What oils will make a moisturising soap.

[Elysium82]

What oils will make a moisturising soap and which essential oils will give a nice fruity smell while being anti - bacterial (acne reducing)?

Hey fellow soapmakers,

I have been reading up on oils/fats and I'd like to make a cold-processed soap of the following mixture:

-80% virgin olive oil
-20% coconut oil

I read that 100% virgin olive oil is not a good idea since it would make a soft, mild cleaning soap. So, I guess adding some coconut oil should make it harder and more mositurising, right? I would like a soap that a man could use and no body lotion would be required after a shower. Will this mixture provide that? I dont really have shea butter, cocoa butter readily available where I am at the moment. So, I am trying my best to make a decent, inexpensice CP recipe. Btw, does it matter what kind of cocount oil I get? Does it have to be extra virgin or literally any type of cocount oil will do?

Btw, I am more than happy to learn about new oils too that can be purchased at local stores (I am in Hungary at the moment), but oils like avocado oil, coconut oil, etc... all come from special stores here and they are rather pricey.

Now..the essential oils. I would like to use something that smells really strong (obviously that will depend on how much I add), but something super pleasant, like rose, orange, cinnamon. Something refreshing, but with anti-bacterial, soothing (against acne) properties like rosemary, lavander, tea tree oil. What do you recommend?

Thank you.

 

[BattleGnome]

Your recipe will work. Use at least a 5% super fat and give it a long cure, probably 6 months.

a better idea, what oils do you have available in your grocery store? If you have a list of what’s easy to find or is at a good price we can help you with recipe ideas. Everyone’s skin is different, so you’ll have to make some executive decisions based on your skin.

(I can’t say much about essential oils as I don’t use them. I find fragrance oils are more affordable for me but others should be able to give you advice)

 

[Elysium82]

Your recipe will work. Use at least a 5% super fat and give it a long cure, probably 6 months.

a better idea, what oils do you have available in your grocery store? If you have a list of what’s easy to find or is at a good price we can help you with recipe ideas. Everyone’s skin is different, so you’ll have to make some executive decisions based on your skin.

(I can’t say much about essential oils as I don’t use them. I find fragrance oils are more affordable for me but others should be able to give you advice)

Ok. Thank you.

I didnt realize it had to be cured for 6 months. I thought a few weeks should do. What happens though if I only cure soap for 4-5 weeks? I thought that would convert the remainder of the lye.

I'll head down to tesco today and check what other oils we have. People mainly use sunflower oil here, but one that is for frying and it must be full of harmful particles. I was lucky enough to find a Spanish virgen olive oil (tesco brand, but it seems to be good and its price is okay too). I have also picked up a bottle of castor oil, but it costs 10 dollars for a 0.5L bottle. I bought that for my hair. I can spare some, but my research shows that castor oils also produces soft, mild soap (so, it seems to be in the olive oil category IMO).

 

[shunt2011]

`Soap will never be moisturizing. It can be less cleansing. The more cleansing oils you use (Coconut, PKO, Babassu) the more oils stripped from the skin.

Any soap with a high Olive Oil content will require a longer cure but will cure out to be a hard bar of soap contrary to what you wrote. High OO soap has a tendency to have snotty texture lather. I don't use OO or and HO oil at more than 15-20% personally. The sunflower would be great for use in your soap. If it's used for frying it's High Oleic which will give it a longer shelf life. I happen to like HO Sunflower or Safflower in my soap. Castor Oil use at 5%. It helps stabilize the lather.

If you're not opposed to animal fat, Lard makes amazing soap. Lard, CO, Sunflower, Castor and good to go.

 

[Elysium82]

`Soap will never be moisturizing. It can be less cleansing. The more cleansing oils you use (Coconut, PKO, Babassu) the more oils stripped from the skin.

