Recipe suggestions

[MGM]

Hi all. I'm (maybe) committed to making 72 soaps for my son's Grade 8 class graduation gift bags. I'm going to make loaves, in various colours (school colours are navy and red, but that will make such terrible lather that 71 sets of parents will hate me....) and the school initials and colours will be on the cigar band labels. Going to make them all unscented, due to allergies and preferences.

Now to the recipe...given that I need to make 72 bars (plus some for teachers & staff probably, let's round up to 90 say), I'd like this to be as economical as possible, so no fancy butters or oils. I currently have

• lard
• coconut oil
• olive oil
• rice bran oil
• grapeseed oil
• avocado oil
• castor oil

In terms of additives, I'm a big fan of kaolin clay. I really haven't tried sugar or salt (other than salt bars/soleseife) enough to know what I think about them. I don't have any sodium lactate.

What combination would people suggest? I'm open to making a couple of different recipes, just limiting myself to these oils.

thanks for your help!!

 

[atiz]

I have a recipe that I quite like with 40% lard, 20 Coconut oil, 12% avocado oil, 5% castor, and the rest is either OO or grapeseed or split between those or whatever I happen to have. (I also tend to use 1% of beeswax but don't think it's necessary.)
Salt and sugar are quite easy and I think they do make some difference, you could experiment with it.
That's really nice of you doing it for the kids

 

[shunt2011]

I second the above. My recipe is similar i use 15% avocado, olive or sunflower and add some Shea. It will make a lovely soap.

 

[MGM]

Thank you both! Ok, that's the first two batches planned....

 

[Saponificarian]

Amongst 72 students, you most likely will have them from diverse backgrounds and for that reason I will say use tallow rather than lard. Some religions forbid eating pig and the use of all its product.

 

[MGM]

Amongst 72 students, you most likely will have them from diverse backgrounds and for that reason I will say use tallow rather than lard. Some religions forbid eating pig and the use of all its product.

Very good point. Unfortunately, I don't have access to tallow. I could order some palm, although I had resolved to not use it anymore....maybe I should though for this purpose.
I won't be able to make a good soap with just the liquid oils (plus coconut) will I?

 

[soapmaker]

Very good point. Unfortunately, I don't have access to tallow. I could order some palm, although I had resolved to not use it anymore....maybe I should though for this purpose.
I won't be able to make a good soap with just the liquid oils (plus coconut) will I?

I just made two batches yesterday with 40% olive, 40% sunflower and 20% coconut. Maybe some on here wouldn't do that but my customers love it and I do too.

 

[Saponificarian]

I think the problem with just using just the liquid oils with coconut oil will be longevity and hardness during use.

ETA: There is a recipe called Canolive from the Millers soap website with 40% each Canola and Olive oil with 20% coconut. It’s good soap but it gets mushy in the shower.

 

[shunt2011]

I would consider Palm in that case. Gennys shampoo bar makes a nice soap but high liquid oil soap needs a long cure in my opinion.

 

[MGM]

Ok did it. Ordered some palm (and some lip balm tubes and some new FOs and some clay and maybe a couple of other things--oopie).
So....what recipes do you recommend with palm? I have one, but haven't used it in ages (like, 6 whole months!) and maybe I was in a rut with it anyway.
@shunt2011 I've only tried Genny's one, and it was sooo soft in the beginning but did harden up nicely (it's been almost a year). Funny thing though, I find this one rather stripping, which surprised me, as I thought it would be mild.

 

[Saponificarian]

40-50% Palm
35-30% Liquid oil(s)
20% Coconut oil
5% Castor. I rarely use castor anymore though.

 

[soapmaker]

40-50% Palm
35-30% Liquid oil(s)
20% Coconut oil
5% Castor. I rarely use castor anymore though.

I never use that high amount of palm. How about:

25% palm
20% coconut
25% olive
25 % sunflower
5% castor

 

[Saponificarian]

I never use that high amount of palm. How about:

25% palm
20% coconut
25% olive
25 % sunflower
5% castor

See, different strokes for different folks! I never use that much liquid oil either except as a break the rule kinda recipe..

 

[soapmaker]

@shunt2011 I've only tried Genny's one, and it was sooo soft in the beginning but did harden up nicely (it's been almost a year). Funny thing though, I find this one rather stripping, which surprised me, as I thought it would be mild.

As soon as I saw Genny's shampoo bar I thought I would add a touch of stearic which worked very well.

 

[soapmaker]

See, different strokes for different folks! I never use that much liquid oil either except as a break the rule kinda recipe..

I'm sure your soap is lovely.

 

[MGM]

See, different strokes for different folks! I never use that much liquid oil either except as a break the rule kinda recipe..

@soapmaker your recipe is the exact one I first learned on a couple of years ago. I had trouble getting sunflower though (well, Costco didn't have it and that was that ) and then moved away from palm about 6 mos ago.
Are all liquid oils equal? Can I replace sunflower with RBO in either of your recipes, do you think?

 

[soapmaker]

I've never used RBO. Olive and Sunflower are interchangeable.

 

[MGM]

What about grapeseed? I have that too. I will venture out of the house tomorrow to Costco, so perhaps they will have sunflower or safflower. I've always been surprised that in the 18 mos since I started looking for it, they've never once stocked it.

 

[soapmaker]

I wouldn't look for sunflower oil until you hear back from someone on here about RBO. I can't see why you couldn't sub that if you run it through a calculator. Search RBO on here if no one replies. Not too far back there was a discussion because of a sale on RBO somewhere. You have an impressive selection of oils at your fingertips. With the addition of Palm you should be set to go.

 

[Saponificarian]

I love RBO, Canola and Avodaco oil. I would use any of the 3 or Olive oil but I don't like Olive oil..... Again different strokes...