High Shea butter cold process soap anyone

[Funmistic]

Happy Easter everyone, new soapmaker here. I was wandering what a high Shea butter soap say at least 70% unrefined Shea butter cold process would feel like. It is cheaper, easily assessible and more affordable where I live. I would use cold pressed palm kernel oil and castor oil for the rest. I am really tired of the high palm kernel soaps popular in my country. They are so hard and very cleansing and stripping.

Many popular soap making oils like olive oil(especially pomace grade) is very expensive here and hard to get.But I could get neem, baobab, red palm oil, sunflower, heat processed coconut oil(smells like burnt coconut candy) soybean, palm kernel oil(cold and heat processed) and canola oil.


What should one expect? Has anyone made soap with that much shea butter before? I am looking for a very gentle soap for someone with dry skin, non stripping cleansing enough but with a really creamy lather. I am kind of going for that DOVE beauty bar effect.


I would really appreciate your input and experiences. Thanks

 

[Yooper]

I think that much shea butter would make a very hard bar. I remember I read somewhere that someone on a different soap forum made a 100% shea butter bar, and it turned out ok. I can't find that now, but found this on soaprecipes101.com Shea Butter Soap Recipe | Soap Recipes 101


100% Shea Butter Soap
Some people say you shouldn’t make 100% shea butter soap, as it would end up too hard and with little to no lather. The truth is, it all depends on the qualities you want from your soap. It’s a great learning experience to make a pure soap bar of each oil you use just to “see” how they turn out. Soapmaking is part chemistry/part art and you must choose your oils based on their fatty acid makeup and properties they bring to your soap whether that be fluffy bubbles, dense bubbles, creaminess, hardness, conditioning, etc. So yes, you can make a 100% shea butter soap if you want.
People who have actually made 100% shea butter soap say it’s fabulous for the skin, lathers somewhat like olive oil soap: it makes a dense creamy foam, with not many visible bubbles — enough to clean but not as “slimy” as Castile soap. An alternative would be to make a soap that is 82% shea and add castor oil to help with lather. Either way, experimenting is the key, and also the fun part. =)

 

[Funmistic]

I think that much shea butter would make a very hard bar. I remember I read somewhere that someone on a different soap forum made a 100% shea butter bar, and it turned out ok. I can't find that now, but found this on soaprecipes101.com Shea Butter Soap Recipe | Soap Recipes 101


100% Shea Butter Soap
Some people say you shouldn’t make 100% shea butter soap, as it would end up too hard and with little to no lather. The truth is, it all depends on the qualities you want from your soap. It’s a great learning experience to make a pure soap bar of each oil you use just to “see” how they turn out. Soapmaking is part chemistry/part art and you must choose your oils based on their fatty acid makeup and properties they bring to your soap whether that be fluffy bubbles, dense bubbles, creaminess, hardness, conditioning, etc. So yes, you can make a 100% shea butter soap if you want.
People who have actually made 100% shea butter soap say it’s fabulous for the skin, lathers somewhat like olive oil soap: it makes a dense creamy foam, with not many visible bubbles — enough to clean but not as “slimy” as Castile soap. An alternative would be to make a soap that is 82% shea and add castor oil to help with lather. Either way, experimenting is the key, and also the fun part. =)

Thanks a lot. This information is useful. Guess I just have to take a leap of faith

 

[szaza]

I once did a 78% shea, 22% coconut oil soap and it was awesome. I think next time I'll try 80/20. I used refined shea and trace was quite fast. Someone on the soapmakingforum experienced unrefined shea traced faster than refined, so don't overblend if you try

Eta. I pretty much sub (refined) shea for lard in recipes I find online. The main difference is faster trace (lard is very slow to trace), fatty acid profiles are quite similar, so the soap comes out similar.

 

[Funmistic]

I once did a 78% shea, 22% coconut oil soap and it was awesome. I think next time I'll try 80/20. I used refined shea and trace was quite fast. Someone on the soapmakingforum experienced unrefined shea traced faster than refined, so don't overblend if you try

Eta. I pretty much sub (refined) shea for lard in recipes I find online. The main difference is faster trace (lard is very slow to trace), fatty acid profiles are quite similar, so the soap comes out similar.

Thank you so much. How was the lather? what kind of skin type would you advice the soap is used for?

 

[szaza]

It was a nice creamy lather, good for normal to dry skin (very dry skin might need a bit less coconut oil)