Any soap with a high Olive Oil content will require a longer cure but will cure out to be a hard bar of soap contrary to what you wrote. High OO soap has a tendency to have snotty texture lather. I don't use OO or and HO oil at more than 15-20% personally. The sunflower would be great for use in your soap. If it's used for frying it's High Oleic which will give it a longer shelf life. I happen to like HO Sunflower or Safflower in my soap. Castor Oil use at 5%. It helps stabilize the lather.

If you're not opposed to animal fat, Lard makes amazing soap. Lard, CO, Sunflower, Castor and good to go.

Right. Thank you.

Maybe I am approaching this from the wrong angle.

Maybe I should try to create a mild-cleansing soap that cures in a short time. Well, maybe 20% olive oil, 20% coconut oil, 5% castor oil, 55% sunflower oil. Then again, I am only worried about impurities in the sunflower oil.

By the way, soaps that are a mixture of several types of oils cure faster (in 4-5 weeks) or how do I know the length of time it must be cured for?

 

[shunt2011]

Right. Thank you.

Maybe I am approaching this from the wrong angle.

Maybe I should try to create a mild-cleansing soap that cures in a short time. Well, maybe 20% olive oil, 20% coconut oil, 5% castor oil, 55% sunflower oil. Then again, I am only worried about impurities in the sunflower oil.

By the way, soaps that are a mixture of several types of oils cure faster (in 4-5 weeks) or how do I know the length of time it must be cured for?

No, any high liquid oil soap (Sunflower, OO, Avocado etc) will require a longer cure. My lard soap that contains Lard, CO, HO Sunflower/OO or Avocado, Castor and Shea butter I cure 4-6 weeks. However, I don't use more that 25-30 % liquid oil in my soap. I use 20% CO in most of my soaps sometimes a bit more. Never more than 25% other than my salt soap.

 

[Megan]

I would think lard would be easy to procure in Hungary (my Hungarian grandmother cooked a lot of food with animal fats growing up...mostly her own rendered bacon fat, but I digress).

 

[Elysium82]

I would think lard would be easy to procure in Hungary (my Hungarian grandmother cooked a lot of food with animal fats growing up...mostly her own rendered bacon fat, but I digress).

Well, we did move on and stopped using lard. A lot of things have changed. Everything is of horrible quality these days and super expensive.

 

[dibbles]

You asked about coconut oil. It does not have to be virgin. You want to buy coconut oil that is solid at room temperature. In the US many stores have a liquid version also available. If lard is available, I would recommend that as it makes very nice soap. Do you have shortening available? I don't use it, but many people do. That will add hardness to your recipe and your soap will cure and be ready to use in 4-6 weeks. Four weeks is considered the minimum curing time for any soap.

For essential oils, my favorite using Tea tree is 3 parts Lavender and 1 part tea tree. Also nice in that blend is the addition of 2 parts litsea cubeba (may chang). Tea tree and litsea are lovely together as well.

 

[SeaSuds]

Well, we did move on and stopped using lard. A lot of things have changed. Everything is of horrible quality these days and super expensive.

Lard is still a popular solid cooking fat in Europe, I'd be very surprised if Tescos didn't have any. You should be able to find vegetable shortening too which has a little palm oil in. If castor oil is hard to come by you can just add a little sugar (1 tsp per pound of oils) but you do need more solid fats in your recipe unless you are prepared to wait for a long cure. You could also look at soleseife soap which is a high coconut oil soap made with fine sea salt, it's lovely! You should be able to get some good ingredients from Tesco to get you started If you are opposed to using animal fats or palm oil, many of us use soy wax as a cost effective replacement. You should be able to get it from a candle supplier but just make sure that it is 100% soy wax with no additives. Good Luck!

 

[Zing]

Welcome, Elysium! Adding castor oil was a game-changer (in terms of lather) for me and is now a must have. I use 4.5%. My basic is palm, coconut, olive, avocado, castor. I've had itchy rashy dry skin my entire life and have tried every store-bought lotion and potion and even prescription strength. Since I started soaping, my skin has never been better -- wish I'd had started decades ago.

I just found a great website for essential oils, Enter Your Own Blend » Essential Oil Calculator which will give you light/medium/strong/don't levels.

