Testing Oatmeal with Almond FO recipe

[Kristus_Apollo]

I'm about to make my 2nd ever batch of CP soap. Pictures of that first batch can be found here. The only "issue" I had with that first batch is after a month of curing, the almond scent is almost gone.

For my second batch, my wife wanted a soap with oatmeal in it. I found an old oatmeal soap thread on here and slightly modified it for the oils I have on hand. For the batch size based on the mold size, 50 oz, I ran it through Soapcalc.net as seen below.

I'm waiting on the new mold so please feel free to give me any tips, hints, suggestions, or advice on this oatmeal soap recipe I modified so I can update it if needed before the mold arrives.

I chose this particular mold as it's closer to "normal" size bars of soap I'm used to if cut into 1" thick slices.

Oatmeal Soap with Almond FO
Batch size: 3 lbs (48 oz)
Mold: Tall 12" silicone loaf mold (says it holds up to 50 oz...)
Recipe:

• 19.2 oz Coconut Oil, 76 deg (40%)
• 14.4 oz Olive Oil (30%)
• 12 oz Shea butter (25 %)
• 2.4 oz Safflower Oil (5%)
• 18.24 oz distilled water
• 6.96 oz lye (NaOH)
• 3/4 c finely ground oatmeal
• 1.5 oz Almond FO

In an attempt to keep the almond scent at the "end" of the curing process, I thought I'd add the Almond FO to the ground oatmeal then give that one last run through the grinder before adding it to the oil/water/lye mixture just after slight trace begins. I'm hoping the oatmeal particles will "hold in" the almond fragrance.

Again any suggestions or advice on this recipe would greatly be appreciated!

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[KristaY]

2 things jumped out at me: 40% CO and 3/4c oatmeal. I think both are too high.

At 40% CO & 5% SF, this is going to be a REALLY drying soap. You have a lot of shea in there but I don't think it'll help since the "cleansing" number is at 27. I usually keep mine at about 12-14. If it were me, I'd drop the CO down to 20% and add the other 20% to OO or safflower (or split it between the 2).

In my Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soap I use 25gms finely ground oats in 36 oz of oils. I think that might be about 3 Tbsp. So the 3/4 cup of oats is going to be A LOT of oatmeal. Since your recipe is 48oz oils, try going with 4 Tbsp to start and see how you like it.

Good luck with it!

ETA: Since you said the last batch lost most of it's scent, you can certainly increase the FO ratio from 0.5 oz/ppo up to 1.0 oz/ppo (unles the IFRA for that FO says otherwise).

 

[Kristus_Apollo]

2 things jumped out at me: 40% CO and 3/4c oatmeal. I think both are too high.

At 40% CO & 5% SF, this is going to be a REALLY drying soap. You have a lot of shea in there but I don't think it'll help since the "cleansing" number is at 27. I usually keep mine at about 12-14. If it were me, I'd drop the CO down to 20% and add the other 20% to OO or safflower (or split it between the 2).

In my Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soap I use 25gms finely ground oats in 36 oz of oils. I think that might be about 3 Tbsp. So the 3/4 cup of oats is going to be A LOT of oatmeal. Since your recipe is 48oz oils, try going with 4 Tbsp to start and see how you like it.

Good luck with it!

Thanks KristaY! That's exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. I started by going off the original recipe which used 1/4 c oatmeal per 16 oz of oils so I had no real-world knowledge of the amount. And I'll drop the CO to OO as suggested, thanks!

 

[cmzaha]

I would up the fo to 6 percent if I was making the soap. Yep, I would cut down the coconut

 

[Kristus_Apollo]

I would up the fo to 6 percent if I was making the soap. Yep, I would cut down the coconut

Thanks for that tip cmzaha. As I mentioned in my original post, after a month of curing the scent was almost gone so I've updated my recipe based on your numbers and KristaY's ideas. The update recipe is as follows:

Oatmeal Soap with Almond FO
Batch size: 3 lbs (48 oz)
Mold: Tall 12" silicone loaf mold (says it holds up to 50 oz...)
Recipe:

• 24 oz Olive Oil (50%)
• 9.6 oz Coconut Oil, 76 deg (20%)
• 9.6 oz Shea butter (20 %)
• 4.8 oz Safflower Oil (10%)
• 18.24 oz distilled water
• 6.55 oz lye (NaOH)
• 4 tbsp finely ground oatmeal
• 3 oz Almond FO

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

What sort of solution strength is that? With 50% olive oil, and providing you aren't looking to swirl, you might want to use less water than the soapcalc standard amount.

