Slightly slimy and itchy CP soap

[Lauren27]

Hi! I recently just tried my very first CP soap after 6 weeks of curing. The recipe I used is below. I noticed that the bar leaves a slightly slimy feel and also itchy. I do not have sensitive skin and I am not allergic to any of the ingredients. Can someone explain how I would go about making a vegan soap without PALM OIL please. Again, this was my first batch but I want to make the soap right from here on out. Did i use too much coconut oil? Again, I am looking for vegan and palm free recipes, so if anyone has come up with the best vegan/palm free CP recipe, please share with me!!!! roblem:

Ingredients:

Base Oils
13.5 oz. canola oil
13.5 oz. coconut oil
13.5 oz. olive oil
4.5 oz. sunflower oil

Lye Solution
12 oz. brewed tea, cooled to room temperature
6.4 oz. lye
Additives
Add 0.75 ounces orange essential and 2-3 tablespoons of used tea leaves right before mixture reaches trace.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Thirty percent coconut is kind of high (amounts people prefer vary, I tend to go no higher than ten percent but twenty seems to be the norm).

That can make your soap drying and itch-causing.

Orange essential oil is, in part, a terpene. That can also dry out your skin and cause other problems, most noticeably sensitivity to the sun.

Slimy soaps are frequently high in soft oils, as yours is (70%), cured for too short a time (which might be true with that many soft oils), or have too much water in them (yours is fine). Try cutting the canola oil and using lard, tallow, or palm.

 

[coffeetime]

Morpheus, OP asked for vegan and Palm-free suggestions. I have a vegan and Palm free recipe that uses 10% cocoa butter to add to the hardness.

I don't use canola but avocado oil is really nice. Won't add to the hardness but it really adds to the gentleness of the soap I find.

 

[IrishLass]

The amount of coconut oil one uses can be problematic at higher amounts depending on one's personal skin-type, and/or other variables. Thirty percent might be too high for you at a 5% superfat, but then again, it might be quite nice for you with a higher superfat. Like I said, it all depends. Only experimentation will tell.

As for the slimy factor- having a high combo of olive, canola and sunflower can produce this result.

I would suggest to try lowering the coconut and the canola, increasing the olive some, and adding in a butter since you don't want to use palm. Maybe something along the lines of this?:

Olive oil 40%
Coconut 25%
Canola oil 17%
Sunflower 10%
Cocoa butter 8%

Superfatted @ 7% or so


IrishLass

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I would up the cure time and lower the CO - well, I wouldn't, I would use palm or lard, but as you are choosing not to do so, I would look at curing for at least 2 if not 3 months

 

[TRBeck]

Cocoa and kokum make for very hard bars, but be warned that your costs will go up significantly if you rule out both palm and animal fats, as cocoa and kokum (and shea and other butters) are much more expensive. I understand the impulse to eliminate these, and I soap without palm whenever possible, but there is a tradeoff in terms of cost.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Shortening might do the trick as it's partially hydrogenated soy and whatnot. I'm not a hundred percent pleased by their performance, but I suppose it would do.

Babassu in place of coconut should be a little less irritating, but the percentage is still awfully high. And babassu costs a fortune.

 

[Saponista]

I made a few batches with the hydrogenated soy wax as a palm replacement and wasn't happy with the outcome. The soap had a weird texture, developed loads of ash and didn't lather very well. You're better off with cocoa butter, but it makes for expensive soap. When I get home I'll find out a vegan, Palm free recipe that I have used successfully. Can't remember the exact percentages off the top of my head.

 

[shunt2011]

IrishLass recipe is a good start for you. I would also take some of those items and play around in soapcalc to get an idea on different combinations. I wouldn't go any higher than 25% CO and possibly look into avocado oil and castor oil. If you use too much butters it can affect lather so I don't generally go over 20%. And as state you will likely increase the cost of your soaps but it may be worth it when you find just the right recipe. I also superfat at 7-9% but many can go lower.

 

[MorpheusPA]

I made a few batches with the hydrogenated soy wax as a palm replacement and wasn't happy with the outcome. The soap had a weird texture, developed loads of ash and didn't lather very well.

I find it's best at 15% maximum. Too much over that, the soap gets really waxy and looks like plastic--plus feels like plastic on the skin.

Ten to fifteen gives a harder, more durable bar, but isn't enough for the plasticky thing to kick in.

Actually, at this point most of the things I make use soy wax for that reason, and it seems to pull other oils into saponification much faster.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

I was really happy with a soap I made that was 45% olive, 20% soy oil, 20% CO, 10% shea, and 5% castor (with a 6% superfat). I'm going to need to tweak it a bit next time I go to try to soap it, since I've decided to not use soy anymore. It did stay soft for a while, but I think the cutting marks I got were as much from the roughly ground oats I included. (I tend to be okay with larger pieces of oat, but I know that not everyone is.)

 

[Lauren27]

thank you

Thank you ALL for the replies. You are all very helpful. I will lower the CO and up the superfat. I made two more batches, but waiting on them to cure.

How much cure time do you all recommend?

 

[MorpheusPA]

Thank you ALL for the replies. You are all very helpful. I will lower the CO and up the superfat. I made two more batches, but waiting on them to cure.

How much cure time do you all recommend?

While four weeks is fine, softer oils do better the longer they have to cure. Lowering the CO but keeping the same recipe means more soft oils, so off the cuff I'd say six to eight weeks will produce better bars of soap.