Warning, cinnamon is dangerous. In my noob days I used cinnamon essential oil and it looked and smelled wonderful. Then my entire body turned bright red.... It's one that many people are allergic to.

My favorite blend is rosemary/lemongrass. I almost always use a titch of cedarwood as a bass note.

I strongly recommend a cure of 6 weeks. The bars will harder and last longer. The trick is to soap often so that you always have a batch that's already cured! Keep us posted and good luck!

 

[Elysium82]

Welcome, Elysium! Adding castor oil was a game-changer (in terms of lather) for me and is now a must have. I use 4.5%. My basic is palm, coconut, olive, avocado, castor. I've had itchy rashy dry skin my entire life and have tried every store-bought lotion and potion and even prescription strength. Since I started soaping, my skin has never been better -- wish I'd had started decades ago.

I just found a great website for essential oils, Enter Your Own Blend » Essential Oil Calculator which will give you light/medium/strong/don't levels.

Warning, cinnamon is dangerous. In my noob days I used cinnamon essential oil and it looked and smelled wonderful. Then my entire body turned bright red.... It's one that many people are allergic to.

My favorite blend is rosemary/lemongrass. I almost always use a titch of cedarwood as a bass note.

I strongly recommend a cure of 6 weeks. The bars will harder and last longer. The trick is to soap often so that you always have a batch that's already cured! Keep us posted and good luck!

Perfect. Thank you.

There is still one thing I dont fully understand: how does one come to the conclusion that this specific recipe needs X weeks of curing?

I have had some comments where people straight up said that I'd need long curing for a specific recipe, but how did they come to that conclusion? @shunt2011 You have mentioned the oleic content. Is that something I need to further understand/investigate?

Thank you.

 

[MarnieSoapien]

All soaps need a cure time. 4-6 weeks is a good starting place. Over time, the water in your soap will evaporate, making a harder, milder bar of soap. There are molecular changes happening that makes your soaps better over time. You can use your soaps sooner, but the quality won't be as good as one that has had a longer cure. Hope that helps

 

[BattleGnome]

for me, cure time determination comes from 2 things: advice and practice.

all CP/HP soap needs a minimum of 4 weeks to let it do it’s thing. Some recipes (notably 100% olive oil or salt bars) need specific amounts of time (one year for the olive oil, six months for salt bars). You can certainly use all soap at that 4 week mark but magic starts to happen when you adjust cure time to recipe. The magic is scientifically explainable (Has to do with how the chemical bonds arrange themselves into optimal shapes) but no matter how many times it gets explained to me, it’s still magic to watch the change.

a good way to start learning: test your soap and take notes. Are a batch and pick out at least 4 bars. Try the first bar after 4 weeks, the second after 3 months, third at 6 months, and the last at 1 year. (Use the rest of the batch as you need soap, don’t deprive yourself of your hard work). Make sure to take notes about what you like/dislike at each milestone. And just as importantly, write it on a copy of the recipe. after a few recipes you’ll have a good idea how curing works for you, your skin, and your recipes.

 

[shunt2011]

Others have stated it pretty accurately. It all depends on the recipe as to how long it may need to cure. I don't make 100% OO soap. I dislike immensely regardless of how long it cures. It makes my skin feel tight and I hate slime it produces. My salt soap I cure 1 year or longer. I find it is so much better. My well rounded recipes I cure 4-8 weeks. Structural changes occur and makes them a much a better soap. Any high liquid oil recipe I cure 6 months.

 

[atiz]

You should be able to get lard still, and sunflower oil should be pretty cheap. Those, with a bit of coconut oil, would make a nice soap. Castor oil at 5% is nice, but not a deal breaker; I can't remember ever seeing it in HU (I grew up there), but things have changed indeed.

Agree with the others re. curing.

As for essential oils: citrus unfortunately fades quite badly, and it is difficult to come up with a nice fruity scent otherwise. You may want to look at fragrance oils too, if you are not opposed to using them.