Also, have a look at getting the baby food oatmeal as some of them are really well powdered

 

[Kristus_Apollo]

What sort of solution strength is that? With 50% olive oil, and providing you aren't looking to swirl, you might want to use less water than the soapcalc standard amount.

Also, have a look at getting the baby food oatmeal as some of them are really well powdered

Craig, I'm using the default 38% water from soapcalc with the lye concentration being 26.417% or a 2.7855 to 1 ratio of water/lye. You are correct, no swirling. Given the larger amount of olive oil, what do you recommend for the water %?

I found an old thread by IrishLass where she mostly uses a 2:1 ratio of water/lye. Using that I modified it in soap calc to look like the following:

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Aye, I think that the 33% concentration would be much better than the default setting. Bear in mind, this is not the "as weight of oils" percentage, rather the solution setting. The % of oils is not really useful and it is often better to stick to the ratio or solution % options.

For very high OO recipes, many people go even higher than 33%, but as you are only at 50% OO I would go for the 33%. As an aside, that 33% solution is actually well loved by many people on the forum and is almost the new default for a standard "normal" recipe.

 

[Soapmaker145]

In an attempt to keep the almond scent at the "end" of the curing process, I thought I'd add the Almond FO to the ground oatmeal then give that one last run through the grinder before adding it to the oil/water/lye mixture just after slight trace begins. I'm hoping the oatmeal particles will "hold in" the almond fragrance.

If you lost the almond scent, it means you started with a bad FO or perhaps almond extract. Almond FOs tend to be overwhelming and a little goes a long way. They stick like crazy.

 

[dibbles]

You are going to have too much soap for that mold. It will hold 50 oz to the brim of total soap weight (oils + lye + water). Your recipe has 48 ounces of oils, and a total batch weight of 69.34 ounces.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

If you lost the almond scent, it means you started with a bad FO or perhaps almond extract. Almond FOs tend to be overwhelming and a little goes a long way. They stick like crazy.

That is my experience too. In one of my very, very first soaps (that are now over a year and a half old, I have 2 left) I added some Almond fragrance. I wasn`t quite sure how much to add as it was from Coastals Scents (they stopped offering fragrances or micas and wen`t into their own brand of cosmetics full time instead) The bottle had no info on % use in soaps, so I used it at 1% only to be safe.
Wowsah, it reeked! It still smell so strong in the soap, so at least that one stuck like crazy.

 

[dixiedragon]

Soap is roughly 2/3 oils and 1/3 water. So if your mold holds 50 ounces, you recipe should be about 33 ounces of oils. I'd drop that to 30 oz - you don't want to fill your mold to the tippy tippy top.

I agree with the others regarding the almond scent - you said you used Peak's Almond Pastries. Almond is a scent that tends to stick powerfully. How much did you use? It could simply be a not particularly good FO.

 

[Kristus_Apollo]

You are going to have too much soap for that mold. It will hold 50 oz to the brim of total soap weight (oils + lye + water). Your recipe has 48 ounces of oils, and a total batch weight of 69.34 ounces.

Thanks for the heads up dibbles. I thought something was off and once you gave the total soap weight (oils+lye+water) I went back to my first batch recipe and that total matched the first mold. The adjusted recipe is below:

 

[Kristus_Apollo]

Soap is roughly 2/3 oils and 1/3 water. So if your mold holds 50 ounces, you recipe should be about 33 ounces of oils. I'd drop that to 30 oz - you don't want to fill your mold to the tippy tippy top.

I agree with the others regarding the almond scent - you said you used Peak's Almond Pastries. Almond is a scent that tends to stick powerfully. How much did you use? It could simply be a not particularly good FO.

If I remember correctly it was 1.2 oz but the FO I had was probably 4 years old. It smelled very good after pouring the soap but dissipated after curing. I'll purchase a newer FO and give that a shot.

 

[dixiedragon]

I've used FOs that were more than 4 years old with no problems. The ones that I did have problems with, they were noticeably "off" smelling in the bottle.