Recipe Troubleshooting

[BRONZ'D]

Hi Everyone,

I hope you're all doing well! Thank you in advance for taking the time to help me refine my soap recipe.

I'm currently working on an oatmeal soap bar. While I’m happy with the overall outcome, I’d love to enhance it further to make it more nourishing and moisturizing post-shower. Right now, I notice a bit of that "squeaky clean" feeling afterward, and I'd like to reduce that sensation while ensuring the bar leaves the skin feeling softer and more hydrated.

Below is the recipe I’ve been using. My most recent test batch was superfatted at 7%. I’d greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions you can offer to help me improve its performance.

Thank you so much for your insights!

Best regards,
[Your Name]


Phase A

• Lye
• Water

Phase B

• Olive Oil - 25%
• Shea Butter - 20%
• Coconut Oil ( 76 deg) - 20%
• Cocoa Butter - 15%
• Palm Oil - 15%
• Castor Oil - 5%

Phase C

• Honey - 2TSP/PPO
• Colloidal Oats - 2TSP/PPO
• Goat Milk (powder) - 2TSP/PPO
• Sodium Lactate - 1TSP/PPO
• Preservative

NOTE:

• Total Weight - 50g
• Lye Concentration - 33%
• Superfat - 7%
• Fragrance 0.7oz/lbs.

 

[Yooper]

One of the most common claims is that coconut oil helps create that ‘squeaky clean’ feeling. You can cut the coconut oil to 15% or less, and that should help. Also, it’s not responsible for that stripping feeling but soap doesn’t need preservatives and with those butters and palm oil, you don’t need sodium lactate. Sodium lactate will help release the bars out of the mold faster, but with those hard oils you don’t need it as it doesn’t do much else. That’s quite a bit of honey, but if it works for you, that’s fine.

 

[BRONZ'D]

One of the most common claims is that coconut oil helps create that ‘squeaky clean’ feeling. You can cut the coconut oil to 15% or less, and that should help. Also, it’s not responsible for that stripping feeling but soap doesn’t need preservatives and with those butters and palm oil, you don’t need sodium lactate. Sodium lactate will help release the bars out of the mold faster, but with those hard oils you don’t need it as it doesn’t do much else. That’s quite a bit of honey, but if it works for you, that’s fine.

Hi Yooper,
Thank you so much for your helpful input! I'll reduce the coconut oil to 10%. Would you recommend adding another nourishing oil or increasing the shea butter instead? Also, what are your thoughts on using 1 TSP/PPO for the honey? I agree it might be too much—I noticed some scorching in my last batch. Lastly, since soaps are often kept in wet areas, is there a risk of mold or other organisms growing? That’s why I was considering adding a preservative.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

 

[Yooper]

Hi Yooper,
Thank you so much for your helpful input! I'll reduce the coconut oil to 10%. Would you recommend adding another nourishing oil or increasing the shea butter instead? Also, what are your thoughts on using 1 TSP/PPO for the honey? I agree it might be too much—I noticed some scorching in my last batch. Lastly, since soaps are often kept in wet areas, is there a risk of mold or other organisms growing? That’s why I was considering adding a preservative.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

I’d like the see the ‘numbers’ of the recipe before a recommendation on which oil to increase, but since you have so many hard oils already, I think olive oil would be the one to bring up 10% or so.

A preservative isn’t necessary in soap- soap doesn’t mold in normal circumstances. A preservative IS necessary in lotions with water, etc, but soap may melt in water but not mold.