Trouble with first batch

[mommycarlson]

It's been out a while now, might as well leave it out, the upper oven is still warm from the bottom oven being on. No animals here, just a hubby who nods and smiles and says "nice job honey" in regards to the soap, but could really care less. Thanks for all your help!

 

[mommycarlson]

Considering a coconut soap today. I have run a recipe through soapcalc, but the recipe calls for coconut milk as the liquid. The coconut milk I buy is very thick, like a paste, the recipe says to freeze half the coconut milk in ice cube trays and use that to cool the lye/coconut milk mixture. What kind of coconut milk would you use that isn't solid? Or would water be okay? I'm going to add a coconut FO from Brambleberry, does anyone know if this causes the batch to seize up at the end or can I add it with the rest of my oils? Thanks!

 

[penelopejane]

You can use the split method that doesn't require freezing anything. Use just over 50% of the water required to mix the lye. Reserve part of the remaining water to mix colours etc.
Substitute the remaining water with coconut milk. Mix the coconut milk into the oils before the lye. And add the FO at this stage. Then add the lye and mix to a light trace.

 

[kchaystack]

Canned coconut milk separates into a solid phase (mostly coconut oil) and liquid (mostly water). Just mix it really well, maybe take a stick blender to it. I would also put it in a freezer bag and seal it. Then put it flat in your freezer. It will freeze faster, and you can break it up into with a rolling pin so it is easier to deal with than cubes.

Of course distilled water is always ok.

Not sure if the FO accelerates - but it is going to discolor. I don't think I have seen any coconut FO that has no vanillan.

 

[mommycarlson]

Okay, great, thank you! I'll give it a whirl
I set that up to make only one pound of soap, I'm pretty disappointed in how small the batch is. My question is, can I make another soap and pour on top of this one?
Ended up making a half pound of soap, leaving out the FO and added 1/2 t cinnamon at trace for a top layer with a different color. Looks pretty good so far
How long should it take the soap to firm up? Usually the leftover stuff in the pan is set up by now but it's still "buttery", the stuff in the mold is firming up some, but it's still a little soft. My other batches hardened up in the molds pretty quickly.

 

[mommycarlson]

I had my first homemade soap experience this morning. WOW! It's my own soap, I made the solid shampoo on 1/19, it seized up when I added the EO, so I rebatched it, per everyone's advice here on the 20th, cut it on the 21st. It's 5 weeks old today. It's amazing The lather is outstanding and my hair feels wonderful. It was so hard not to use it as a body soap, so my question is, is it ok to use it as a body soap or should I stick with it only as a solid shampoo?

 

[Seawolfe]

Of course you can use it as a hand, face, body, dog, soap, why not?

 

[cmzaha]

I had my first homemade soap experience this morning. WOW! It's my own soap, I made the solid shampoo on 1/19, it seized up when I added the EO, so I rebatched it, per everyone's advice here on the 20th, cut it on the 21st. It's 5 weeks old today. It's amazing The lather is outstanding and my hair feels wonderful. It was so hard not to use it as a body soap, so my question is, is it ok to use it as a body soap or should I stick with it only as a solid shampoo?

Your body will enjoy the soap much more than your hair will. You made soap Not Shampoo and soap is not good for hair over time, trust me on that one. You want shampoo make a shampoo bar that is not soap. Here is a good starting point for "shampoo" bars. Do your research on what the ph o fsoap does to hair. Once you damage hair, which is very resilient, you can not actually fix it, only cutting will get rid of the damaged hair
http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2009/10/shampoo-bar-visual-tutorial.html

 

[mommycarlson]

This "soap" is actually a shampoo bar, made from a recipe in Gregory White's book. Thank you all for your responses!

 

[Susie]

This "soap" is actually a shampoo bar, made from a recipe in Gregory White's book. Thank you all for your responses!

Shampoo bars are still an alkaline salt of a fatty acid resulting from saponification. That makes it a soap. No matter what anyone calls it, or what part of the body it is used on, it is soap.

Carolyn's point is that the high pH of soap, AKA "shampoo bars", can be very damaging to hair. Not everyone has this issue as fast as others, but some people can really damage their hair by using soap to wash it. I did, and I am now back to using synthetic detergents to wash my hair, and the last of the damaged parts should be able to be cut off on my next haircut.

Carolyn also was (or is currently) a licensed cosmetician who's job depended on knowing how to properly care for hair. This makes her way more expert about hair than people who make soap.

Only you can decide what you are going to use to wash your hair, but Carolyn would be remiss not to tell you that you could be damaging your hair.

 

[shunt2011]

^^
This.....Can't use soap on my hair. What a mess it was. Not good on colored hair at all.

 

[mommycarlson]

Thank you for all your feedback

 

[penelopejane]

Some peoples hair seems to take longer to react and guys don't suffer so much damage, if they keep their hair super short (constantly cut the damaged parts off) but soap does damage the follicles.

 

[mommycarlson]

I have a pixie cut, very short hair I appreciate all the feedback.

 

[mommycarlson]

Hi All,
I would like to make a recipe from a book that I have. I put it into SoapCalc, but it makes 163 oz of soap! I wanted to make a 25 oz batch. For the life of me, I don't know how to reduce the recipe. Is it just simple math of dividing and putting it into the soap calculator? I tried setting it for a 25 oz batch but it did not change the amounts of the oils called for in my recipe. Thanks for your help!

 

[Susie]

Summerbeemeadow has a recipe resizer:

http://www.summerbeemeadow.com/content/lye-calculator-and-recipe-resizer

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Hi All,
I would like to make a recipe from a book that I have. I put it into SoapCalc, but it makes 163 oz of soap! I wanted to make a 25 oz batch. For the life of me, I don't know how to reduce the recipe. Is it just simple math of dividing and putting it into the soap calculator? I tried setting it for a 25 oz batch but it did not change the amounts of the oils called for in my recipe. Thanks for your help!

You can use summerbeemeadow but SoapCalc can also resize your recipe and you only have to enter it once. Here are the steps:

1 - Choose ounces in section 2. Don't worry about the number there.

2 - Select your oils in section 6. Enter the amounts from the book in the Oz column.

3 - Click the Calculate Recipe button.

4 - Percentages have now appeared in section 6. Select the % instead of the Oz column.

5 - Go back to section 2 and enter 25 ounces.

6 - Click the Calculate Recipe button again and you'll have the info you need.

 

[mommycarlson]

Thank you both for your help! Worked like a charm!

 

[mommycarlson]

I plan to cut up some of my first batch of soap and add it to a batch of new soap (as soon as my ingredients arrive) I'm reading up on confetti in soap and have seen some different methods for adding it, from adding it at trace to layering it in the mold. What are your favorite ways to add confetti? I also want to color the new batch with cocoa (25 oz batch) but am unsure how much to use, a teaspoon? I would like to use all natural colorants and either no scents or EO's so I'm experimenting with color right now. I used cinnamon in my last batch, looks pretty good. Thanks in advance for your advice.