Which oils to start with?

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Those will make good bath bars, but not really shampoo. That's a whole different story - check out a few recent threads with shampoo in the title to see the various thoughts on lye soap as a shampoo

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I don't know if 92 degree coconut oil performs any differently in soap. I know some people here prefer it because they live in very hot climates (Western US, South Florida) and it's easier to handle a bucket of solid or semi-solid oil vs a bucket liquid oil. I don't quite get that myself - I find it easier when the oil is liquid. Another use is in a product such as a body-bar or a lip balm where you may want a higher melt point in the end product.

Of course! Now that makes sense. Thanks!

...I use fractioned coconut in salves (and on my dog).

LOL That's one spoiled fur baby. Lucky dog.

 

[Primrose]

Those will make good bath bars, but not really shampoo. That's a whole different story - check out a few recent threads with shampoo in the title to see the various thoughts on lye soap as a shampoo

That was an auto correct fail - I meant shower and bath bars not shampoo!

I've made the two batches, and they are now sitting happily in my fridge. Hopefully they work!

 

[Steve85569]

My soaping oil closet has:
Lard
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Rice bran oil
Castor oil
Or I'm doing some shopping. There may also be some Sunflower oil and Avocado oil in there but if I run out of those there's no panic.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[dixiedragon]

I did end up getting some lard at the supermarket yesterday (I am in Australia so no Walmart) and will try both recipes and see how we like them. I think at this stage I do want a fairly gentle moisturizing bar as our main shampoo/bath bar. Later down the track I might look at harder and exfoliating/scrubbing bars as my OH works on cars so quite often needs to scrub grease off his hands and arms. But for now I just want a simple recipe down pat that I can play with later

If you want to make an exfoliating bar, you can add an exfolliant your probably have in your kitchen. Oatmeal flour (put some rolled oats in your food processer), coffee grounds and cornmeal are good exfoliants.

 

[Arimara]

If you want to make an exfoliating bar, you can add an exfolliant your probably have in your kitchen. Oatmeal flour (put some rolled oats in your food processer), coffee grounds and cornmeal are good exfoliants.

That processor better be a good one. I used to grind up oatmeal for my daughter's baths and therer were still some coarse pieces in there. I think buy the oat or rice flour might be best if you can't get it fine enough.

 

[dixiedragon]

That processor better be a good one. I used to grind up oatmeal for my daughter's baths and therer were still some coarse pieces in there. I think buy the oat or rice flour might be best if you can't get it fine enough.

I suppose it depends on how fine you want it. I've found that for baking, using my food processor just doesn't cut it. The oatmeal is still not fine enough and the muffin ends up being too dense, gummy and wet. But for soap I think it's fine. But I don't think the larger pieces are a problem in soap.

 

[SaltedFig]

Hey Primrose!

Where about's is your farm?

Goats and Olives are a match made in heaven (and very popular), as you probably have already noticed.

If your girls milk is smelling good (no boys), you could use the frozen method, soap cool and you should be good.

If the milk is smelling a bit stronger, the thirds method works well.

With the thirds method, you make the lye with 1/2 lye, 1/2 water first. Then mix the same amount of milk (as you used for the water amount) with the oils. Last, add the lye mix to the oil mix, ending up with one third of each of the water, milk and lye.

Welcome aboard!
PS. I like your first recipe - it's a good look at how soap works and shouldn't play up on you too much, even if you add things that make it work fast. Downside is (as others have said) ... it'll be a lot better a lot slower too :mrgreen:

 

[Primrose]

Hi SaltedFig, I'm in Perth, and its not much of a farm, just a hobby. I'm very sensitive to taste/smell in my goats milk, so although I do keep my own buck, nope my goats milk isn't goaty! I did use the freeze method.

I had a peek in the fridge early this morning before heading to work, and couldn't help but nudge the top of it. Is it weird that both batches seem pretty **** solid in the moulds already? I'll take it out of the fridge this afternoon and see how it behaves itself at room temp, but I expected it to be fairly soft from what I've read

 

[dixiedragon]

Not weird that it's solid. Wait until it as firm as a block of cheddar to unmold and cut. Cream cheese is too soft - your bars will get mushed. Parmesan cheese is too hard and brittle and you risk broken corners.

Mmmm...cheese....

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

...........Mmmm...cheese....

A little off topic, but I just cut and packed a 7kg wheel of lovely 9 month old Bergkäse today. Hmmmmmmm.

 

[Nevada]

Sift ground oatmeal or coffee through a tea strainer or something similar.

That processor better be a good one. I used to grind up oatmeal for my daughter's baths and therer were still some coarse pieces in there. I think buy the oat or rice flour might be best if you can't get it fine enough.

 

[Primrose]

I cut the lard cheese, I mean soap, yesterday! It did crack a little at the corners, so I'll note down to cut it a touch earlier next time. The olive oil one is not firm enough yet

I bought some silicon moulds, so the next batch might be a bit prettier LOL

 

[SunRiseArts]

:bunny: You got great advice here!

 

[Arimara]

Sift ground oatmeal or coffee through a tea strainer or something similar.

Thanks for the suggestion however i'm not going to stress myself looking for a strainer fine enough to do that. I haven't ground anything down in a while anyway.

 

[Primrose]

:bunny: You got great advice here!

I really did, its been fantastic! Thank you to all contributors

 

[dixiedragon]

Congratulations! I love pics of first soaps! They make me even happier than perfect swirls. And perfect swirls make me pretty darn happy!

 

[WeaversPort]

I cut the lard cheese, I mean soap, yesterday! It did crack a little at the corners, so I'll note down to cut it a touch earlier next time. The olive oil one is not firm enough yet

I bought some silicon moulds, so the next batch might be a bit prettier LOL

Those are beautiful! Great job!!

Did you enjoy it? Are you hooked?

 

[szujus]

I am new to this too. I've been reading like crazy...too. I still have oil questions. Can't seem to understand the different palm oils. There is Regular palm oil, red palm oil, palm kernel oil...All of the palms seem to be very common in soaping recipes, so which palm is the best? I've never seen anyone talk about the red palm but thats the only one i see at the store. Is it the same? Help

 

[cmzaha]

Red Palm oil is virgin palm and is going to color your soap. You want regular palm oil for general soaping with comes from the fruit of the palm and is a veggie replacement for lard and tallows. Palm Kernel Oil comes from the kernel of the palm fruit and is a replacement for coconut oil, it does not replace regular palm. Palm kernel is high in Lauric Acid and Myristic Acid, which makes the soap cleansing and bubbly and very low in Palmitic which makes a hard bar. Regular palm is high in palmitic with minimal lauric and myristic. Simply put, use regular palm for hardness, palm kernel oil for cleansing and bubbles