Formulations
There are recipes or formulations listed all over the internet. They are offered as examples of the many variations of ingredients you can use to craft the most luxury soaps for yourself and your family.
Rather than use a particular recipe to craft my soaps, I rely on the ingredients I have on hand. Depending on where you live, it can be quite costly to order oils and in the current financial climate, shipping is more expensive than ever. Most of the time, I can find coconut and palm oils locally. My favorite combination for trouble-free soapmaking is 1/3 Coconut, 1/3 Palm, and 1/3 Olive Oils.
Things to consider are:
1) oils you already have on hand,
2) what specific oils will offer to a bar of soap,
3) size of batch to calculate how much oil will be required,
4) type of soap bar – bath, shampoo, pet friendly, soothing, etc. – and last, but not least,
5) you need your favorite on-line or manual lye calculator.
Even if you were to find the “perfect” soap recipe, you may not have access to all the ingredients. It will be much easier to take ingredient suggestions offered in a formulation and apply them toward creating a similar recipe using ingredients you do have and what you’re looking for in a finished product.
There are many oils that have the same or like properties, so you can often substitute one oil for another and still produce a very fine bar of soap. For instance, when we ran low on coconut oil, we used palm kernel oil as a substitute for its hardening and lathering properties. This produced an awesome soap with thick creamy lather. Several of our most successful formulations have contained the least variety of oils, including one of our favorites – with only olive, palm, and coconut.
EASY STEPS TO CREATING YOUR OWN SOAP FORMULATIONS
1.When the soapmaking bug hits, check your kitchen shelves for oils you already have on hand and make a selection based on availability (obviously) and what benefits or properties they will offer to a bar of soap. See the Oils Page for a list of oils and their properties. Of course, you want to make sure you have enough lye as well. Note: Because of the Meth problem, lye is not as available in many grocery stores as it once was.
2. Now you’re ready for a recipe. You already have an idea of what oils you “want” to add and it helps to know the total weight of the oil or oils you will “need” based on what your soap mold(s) will hold.
For instance, we have two “20-bar” wood soap molds. Filling each mold requires more than 60 ounces of a combination of oils, 23-26 ounces of distilled water/other liquid, and 9.0 – 9.9 ounces of lye). If I want to make a smaller batch, I’ll have to find something else to use as a mold. Generally, I’ll use a shoe box lid or something lined with plastic and that works out pretty well for a fairly small batch.
3. List the oils you want to use and their weights (in ounces or grams) on paper and run them through the lye calculator at Cranberry Lane or use another lye calculator if you have a preference. Majestic Mountain Sage has a popular online lye calculator (see our Links Page).
4. Once you’ve entered your selection of oils, the weight(s) of the lye and water (liquid) you need will automatically be calculated for you.
5. Print or copy your recipe and start making soap. If you need further instructions, see the instructions page. You will want to add notes for future reference. If you are going to include an additive, such as an EO, herb or colorant, make note of this on your recipe page. For cold process soapmaking instructions (including milk based soaps), visit our soapmaking instructions page.
Note: Coconut, Palm, Soy (Shortening or Vegetable Oil) and Olive oils are some of the most commonly used oils in soapmaking. The majority of our soaps include Coconut Oil for hardness and lather, Palm Oil for hardness and smooth, creamy bubbles, and Olive for its obvious benefits to skin and for a lasting, mild, non-drying, bar of soap.
Remember, soapmaking is a personal thing. You have complete control over what goes into your products and it includes molding preferences, desired additives, the oils you select, your method of packaging and more. I guess this is where it becomes an art because everyone has an opportunity to craft a bar that perhaps no one else has ever produced to be exactly the same.