Soap Queen

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Sunday Night Spotlight: Coconut Oil

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

Coconut OilCoconut oil is one of the most popular oils in soapmaking. It offers a unique combination of cleansing, firming and skin-loving properties to recipes. In addition, coconut oil is wonderful in a variety of other bath and beauty projects such as scrubs, lip balm, hair care and more. It has become particularly popular in the past few years, as many use coconut oil as a skin and hair moisturizer.

Coconut oil is harvested from the seeds of the coconut tree (cocos nucifera) and is primarily cultivated from Southeast Asia and the Philippines. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature and melts to a clear liquid oil at  76 ° F. It’s made up of various fatty acids, including saturated and non-saturated. In particular, coconut oil contains a large amount of lauric and myristic saturated acids. The unique fatty acid composition of coconut oil gives it fantastic cleansing properties.

Coconut Oil2Coconut oil is solid at room temperature and liquid above 76 ° F. 

Coconut oil can be altered to create different “versions” of the oil. You may have also seen 92 ° F coconut oil on various lye calculators. The 92 ° F coconut oil has been hydrogenated to create a coconut oil with a higher melt point. This means that unsaturated fatty acids in the oil are converted to saturated acids, which increases the melting point. The oil sold at Bramble Berry is 76 ° F. If you’re unsure what kind of coconut oil you have, it’s usually safe to assume the oil is non-hyrogenated, 76 ° F coconut oil. This is the most common type of coconut oil found in stores and online.

Fractionated coconut oil is created by separating fatty acids from the whole oil. Specifically, the long chain triglycerides are removed, leaving behind the short and medium chain fatty acids. Fractionated coconut oil is a stable product with an an almost indefinite shelf life. It’s incredibly lightweight and does not leave a greasy feeling on the skin, making it a great option for massage oil and lotions. Fractionated coconut oil is clear and liquid at room temperature. It works great as a carrier oil for fragrances, or in products such as scrubs, bath bombs and lip products. Check out the Honey Kisses Lipstick Tutorial for a fantastic lip recipe using fractionated coconut oil.

Note: The Caprylic Capric Triglycerides-fractionated coconut oil found at Bramble Berry is specifically the short chain fatty acids, known as caprylic capric triglycerides. It’s slightly different from fractionated coconut oil, as it only contains the short chain fatty acids. It can, however, be used in place of fractionated coconut oil, with a slightly lighter, silkier feel.

In the Moisturizing Heel Butter, fractionated coconut oil is added to give the balm a smoother and softer texture. Because fractionated coconut oil absorbs so easily into the skin, it’s used with argan and sweet almond oil in the Baby Massage Oil tutorial. Fractionated coconut oil is also added to the Givember Massage Oil for a lightweight texture.

collageTop: Baby Massage Oil
Bottom: Givember Massage Oil

In cold process soap, coconut oil is generally used around 20-30% of the recipe. Coconut oil is a super cleansing addition that produces big, copious bubbles. It is so good at its job that it can strip skin of moisture. That leaves the skin dry and even irritated. A usage rate of 30% is ideal for the perfect balance of cleansing without drying. For more sensitive skin, keep the coconut oil at 15% or less in your bar. That being said, soaping rules are made to be broken! In this recipe from Modern Soapmaking, Kenna shows you how to create a bar with 100% coconut oil. To make sure the bar is not drying, Kenna uses a 20% superfat and aloe vera liquid.

coconut oil collageThis soap made by Kenna of Modern Soapmaking uses 100% coconut oil and aloe vera liquid to create a cleansing and moisturizing bar.

If you’re looking for more cold process soap recipes using coconut oil, good news! Just about all my cold process recipes use coconut oil. =) In my opinion, coconut oil is the trickiest to substitute because it gives the soap firming, lathering and cleansing properties. If you are looking to formulate a recipe without coconut oil, palm kernel flakes can help. I recommend using 15% or less of palm kernel flakes in your cold process recipe.

If you’d like to use coconut oil in more bath and beauty products, the Coconut Oil & Pink Salt Scrub uses both 76 ° F coconut oil and fractionated coconut oil. The combination of the oils creates a texture that is creamy and spreadable at room temperature. It’s scented with Lime Fragrance Oil and Island Coconut Fragrance Oil for a bright, citrus scent. Check out the Soap Queen TV video below to learn how to make it!

What is your favorite way to use coconut oil? It’s such a versatile product! I love it in scrubs, but of course I couldn’t do without it for cold process soaps. =)

Central Soapers Workshop Round-Up

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News, Business Musings, Personal Ramblings

Even with all the fun and explosive (haha, punny!) personal drama lately, I couldn’t miss the Central Soapers Workshop. Man, what an amazing line-up of speakers! It’s been 4-5 years since some of us were in the same room together. It was great to catch up with friends. Soapmakers are the most warm and friendly community of people that you’ll find anywhere and hanging out with them is always a blast (sorry, can’t stop with the explosion references).

IMG_4870

Big thanks to my amazing and always-patient husband for letting me leave him with the two toddlers, living out of suitcases in a friend’s guest room. He is a trooper and a strong support for me and our family.

