What is your best/easiest soapmaking recipe?

[dantango]

20% lye discount

Paul, this is a revelation to me, if I understand it properly.

Instead of using fancy oils to moisturize/superfat; I can just use a 20% discount instead.

This results in saving money by using less lye AND using less of the more expensive stuff like shea butter, castor oil, jojoba and so forth.

Paul: "Here is the recipe using Soap Calc. for 100% Coconut Soap using a 33% lye solution and taking a 20% lye discount. You would use exactly;

Coconut oil---------------- 16 ounces
Lye-------------------------- 2.346 ounces
Water----------------------- 4.762

I just ran the recipe using 1 pound of coconut oil, 20% lye discount, and a 33% lye solution, and came up with these exact amounts for a 1 pound recipe. Hope this helps! It is the most bubbly, lathering soap I have used and not drying even to the face!"

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Yea Dan, isn't it a great, simple recipe! It's the easiest recipe ever! I'm reworking it just a tad using 2 more oils and a butter to try to make a luxury bar! So simple, yet so good!

Thanks Dan for your feedback! 8)

Paul.... :wink:

 

[dantango]

This seems almost too good to be true. The downside to a 20% discount is that the remaining oil may go rancid or otherwise spoil if the soap is not used soon? I've never had orange spots (in my soap at least ), but don't the chances of that increase as the discount percentage goes up.

Susan Miller Cavitch talks about using 15%, 'tho now she is using 10%.

The standard lye calculators recommend 5% to 8%.

Of course I'm more confused than ever. I'm going to post a new topic on lye discounts and superfatting.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Dan, Coconut Oil, is not a oil that is prone to rancidity, as other oils high in Oleic Acid content are. That is believed to be the main culprit of rancidity and DOS. You could always add a tad bit of T-50 to your recipe to offset any rancidity worries. I add T-50, natural vitamin E oil, to each batch.

Paul.... :wink:

 

[dantango]

Great, Paul! Just like you, I plan to tinker with this, adding maybe a little castor oil and shea butter. Since coconut oil is such a great soap oil for many reasons, and the only knock on using recipes of 100% coco is the supposed dryness/harshness, I'm very pleased to experiment.

I've also been meaning to find out about preservatives, so thanks also for the T-50 tip.

 

[pink-north]

Hey Smelli,

For the "bunny castile soap" why do you need to "discount heavily"? I'm trying to make sense of this. I would like to try this castile soap.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

I've done it with a 39% lye solution.

Worked pretty well for me at that deep discount.

Paul.... :wink:

 

[dantango]

I went ahead and made some, 20% discount, water 30% of oil. 100% coconut oil. Actual recipe: 1650 grams of coconut oil, 495 g water, 242 g lye.
+ 10 g sodium lactate, an eye dropper of grapefruit extract and 2 oz. 'Bugoff,' a proprietary blend from Oregon trail. I held out a little soap for swirling (chlorophyl).

Delighted with the result! 'Tho there were a few holes. Never had this happen before. I attributed it not to the recipe, but to the sudden trace. Took a longer time than usual to trace, but when it did it went fast.

Still not sure about the holes (air pockets). I would have thought the swirling would have given extra insurance against that, but....

The swirl came out beautifully. I'd send a photo if I knew how.

BTW, even tho I just made this 10/1, I used it in the shower this morning, including for my hair. No ill effects. Maybe the 20% discount, and using less water lets it cure quicker.

 

[dragonfly princess]

LET ME TELL YOU MY EASIEST SOAP RECIPE!!!!

ARE YOU READY??????











MELT & POUR
ahahahahahahahaahahahahahah just a joke, I am bored!

 

[Guest]

Hey Smelli,

For the "bunny castile soap" why do you need to "discount heavily"? I'm trying to make sense of this. I would like to try this castile soap.

Bun's Castile (2004)

32 oz. olive oil (the cheap stuff, not extra virgin)
3 oz. castor oil
4.50 oz. lye
10 to 12 oz. distilled or rain water (makes the lather much better than tap water does).

Do not heat your oils... use them at room temp. Mix the two together. Add your lye water as soon as the lye is fully dissolved and the solution is clear (no need to cool the lye solution, unless you are adding milk or honey to the recipe at trace... then you'd want that lye solution just cooler than room temp).

