| As a soapmaker, it can be really useful to know what properties an oil can contribute to your final bar of soap. Does it make it hard or soft? Does the oil contribute a lot of lather? Is the lather dense or light and fluffy? This information is really important, especially when you are considering which oils to use in your soap. What does this “luxury” or “filler” oil contribute to my bar? I hear a lot of people telling me that they don’t want any “filler” oils in their soap. They want an expensive luxury bar. Some “filler” oils are an important part of luxury bars. Come join me this week as we learn about ingredients that “make up” our soap.
Needed Materials
Recipe
Weigh the Stearic Acid into a microwave safe container. Heat until liquid. This took over ten minutes for me. Add the lye to the water to for a lye solution. Mix the oils and lye solution and blend until trace is achieved. Pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar. Enjoy!
I had some trouble when making this soap. The lye solution though hot, was so much cooler than the Stearic Acid the Stearic Acid became solid upon contact. It bubbles and steamed. I had to had about 6 more ounces of hot water to be able to even mix anything. It was quite startling to work with and I am not sure I ever want to make another pure Stearic Acid soap again. After the soap had cured, it was really hard. When cutting it, the ends crumbled and broke. I snagged a piece to test at the sink. It was really hard, there was no lather and it felt almost waxy. It would be useful when you have a soft bar of soap but I wouldn’t make it a large percentage of your oils. We don’t recommend that you use more than 1/8 of an oz per pound of fats.
|
 Finished Soap  Weighing Stearic Acid  Mixing Lye Solution  Adding Lye Solution to melted Stearic Acid  Lye Solution and Stearic Acid  Mixing Soap  Soap in Mold |
Whoa, that is one scary looking bar! I’m wondering-does it even clean?
I’m wondering if it cleans too…
It sure isn’t very pretty but I have made…er…seen worse. 🙂
well done good its realy nice
I hv question on single olive oil. Due to low temperature, 120 degree, u’ll need 6-8 weeks for soap to cure. What’s the best temperature for let’s say my soap ingredients is 50% olive oil? N do 50% olive oil in soap all need 6i8 weeks curing time? Pls advice. Thx.
2) Another quest:
I find EVOO made smoother and finer , more moisturizing soap than pomace. Does anyone feel the same? I know all reading materials said pomace made better soap..
Thx for sharing..
.
Lanny,
The curing time is simply the evaporation of the extra water as well as allowing for the saponification as the soap stalled. As it is currently winter, we recommend soaping coconut and olive oil at temperatures closer to 130 F. The longer cure time is not necessary if the excess water has evaporated as well as the soap having gone through a gel phase.
The difference between Pomace and Extra Virgin Olive Oils is the grade and the pressing that it came from. There seems to be minimal difference in finished soaps other than price of the ingredients.
I hope this helps!
Andee
Hi. lanny. I just found this site and it was pretty cool to see that u can make soap with just stearic acid. I just wanted to answer your question. for me evoo is finer and smoother and its because pomace is a mix of oils like soy and others and may have about 5% olive oil, well at lease the one I buy. Live life and stay clean from on soaper to another.
John,
Pomace does not necessarily have to be a mix of oils as it refers to the grade of oil. The label on your container of oil should tell you if you have purchased a oil blend or not. Pomace refers to the fact that it is an oil blended from different pressings, but if the labels are not read completely before purchase, one can find they have purchased an oil blend and not simply olive oil.
Andee
what happens if you hot process olive oil soap?
You get hot process olive oil soap. Because olive oil is slow to convert to soap you will have a firmer soap at a faster rate.
Cheers!
Tina