[Read more…]

Defying the Rules of Soapmaking: 100% Coconut Oil Soap with Aloe Vera and a Mantra Swirl

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Today’s tutorials comes to you from one of my favorite soapmakers, Kenna from Modern Soapmaking. Her soaps always have unique designs, ingredients and colors. She is consistently pushing the soaping envelope. This recipe is particularly intriguing because it breaks a few conventional soaping “rules.”

There are a lot of “rules” of soap making that get spread around like wildfire, and for the most part, they are true…

But not always! 100% coconut oil soap defies not one, not two, but THREE of the soapmaking rules I’ve heard from other soap makers in the past:

  1. Single oil soaps do not perform as well as synergistic formulas with multiple oils.
  2. Using over 30-40% coconut oil in a soap recipe is too drying for the skin.
  3. Superfatting above 10% will leave too many free oils and cause the soap to spoil or develop DOS.

What’s the magic soap recipe?

I hit the workshop to make a 100% coconut oil soap with a 20% superfat, an amazingly luxurious formula that is one of my all time favorites. Plus, I power-packed it with goodies, too, like coconut flour and aloe vera juice, and pulled out a mantra swirl with an embed.

Coconut oil has great shelf life and stability, so it’s the perfect oil for extreme superfatting. This coconut oil soap formula results in a rock hard bar, with luscious lather, without drying the skin out. Ready to give it a shot? Let’s do this thing.

Recipe

36 oz Coconut Oil
5.18 oz  Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
10.53 oz chilled Aloe Vera Liquid
1.5 oz Fragrance Oil (optional)
2 tsp Coconut Flour (optional)
Soap balls for embeds (optional)
2 teaspoons of Mica (optional)
Silicone Loaf Mold
a 5 quart bucket
a 2-cup measuring cup with spout
three 4-cup measuring cups with spouts
a piece of cardboard cut to fit in the mold
Bamboo Skewer
Spatula
Stick Blender

Get Down to Business:

This tutorial assumes you are an experienced soap maker. If you’ve never made Cold Process soap before, stop here! I highly recommend checking out our FREE four part SoapQueen.tv series on Cold Process Soapmaking, especially the episode on lye safety. And if you’d rather do some reading, Bramble Berry carries a wide range of books on the topic, including my newest book, Soap Crafting. You can also checkout the digital downloads for that instant gratification factor.

ONE: Prepare your mold by lining it, if necessary. Cut out a piece of cardboard that fits length and height-wise into your mold snugly. Place the piece of cardboard down the center of the mold to divide the mold in half lengthwise.

TWO: Prepare your lye solution by slowly pouring the sodium hydroxide into the chilled aloe vera juice, stirring until the lye has dissolved. The aloe vera will turn a mustard yellow color, like pictured to the right. Allow to cool.

THREE: Heat your coconut oil to about 120° to 130° F. You want to soap this formula hot (I usually soap at room temperature), soaping coconut oil at too low of a temperature will increase your chances of false trace. I add my fragrance to my oils before my lye solution so I don’t forget it later on.

FOUR: Prepare two containers with mica for coloring the soap halves. I use 1 tsp of mica and 1 tsp of coconut flour per container, with 2 tsp of base oils for each container from my main soaping pot. Using a frother, I thoroughly mix the mica and coconut flour with the oils.

FIVE: Combine half of your lye solution with your coconut oil, and stick blend thoroughly. Add the remaining half of your lye solution, and stick blend only until emulsified. I always refrain from over-mixing – bringing your soap to an emulsion first, and then adding anything extra allows you more time to focus on what is happening with the soap.

SIX: Split the batch of coconut oil soap between your two containers and thoroughly mix with a spatula. If you are still at a barely emulsified or very light trace, bring the coconut oil soap in each container to a medium trace using your stick blender. A medium trace is my favorite pour viscosity for a mantra.

SEVEN: When your mica and coconut flour are thoroughly mixed into each part, begin your pour. I pour both halves at the same time so that there is equal force and weight on each side of the cardboard divider. You can also use two more pieces of cardboard on the ends of your mold with notches cutout to hold the divider in place.

EIGHT: Once both halves are poured, carefully and slowly pull your cardboard divider straight up out of the mold. If you are embedding soap balls, use a bamboo skewer to push them down into the soap. Or place them mid-way through pouring.

NINE: Using a bamboo skewer (or chopstick, or your personal weapon of choice!), swirl the mantra. Pushing the skewer down into the mold all the way to the bottom will swirl both sides of your soap. If you only put the end of the skewer into the soap, you can swirl just the top, leaving a crisp line between the two halves in the bars.

TEN: Put the pretty soap to sleep. I do not insulate coconut oil soap, but you can if you want to (same with CPOPing.) Unmold and cut the coconut oil soap as soon as it has hardened up. It sets up real hard, and real quick! You’ll want to clean up the bars of coconut oil soap straight out of the mold, such as beveling or planing – this soap will be a brick in 24 hours flat. The lather is really creamy and luscious straight out of the mold, and just gets better and better as it ages.

All photos courtesy of Amathia Soapworks.