Teach Soap

I have a question about soaping at cooler temps. I like the feel of the soaps I make with goats milk and have gotten the hang of using frozen milk to ensure that the lye doesn't scorch the milk, ending up with a nice creamy colored bar. However, the basic recipe I have been using is roughly 30% palm and I am getting stearic acid streaks in the final soaps when mixing at roughly 90 degrees. I am not sure if there is a way to prevent this or if I need to look at a different formulation altogether.

The other caveat is that I need to keep coconut pretty low. I am finding that anything over 25% is too drying for my skin.

I have on hand olive oil, coconut oil, palm, castor, rice bran, cocoa butter and beeswax.

Do you use or have you tried homogenized palm oil? Certainly you could reformulate your basic recipe, but if you like your recipe how it is, or would like it minus the stearic issue, why not try the homogenized palm oil?
While I am familiar with palm oil, I haven't used it in so many years, and can't even remember if I soaped a milk recipe with it or not. Likely I did, but ??? So I will leave further comments to others who use it more often.

As for the coconut oil, a lot of people do find it drying in higher concentrations. You can either adjust the recipe or increase the super fat % to allow for that and alter it. I use 20% in almost all of my recipes but I have never had a complaint of dryness. So everything is relative to the rest of your recipe and the super %.

If you do want to change your recipe some, with what you have on hand, I'd increase the olive oil whatever amount I decreased the palm. Play on the soap calc with your recipe and I bet you will find a nice compromise that will still give you teh benefits you want!

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

I'm curious, and more than a little concerned, "just in case" I get these. Since you mention the stearic acid streaks, are they dangerous, or are they simply an aesthetic thing that you don't really want? Because I'm thinking a white-on-white bar with a bit of swirl/streak would be kind of pretty, actually. I might even try on purpose to get something like that. Maybe doing an OO batch, and an OO+CO batch, and swirling them.

The problem with stearic streaks is that if you do not get it mixed well you will get either high or low stearic in each batch. Eventually you will come to the end of your batch and be stuck with either a ton of stearic, which will give you soap on a stick (hard as a rock as soon as you begin) or no stearic (way too soft), and there is no way to tell up front.
Aside from this issue, having too much or not enough in your batches will also mess with the amount of lye you need in that batch, and it could possibly make your soap lye heavy. Just check your soap to be careful. Also, where the stearic is off, it can make lye pockets. So again, you will need to carefully check your soap. Allow it to sit a day or two and then do a zap test on the outside of the soap where there is white. If you don't get a zap, cut it with your gloves on, just in case, and then inspect it visually. If you don't see any obvious signs of lye, leave it cure. Then to be for sure for sure, I'd cut one bar open and inspect it for pockets of lye. Probably there won't be any, but I would rather look and look and zap test and zap test than not and be wrong.

" Because I'm thinking a white-on-white bar with a bit of swirl/streak would be kind of pretty, actually. I might even try on purpose to get something like that. Maybe doing an OO batch, and an OO+CO batch, and swirling them."

An all white bar is very pretty with a streak in it, but you will need to use some color to get your streak to show. You cannot use stearic to gain a streak and be safe. That doesn't necessarily mean the batch you did is bad or dangerous, but it is a risky business and not to be tempted. So either mix your palm well each time or get homogenized palm so you don't have to worry about mixing. But please don't purposely try to get stearic imbalance.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

I saw a picture somewhere - it could even have been on this forum - where a soaper made 2 soap batters, one with light colored olive oil and the other with dark olive oil and then did a swirl. The result was a subtle difference in color that was very pretty.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I have seen two natural batches mixed and give that effect too Linda, and it can be very pretty and subtle. You just have to know experiment with your recipes. Sounds like a good project to me!

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

I have been using just plain old palm oil, but I am thinking I might have to find a recipe without it to be able to accommodate the lower temps for milk soaps...

A quick google search showed that I can get the hydrogenated palm, but it is in 50 pound lots, which, as a hobbiest, is more than I need to purchase at any one time...

There are places that sell the homogenized palm in a smaller quantity I am sure. Try the soap supply houses. If all else fails, columbus foods has it, but they only sell in gallon or more containers. Of course, if that is a staple in your recipe, then a gallon is quite easy for you to go through, and it is less expensive to buy a gallon at a time than a pound.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

I saw that soaper's choice has hydrogenated palm kernel oil in a 10 pound size, but hydrogenated palm is only in the 50 pound block. And yes, it doesn't take long to go through a gallon of oil!

Sorry, I could have sworn I had seen it there before. I don't use palm at all, so I don't always pay attention to where it is and isn't. You could contact them and ask if they ever will have it in a smaller amount or know where you can get it. They are very good about answering questions. Besides, the most they can do is say no, and at best they may decide to offer it in a smaller size.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

No worries. I would like to get rid of palm because of the sustainability issues, but before that I would like to ditch coconut oil as I find it to be extremely drying, even when used at roughly 25% or less with an 8% superfat. I am a bit concerned about having a soft bar that doesn't last long if I don't have at least one hard oil.

I think I am going to try a batch where I up the OO to 50% and decrease both the CO and PO amounts and see what happens. I typically add shea and castor oil. I am getting some beeswax and cocoa butter shortly.

You could try some babassu oil. If you are going to use beeswax, remember that using too much will give you soft soap rather than the hardness you are looking for.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

That is good to know. I was thinking roughly 3% for the beeswax and I might up the shea to slightly over 10%.

Keep in mind that the higher the %, the more likely it will cause some drag (lowering of the lather), so try some out and decide how you prefer your soap. Also, it may accelerate trace in your recipe, so be prepared for that. It will take a higher temp to melt it, so you will need to take your oils hotter, then allow them to cool down before mixing in the lye. Just keep stirring the oils so they don't begin getting solid again around the edges of your pot.
I use cocoa butter in many of my recipes, I like it better than the shea personally, but when I do use it, I rarely go over 6%. Different strokes though, plenty of people love it. Just try various amounts and combos til you get what you love! Have fun experimenting!!

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

It is a lot of fun. My family and friends have to be the cleanest people in the area because I keep forcing new formulations on them. Eventually I will find one that I am really happy with, but until them I am always looking for new victims.