The most lather?

[hozhed]

What oil or other ingredient do you guys think makes the most/best lather in your bath soaps. Thanks.

 

[Sonya-m]

Castor oil and sugar

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Coconut oil or equivalent. Without it, other lather enhancing additives have little to enhance!

 

[shunt2011]

Coconut and palm kernel oil make the best lather. Castor and sugar make the lather more stable and are a must.

 

[Susie]

I think lard + castor = most luxurious, creamy lather(not the "most", but the texture I prefer). I currently have batches curing to test the sugar theory. After that, I will test a milk soap against both of those. Just need time to do that.

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm not sure what you're thinking of when you say "most/best". Everyone has a different idea of that -- as you can already see, the answers range across the board.

Big fluffy bubbles? Then the Gent and Shunt are correct -- coconut, palm kernel, and babassu are top recommendations.

Dense creamy suds? Then Susie has it -- lard, tallow, palm do that.

A generous layer of dense lather topped by a spray of fluffy bubbles? Then a modest amount of fluffy bubble fats and a generous dose of dense creamy fats will do the trick.

Regardless of what lather you prefer, the others who suggest castor and sugar as lather enhancers all have a point. Oh, and beer enhances lather too.

 

[lsg]

My beer soap has lots of lather. I am wondering if it is the sugars in the beer.

 

[snappyllama]

I've been playing around lately, and this is giving me the best bubbles for my water in a high lard recipe:

10% PKO
10% CO
5% Castor

50% CM water substitution, 1tsp ppo sugar or honey

Watch for heating!

Produces dense foam with some big hollywood bubbles popping up. This one needs a good 6 week cure to really get the bubbles going.

Edited to add... I use shea at 5- 10% and even then I'm getting nice bubbles. I love shea!

 

[hozhed]

I'm not sure what you're thinking of when you say "most/best". Everyone has a different idea of that -- as you can already see, the answers range across the board.

Big fluffy bubbles? Then the Gent and Shunt are correct -- coconut, palm kernel, and babassu are top recommendations.

Dense creamy suds? Then Susie has it -- lard, tallow, palm do that.

A generous layer of dense lather topped by a spray of fluffy bubbles? Then a modest amount of fluffy bubble fats and a generous dose of dense creamy fats will do the trick. I could never use my good beer in soap! lol.

Regardless of what lather you prefer, the others who suggest castor and sugar as lather enhancers all have a point. Oh, and beer enhances lather too.

DeeAnna, I was thinking more like the thick, dense type of lather.

 

[not_ally]

This is a good, useful thread, nice to have all of these suggestions in one place. In addition to the more notable bubble enhancers above, I've started using aloe juice instead of water and really like it, I think it helps w/the bubbles a bit as well.

 

[kumudini]

Among the soaps I made, oatmeal, milk and honey soap has the best lather. So I would think milk or sodium lactate in the mix along with some form of sugar are good lather boosters. Here I am talking quick, big and fluffy lather. It has only about 15% CO and 5% castor.

 

[not_ally]

V, I agree on SL (also EDTA) boosting lather a bit. I've only been adding milks for a couple of weeks, although obsessively, it is so much fun, and they seem to vary w/r/t lather. CM seems best, heavy cream the worst, the others (GM, yogurt, buttermilk) in between. I don't have a very big sample size, obviously.

Speaking of buttermilk, does anyone have a good starter recipe for a buttermilk soap (ahem, Shunt)? I know people like them, but mine was kind of a fail. I'm pretty sure it was my fault, did not watch for overheating.

 

[Dahila]

I mix 1.5 tbsp in some water and add to the oils.

 

[ngian]

I've only been adding milks for a couple of weeks, although obsessively, it is so much fun, and they seem to vary w/r/t lather. CM seems best, heavy cream the worst, the others (GM, yogurt, buttermilk) in between. I don't have a very big sample size, obviously.

I have once added milk and honey to a soap and I tested it with another soap that had the exact same recipe but without the milk & honey additives. The first soap seemed to making lather slower and with more effort than the second one.

I have stopped using since then milks on soap and if I will again I will follow IrishLass's and DeeAnna's advices and Kevin Dunn's conclusion from soap milk experiment: to use a lye discount of 2% or 3% instead of the normal 5% that I use. Fructose and lactose consumes part of the lye maybe faster than the oils do and thus the final lye discount is bigger as it concerns the oils. That's why you may notice not so much and easy lather. And I'm talking about testing the soaps in hand wash. When using a nylon poof the most difficult soap in lather (Castile) also makes rich lather (but doesn't last long).

Lately I used a soap from another soaper that had used aloe vera and I really liked the big foamy bubbles that created on my hair and my children's hair. I know the exact recipe but I think it is for the aloe. I will start using it too to see if it is for the aloe.

 

[shunt2011]

V, I agree on SL (also EDTA) boosting lather a bit. I've only been adding milks for a couple of weeks, although obsessively, it is so much fun, and they seem to vary w/r/t lather. CM seems best, heavy cream the worst, the others (GM, yogurt, buttermilk) in between. I don't have a very big sample size, obviously.

Speaking of buttermilk, does anyone have a good starter recipe for a buttermilk soap (ahem, Shunt)? I know people like them, but mine was kind of a fail. I'm pretty sure it was my fault, did not watch for overheating.

Sorry, I just saw this. I like 30% OO, 35% Palm/Lard, 12% CO, 10% PKO, 8% Shea, 5% Castor then use Buttermilk for half my water amount and add the BM to my oils before the lye mixture. I also use silk and SL. I like the thick creamy lather I get with it. You can use BM in any recipe though. I have a several that I've used it in and it's great in all of them.

 

[Dahila]

Shunt I had read your post about it, and I started to add to all soaps. I had not try the one with BM but I hope it is going to be awesome

 

[Dorymae]

DeeAnna, I was thinking more like the thick, dense type of lather.

Thick and dense like shaving cream? If so you really should make cream soap. ( in that case it is steric acid that gives the dense ness of lather. )

 

[Nevada]

Salt bars!
75% coconut, 25% Lard, 50% Salt yielded the best creamy suds for me yet. Even better after 9 months of curing.
Lately I've been using 4% powder goat milk (of total oils) adsorbed into 5% of the (melted) lard and added after emulsion.

 

[not_ally]

Thanks, Shunt, I will try the buttermilk again today! I was really disappointed w/my fail after reading about how much you and others love it in soap, but it was my fault for not watching it. Will keep a watchful eye this time. I am looking forward to trying your recipe, it looks good.

ETA, you just add the BM to the oils as liquid (ie, no supplementing w/ the powdered) and as-is from the fridge, right?

 

[kumudini]

Thanks, Shunt, I will try the buttermilk again today! I was really disappointed w/my fail after reading about how much you and others love it in soap, but it was my fault for not watching it. Will keep a watchful eye this time. I am looking forward to trying your recipe, it looks good.

ETA, you just add the BM to the oils as liquid (ie, no supplementing w/ the powdered) and as-is from the fridge, right?

not_ally,Shunt probably adds buttermilk that's brought to room temp. It's just my guess as cold BM might probably end up re solidifying all the solid oils and butters.