo bar recipe but we (general consensus, obviously there are some people with different opinions) don't recommend soap for hair.
100% castor oil gives a creamy rating of 90.
Here's a recipe that a lot of people here have described as "creamy".
Avocado Oil: 30%
Castor Oil: 10%
Olive Oil: 40%
Shea Butter: 10%
Soybean Oil: 10%
This is actually Lindy's shampoo bar recipe but we (general consensus, obviously there are some people with different opinions) don't recommend soap for hair.
I would agree with Shunt 
. CO does not make a creamy soap it makes a bubbly soap. If you are using Sunflower HO you could split the OO and Sunflower.
Just for future thought Lard/tallow together make a super creamy bar 25/40%.
. CO does not make a creamy soap it makes a bubbly soap. If you are using Sunflower HO you could split the OO and Sunflower. Just for future thought Lard/tallow together make a super creamy bar 25/40%.
