The reassuring thing is that we have all been where you all. Every one of us. You, too, will get past this. I still have unexpected results from new FOs. Sometimes I get soap on a stick. You just have to have the all important "Plan B" in your pocket to get a usable soap from that.
SoapRecipe
- Thread starter Guinevere
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^^^^ So much this. Also, measuring accurately and focusing one what you are doing and knowing what you are working with before starting will make a big difference as well. I'm one who never listens to those who say to make a small batch to test a new fragrance, sometimes I have to move really fast or go to plan B. Fortunately, I've had more yay's than nays.
Thank you all for great advice!
I tested the soap now, and the lather was blue! I have used too much ultramarine (I can't remember if it is mica or regular pigment). Well, well, that is not the worst. The new thing I tested was to add vinegar, and it for sure did harden the soap! Normally I have to wait a few days to cut. Now I did cut the day after, and it was almost a little too late. I broke the wire. And had of course put the spares somewhere where I knew I could find it. Not very clever, because I had no clue where it was. Luckily I found it after many hours of searching all over. Normally I don't find what I put on those "smart" locations. Now my spare wires are securely taped on the underside of my cutter. Hopefully they will never escape again.
When I now ran my actual soap thru the lye calculator, I have used as much as 36% water (as percentage of oils). 30% lye solution. That is way too much water. The 25 grams of vineagar extra and the fact that I used 26 grams less oils than in the original recipe, upped the water so much that I got glycerin rivers. I had planned to use more water than usual, to see if I could keep the soap more fluid to work with. But I did not plan to use almost "full water", since I know that can cause glycerin rivers.
Accurate measurements and to include every liquid in the total water amount, yes, now I have learned that the hard way.
The soap I made feels good and lathers well, and for once did not smell stronger than a car freshener. So I think it will be allright after the cure.
Soon I will try the original recipe I made, meaning 3% of palmitic/stearic wax instead of the 3 grams I intended to measure (but it became 4 grams). Use water discount as I normally always do. Use less pigment/mica. And the most important, not use the stickblender, but stir with a spatula.
To find other people's trusted recipes and follow them, is quite impossible. Why? Because they always add a whole lot of stuff I can't find anywhere. Like rice bran oil, avocado oil, lard, tallow, mango butter and all sorts of butters and yes, I can't find anything here, so I have to make my own recipes and use what is available. That works really well as long as I can get something called Flott Matfett (plant based lard alternative made of shea, coconut and rapeseed). I can't always get that either, normally only at Christmas (it is used for deep frying cookies). But my grocery store now have it all year round after I asked them to order it for me. I can order online, but the prices are so high that it's not worth it. I can order from abroad, but shipping and customs and extra norwegian VAT, makes it too expensive. I do order stuff from abroad, but not butters and oils other than castor oil. Yes, such things as castor oil is unavailable here. I can go to the pharmacy and buy fluid laxative, which is castor oil, but the prices are thereafter. So to follow other people's recipes, that is really not an option at all. Norwegian recipes, yes, but I don't find many here. And those I do find are often not very impressive. This is not a soapmaking country, unfortunately. There are soapmakers here, but not in every street, like I imagine it is in America.
The Flott Matfett I use (it was 50% of my last soap), is quite fast moving. Other than that, it is a really good one that makes wonderful soaps in combination with coconut and olive. I do get my butters in the form of shea from that fat. I don't know how much shea it is, since the recipe is secret, but it is more shea than the other ingredients. When I have that, I don't feel I need anything I can't get at the grocery store, other than castor oil to boost bubbles and perhaps some wax to harden it a bit extra.
I did order soaps from Turkey, from the lady who sold me the soap cutter. Her soaps were just amazing! My goal became to get as good soaps as the ones she made. I don't think about design or look or scent, but the soap in usage, lather etc. I am almost there. Dual lye was the one single factor that suddenly jumped my soap forward to the goal line. That in combination with a higher amount of the lard-alternative worked magic. She does not use dual lye, as I understand. I don't really know what she does other than using palm oil. She also use less castor than I do. But her soaps really bubbles with lots of creamy lather and feels like silk in the hand.
I tested the soap now, and the lather was blue! I have used too much ultramarine (I can't remember if it is mica or regular pigment). Well, well, that is not the worst. The new thing I tested was to add vinegar, and it for sure did harden the soap! Normally I have to wait a few days to cut. Now I did cut the day after, and it was almost a little too late. I broke the wire. And had of course put the spares somewhere where I knew I could find it. Not very clever, because I had no clue where it was. Luckily I found it after many hours of searching all over. Normally I don't find what I put on those "smart" locations. Now my spare wires are securely taped on the underside of my cutter. Hopefully they will never escape again.
When I now ran my actual soap thru the lye calculator, I have used as much as 36% water (as percentage of oils). 30% lye solution. That is way too much water. The 25 grams of vineagar extra and the fact that I used 26 grams less oils than in the original recipe, upped the water so much that I got glycerin rivers. I had planned to use more water than usual, to see if I could keep the soap more fluid to work with. But I did not plan to use almost "full water", since I know that can cause glycerin rivers.
Accurate measurements and to include every liquid in the total water amount, yes, now I have learned that the hard way.
The soap I made feels good and lathers well, and for once did not smell stronger than a car freshener. So I think it will be allright after the cure.
