Your favorite beginner recipes

[CritterPoor]

All things allowed here, CP, HP, CPOP, Melt & pour, soap with lard/tallow, soap with only 1 ingredient, shaving soap. Doesn't matter what it is, what is your favorite beginner recipe. If you best friend came to you and said, "I want to make soap, what recipe would you suggest" what would you give them?

 

[not_ally]

There may be a difference of opinion on this, but for beginners I would suggest MP, with a good base (SFIC, for me.) That is how I started, I was scared of lye - for good reason, b/c I am a klutz, but I don't care about the occasional spashes/burns anymore, it is worth it. Anyway, they will be amazed at how easy it is to make a soap that is and feels so much better than syndet bars. No recipe really, although I do add a tspn of OO and CO/per pl of base when I make MP, I think it makes it more moisturizing and harder.

For CP, that is a pretty wide open world, depending on what you want. I am now a pretty big lard fan, so would probably go with Suzie's beginner's recipe (I usually use almost all lard for the P/T/L mix in it, and do 7.5 superfat b/c I have dry skin. Here it is:

"Palm/Tallow/Lard 55%
Olive Oil 20%
Coconut Oil 20%
Castor Oil 5%

Superfat 5-8%

I add 1 tsp/PPO sugar to boost bubbles. Give it 4-6 weeks cure, and it should be fine."

 

[LBussy]

My favorite bar soap (so far) is a recipe IrishLass shared:

40 Pomace Olive Oil (can buy any 100% Olive Oil for this)
27 Lard (Manteca or Armor brand in the grocery stores)
25 Coconut Oil (Health food stores have this, some groceries. A little more expensive local but you can "impulse" buy it on the weekend)
8 Castor Oil (also available in most drug stores)
Superfat 6%

You can buy everything on one trip out on a Saturday morning in most towns in the US (I have done it) and have soap in the mold by lunch. That and lard makes a fantastic bar soap.

 

[JayJay]

I'm still a beginner, but my easiest soap to make is the %100 coconut oil with 20% superfatting. It isn't my favorite to use, but it is the fastest to make. It traces quickly, and hardens quickly after being molded. I can measure, mix, pour, gel, unmold, and cut in one afternoon.

 

[LBussy]

I'm still a beginner, but my easiest soap to make is the %100 coconut oil with 20% superfatting. It isn't my favorite to use, but it is the fastest to make. It traces quickly, and hardens quickly after being molded. I can measure, mix, pour, gel, unmold, and cut in one afternoon.

I c an imagine that is pretty good to start with. My first Castille was amazingly easy. After making shave soap I was a little amazed at how uncomplicated it was. The pomace traced fast (not as fast as CO!) and set up quick. At 6 months it was passable, close to a year now and it's very nice. The wait makes it not a beginner soap really but quick!

 

[Seawolfe]

My very first soaps were 70% OO, 30 % CO and I loved them so at 6% superfat and a good long cure. But if one can get lard and castor I would definitely recommend the first recipe posted.

 

[snappyllama]

I agree on Susie's recipe as perfect for beginners. The ingredients are widely available, gives you time to work, produces an attractive naked/uncolored bar, and best of all: it's really, really nice on the skin! Go for the lard version!

 

[AnnaMarie]

A really good and fool proof beginner recipe for nice, hard, and long lasting bar of soap: use equal amounts of coconut, Palm, and olive oils and run through the lye calculator. You just can't go wrong here. After a couple batches of this it becomes a good platform for building your own recipe. Add some Shea butter and/or castor oil, play with the amounts, etc.

Best,
Anna Marie