This recipe traces fast. Blend with your stick blender for about a minute, let it sit for a couple of minutes. Mix it again for a minute. This may be all you need to get thin trace, as it usually doesn't take over 10 to 15 minutes to get trace. Once it starts tracing, work with it fast because it will set-up quickly. That's why I always suggest putting in your scents, colors, botanicals, etc at very thin trace, so after you work that stuff in, it's still soft enough to pour nicely.

BTW, these are CP instructions, but this recipe HPs VERY well, so either way it will work fine. HTH hun

 

[Soapmaker Man]

DFP, your funny! I wish I had tried M&P. I almost bought a M&P goat milk base before starting CP, but didn't! M&P is the easiest for sure!

Paul.... :wink:

 

[dragonfly princess]

I am solely here to entertain! That is what the hubby tells me

 

[dantango]

85% and 75% Coconut Recipes

After following Paul's 100% coconut oil, 20% discount with good results, I've been experimenting, gradually replacing some of the coconut and lowering the discount to 15% to compensate for using softer oils.

These have become my favorite batches so far, 'tho they haven't cured yet for bath testing;

1. 85% coco, 5% babassu, 5% castor, 5% karite

2. 75% coco, 4% sweet almond, 6% babassu, 7% castor, 8 % olive

These are in 1650 gram batches, to which I add 10 g of sodium lactate and 1% T-50 preservative

BTW, these go into my 3.5 x 2.5 x 16" molds. My favorite part of the process is unmolding and cutting. I've been cutting them into bars about 1.125" and as much as I enjoy doing each by hand for the satisfaction I get from cutting them 'almost' perfectly, they are not perfectly uniform, so...

I'm thinking of buying one of Paul's wire 8 bar cutters, but I'm having a hard time deciding if I want the standard 1" thickness, or want to special order slightly thicker.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Those recipes sound really good Dan! You must always try new recipes, always taking good notes and trying to improve on your recipe! Good for you! I think I like the 1-1/8" wide bars a bit better. I made a custom 1-1/4" recently and a 1-1/8" one recently. Of the two, and compared to my normal 1" spacing, I like the 1-1/8" the best. Thanks Dan, I also sent you a PM back.

Paul.... :wink:

 

[Woodi]

My easiest recipe was 100% olive, but my skin felt sticky after using it in the shower. It also took many many weeks to cure to hard.

My second easiest recipe was 50% olive, 50% Palm Kernel.....lots of bubbly lather, nice and moisturizing.

but my fav recipe contains 50% olive, 22% palm, 25%palm kernel or coconut, 3% castor.

 

[sfreitag]

Re: 20% lye discount

Paul, this is a revelation to me, if I understand it properly.

Instead of using fancy oils to moisturize/superfat; I can just use a 20% discount instead.

This results in saving money by using less lye AND using less of the more expensive stuff like shea butter, castor oil, jojoba and so forth.

Paul: "Here is the recipe using Soap Calc. for 100% Coconut Soap using a 33% lye solution and taking a 20% lye discount. You would use exactly;

Coconut oil---------------- 16 ounces
Lye-------------------------- 2.346 ounces
Water----------------------- 4.762

I just ran the recipe using 1 pound of coconut oil, 20% lye discount, and a 33% lye solution, and came up with these exact amounts for a 1 pound recipe. Hope this helps! It is the most bubbly, lathering soap I have used and not drying even to the face!"

Sorry if this is an old thread but I have been trying to duplicate these results on soapcalc and Im just not getting something right. I am using soapcalc 9WP. I plugged in fractionated coconut oil at 100%. Then where it asks for the superfat/discount, I put 20%. Finally, where it asks for the lye ratio I put 2:1. These are the number it gave me when i calculated it:

coconut oil 16oz
lye 2.966
water 5.932

what oh what am i doing wrong? Thank you guys.

 

[Barb]

don't use the fractionated coconut, use either the 76 or 92 coconut.

 

[sfreitag]

Thank you Barb,
I will try that

 

[IanT]

sf- if you have a walmart near you, you can pick some coconut oil (76 deg) real cheap..its like 5 bucks for a small tub...def enough to experiment with but I wouldnt be using it if I was making bulk recipes due to retail costs/wholesale price comparison!

 

[Woodi]

The easiest recipe I ever made was 100% olive oil soap. I let it harden for 6 weeks or more, added no scent.

It looked lovely and smooth, but had little lather, and didn't rinse off as well as I like. But it was easy to make!