I’ve gotten a few responses from my questions on last week’s challenge. Today, I’ll answer two questions from KimVH with help from Technical Support.
1) The thing I struggle with the most is knowing why one oil/butter is used over another. Also, if I don’t have a particular ingredient is there an acceptable substitute or is there a reason that particular ingredient was used. I know that with more study this will become easier but maybe this could be added to the recipes in the posts when appropriate.
Oils and butters are exchanged for reasons of availability, personal preference and more. We wrote a blog on this about testing for the things you like. It can be found here on Lip Balm Formulation or on Cold Process Soap, Day Two.
My preferred method of deciding what to use, and what to avoid, is an oil journal. This is where I write a card or page on a specific oil. What did it smell like? What color is it? Does it feel oily? Waxy? Hard? Liquid? Does it solidify when refrigerated? Does it melt when the weather is warm? Does it feel light? Heavy? Where would I use it? Face? Knees? Feet? All over?
I have some preferences to avocado oil and jojoba oil. This does not mean that everyone will agree with me. These oils are heavy (avocado) and light (jojoba). There isn’t a right or wrong answer to “what oil should I use?” The question should be “what do I want my final product to feel like? If I replace this oil with that one, how will it impact my final product?”
2) I don’t know how realistic this is but since I don’t do this as a business it would be nice to have recipes with smaller or sample amounts included.
This is a valid concern. This is why we love doing recipes in 100 gram quantities, or in percentages. The recipe is very scale-able and is small enough for testing. 100 grams is just less than 4 fluid ounces.
Look at each recipe you want to try, and then check our blog on Coffee Butter Balm for how to work in percentages. This will be very helpful.
Submit your photos and text for the guest written Hot Process Soap Week! Submissions will be accepted through May 18th at blog@thesage.com. Hot Process Soap Week will be May 25th through May 29th.