another recipe to critique please

[Delia]

OK, I've been playing around with the soap calculator and was wondering about this recipe. The calculator does not have a goat milk choice but I have used my GM 100% in place of water in other basic soap recipes before. So.......I didn't know what else to do with the calculator except just use the water % for the goat milk

Anyway, here it is. Would love some feedback on it

86 ounces on oils

Avocado 2.32%

Castor Oil 2.32%

Coconut Oil 24.41%

Emu Oil 2.32%

Grapeseed Oil 1.16%

Palm 40.74%

Olive 24.41%

Shea Butter 2.32%

Water(goat milk) 38% of oils (32.68oz)

Lye 12.19 oz

I left the superfat at 5%

Hardness 46

Cleansing 17

Condition 50

Bubbly Lather 19

Creamy lather 31

Iodine 52

INS 160

I am also wondering if the addition of the GM will up the creamy lather and how that will affect the bar since the acceptable range is 16-35

The cleansing falls in the lower end of the acceptable range of 14-22. Will the GM affect that also?

I really appreciate any feedback since I would like to experiment with something other than a basic recipe with the GM

Delia

[Carriegsxr6]

The cleansing range is actually perfect. 24% coconut is pleanty to achieve a nice foamy/cleansing lather. You should lower your palm to 30% and raise your olive to 34%.

[CareBear]

The GM will increase your superfat so yes it can affect the cleansing. But I would recommend you try things rather than go by the numbers. I do see you have a tiny bit of grapeseed and wonder if that is enough to impact your soap significantly.

And 86 ounces of oils is pretty close to HUGE for an experimental batch. I would recommend you stick to about 32 oz. til you see if you like it.

[Delia]

Thanks so much for your help Carrie and Care Bear. I have adjusted the recipe per your suggestions. This allowed me to also add more grapeseed

32 Oz experimental batch of oil

Water 38% of Oils

Superfat left at 5%

Avocado 2.325

Castor Oil 2.32%

Coconut 24.41%

Emu Oil 2.32%

Grapeseed 2.31%

Olive 34%

Palm 30%

Shea Butter 2.32%

Hardness 42(down from 46)

Cleansing 17 (same)

Condition 54 (up 4)

Bubbly Lather 19 (same)

Creamy Lather 27 (down 4)

Iodine 56 (up 4)

INS 155 (down 5)

From someone who has never experimented beyond a basic recipe, this looks more balanced than the soap cal recipe I posted earlier. Thanks so much for your help:smiley2:

Delia

[Meridith]

Persoanally, I'd ditch all together the avocado and the grapeseed and quite possibly the emu oil. I'd consider lowering my palm and I would up my castor and shea to 5% each and add the remaining amounts to my OO. i'd play around with these amounts until I got the numbers or as close to the numbers I was shooting for.

Thanks so much for your help Carrie and Care Bear. I have adjusted the recipe per your suggestions. This allowed me to also add more grapeseed

32 Oz experimental batch of oil

Water 38% of Oils

Superfat left at 5%

Avocado 2.325

Castor Oil 2.32%

Coconut 24.41%

Emu Oil 2.32%

Grapeseed 2.31%

Olive 34%

Palm 30%

Shea Butter 2.32%

Hardness 42(down from 46)

Cleansing 17 (same)

Condition 54 (up 4)

Bubbly Lather 19 (same)

Creamy Lather 27 (down 4)

Iodine 56 (up 4)

INS 155 (down 5)

From someone who has never experimented beyond a basic recipe, this looks more balanced than the soap cal recipe I posted earlier. Thanks so much for your help:smiley2:

Delia

[Delia]

HI Meredith

Thanks for your reply:smiley2: Why would you dump the avocado, grapeseed and emu?

Delia

[Meridith]

HI Meredith

Thanks for your reply:smiley2: Why would you dump the avocado, grapeseed and emu?

Delia

Because you don't have enough of any of them to really make any noticeable difference in your soap IMO and I think these are nice oils that are better used in other applications to be able to get their full benefit. Emu is so expensive that I would not want to use it in soap either and would rather save it for a nice cream or whipped butter, keeping it in its natural state. It is fun to experiment with lots of different oils and butters.

The other thing too is that I don't think you need a lot of these nicer oils and butters in soap to make a nice bar. I do think that they can make a difference too. And they do add lable appeal. I've added all three of these oils at different times to my soaps too.

Now I do regularily use avocado oil in my salt bars.

[eugenia]

I'm with Meredith. It's easy as a new soap to make your recipes too complicated. With those oils, this is what I'd do

Avocado 10%

Castor Oil 5%

Coconut Oil 20%

Palm 15%

Olive 40%

Shea Butter 10%

Hardness 39

Cleansing 14

Condition 55

Bubbly Lather 18

Creamy Lather 30

Iodine 63

INS 139

[Delia]

Thank you, Meredith and Eugenia for your counsel and help.

You are so right, it IS ever so tempting to throw in so many wonderful oils!

Is there a minimum amount to use of oils to achieve a benefit from them? Is there a site that has minimum amounts to use?

Delia

[eugenia]

Is there a minimum amount to use of oils to achieve a benefit from them? Is there a site that has minimum amounts to use?

Delia

Don't know about a site, but 5-10% is my norm.

e

[Scented]

That's where experimenting will come into play for you. I remember making my first recipe and how drying it was, but I kept jostling and juggling and when I finally had a great 12-oil recipe ... decided I needed to change that to fewer oils lol. BUT ... what I got out of that was a range of numbers where I liked to have certain things. Keep in mind though I was in pursuit of something and 30 or more recipes later ... thought I had it ... now I have been working on changing it just a little bit. With each new/altered recipe I found something else out. When I run out of a particular oil, I'll be going through this again with what I think will be a more nutritive oil.

You could make small batches with the recipes and alterations you have here and see the differences.

[Delia]

Thanks everybody!

Well, think I've got the courage to step off and try the recipes suggested. Appreciate all the great help from you more experienced gals.

By the way, why is it one seems driven to produce more batches while waiting for the first to cure:wink2:

Delia

[Louise]

By the way, why is it one seems driven to produce more batches while waiting for the first to cure:wink2:

Delia

Because once you create that first batch, the need to create never ends. Tweaking, adding, deleting, coloring, fragrancing (is that a word? lol), it just never ends. And what a pleasant road to go down!

[Delia]

LOL Not to mention, this is just plain fun. Now if I could just find a place to put it all this soap to cure.

Delia

[CareBear]

I totally agree with Eugenia - keeping things simple is best. That way you get the most possible out of your ingredients. Adding dribbles of things generally results in them getting lost in the mix and you don't see the benefit of them.

I have a notebook full of way too complicated recipes I made but I found it hard to learn from them because I didn't know what was contributing what. Then when I went back and cut out all the tiny %s I found that they really weren't contributing anyway!