Soon I will try the original recipe I made, meaning 3% of palmitic/stearic wax instead of the 3 grams I intended to measure (but it became 4 grams). Use water discount as I normally always do. Use less pigment/mica. And the most important, not use the stickblender, but stir with a spatula.
To find other people's trusted recipes and follow them, is quite impossible. Why? Because they always add a whole lot of stuff I can't find anywhere. Like rice bran oil, avocado oil, lard, tallow, mango butter and all sorts of butters and yes, I can't find anything here, so I have to make my own recipes and use what is available. That works really well as long as I can get something called Flott Matfett (plant based lard alternative made of shea, coconut and rapeseed). I can't always get that either, normally only at Christmas (it is used for deep frying cookies). But my grocery store now have it all year round after I asked them to order it for me. I can order online, but the prices are so high that it's not worth it. I can order from abroad, but shipping and customs and extra norwegian VAT, makes it too expensive. I do order stuff from abroad, but not butters and oils other than castor oil. Yes, such things as castor oil is unavailable here. I can go to the pharmacy and buy fluid laxative, which is castor oil, but the prices are thereafter. So to follow other people's recipes, that is really not an option at all. Norwegian recipes, yes, but I don't find many here. And those I do find are often not very impressive. This is not a soapmaking country, unfortunately. There are soapmakers here, but not in every street, like I imagine it is in America.
The Flott Matfett I use (it was 50% of my last soap), is quite fast moving. Other than that, it is a really good one that makes wonderful soaps in combination with coconut and olive. I do get my butters in the form of shea from that fat. I don't know how much shea it is, since the recipe is secret, but it is more shea than the other ingredients. When I have that, I don't feel I need anything I can't get at the grocery store, other than castor oil to boost bubbles and perhaps some wax to harden it a bit extra.
I did order soaps from Turkey, from the lady who sold me the soap cutter. Her soaps were just amazing! My goal became to get as good soaps as the ones she made. I don't think about design or look or scent, but the soap in usage, lather etc. I am almost there. Dual lye was the one single factor that suddenly jumped my soap forward to the goal line. That in combination with a higher amount of the lard-alternative worked magic. She does not use dual lye, as I understand. I don't really know what she does other than using palm oil. She also use less castor than I do. But her soaps really bubbles with lots of creamy lather and feels like silk in the hand.
karon L adams
Well-Known Member
Soap is like bread. you have a basic set of chemicals needed to create the base result. withon that set are all sorts of variables.
Bread :Starch, leavening, water Soap: Oil, water, Lye. After that, you can try different types of each element and a few things to add in as enhancements.
My base recipe was one I referred to as Dr Pepper Soap. Most folks this day wouldn't knwo what that means but in the early days, Dr Pepper was advertised with the 10, 2 and 4 logo. Touted as semi medicinal one, the advertisers said one should take a dose at 10 AM 2PM and 4 PM. for soap, it was my oil recipe. I started with 10 oz palm, 2 oz Olive oil and 4 oz coconut. to that was a cup of water and 2oz by weight of lye. this mixed up nicely in a 32 ounce plastic cup, which I why I called it the "Big Gulp" method of soapmaking. These were the instructions I gave in my basic soap making kits back in the day. I also called it a "One Pound" recipe because it used one pound of oils. and had a shorthand for my recipes that referenced the amount of oil, by weight,t he recipe used. a Dr Pepper Big Gulp batch finished out with around 26 oz by weight of finished soap.
To that base recipe, I could add color, and scent. in that recipe, i could replace the water with other liquids. Milk, juices and so on. and, of course, varying the kinds of oils used for different effects. changing the NaOh to KOH required a recalculation of the weights because the KOH had a different molecular weight. but the base recipe on a molecular level was the same.
Using this small, one pound, big gulp recipe made it excellent for experimenting, too. Knowing what the plain soap with no changes would produce meant that I could easily see the effect the experimental portion gave. that made it all a lot easier in the end.
Bread :Starch, leavening, water Soap: Oil, water, Lye. After that, you can try different types of each element and a few things to add in as enhancements.
My base recipe was one I referred to as Dr Pepper Soap. Most folks this day wouldn't knwo what that means but in the early days, Dr Pepper was advertised with the 10, 2 and 4 logo. Touted as semi medicinal one, the advertisers said one should take a dose at 10 AM 2PM and 4 PM. for soap, it was my oil recipe. I started with 10 oz palm, 2 oz Olive oil and 4 oz coconut. to that was a cup of water and 2oz by weight of lye. this mixed up nicely in a 32 ounce plastic cup, which I why I called it the "Big Gulp" method of soapmaking. These were the instructions I gave in my basic soap making kits back in the day. I also called it a "One Pound" recipe because it used one pound of oils. and had a shorthand for my recipes that referenced the amount of oil, by weight,t he recipe used. a Dr Pepper Big Gulp batch finished out with around 26 oz by weight of finished soap.
To that base recipe, I could add color, and scent. in that recipe, i could replace the water with other liquids. Milk, juices and so on. and, of course, varying the kinds of oils used for different effects. changing the NaOh to KOH required a recalculation of the weights because the KOH had a different molecular weight. but the base recipe on a molecular level was the same.
Using this small, one pound, big gulp recipe made it excellent for experimenting, too. Knowing what the plain soap with no changes would produce meant that I could easily see the effect the experimental portion gave. that made it all a lot easier in the end.
