# Castor oil



## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Would this added to CP/OP make the soap suds more?? 
I use the walmart recipe but sub in shea and coco butter and take out some of the lard also use some olive oil and safflower oils 
I just would like to have it suds /bubbles more.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I use it in most of my recipes. I use to use 10% but recently cut back to 7% 'cause I thought it might be contributing to my mold release problems. :/ But I still get lots of bubbles and might try 5%. Probably won't go lower than that.


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## kidsngarden (Oct 28, 2007)

I like it at 10% with 20% CO.

I know that there's some talk about how castor is hype on the bubbles, but I know it works for me!

Bethany


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Ok sorry I am so dumb but I use 31.5 oz of coconut per the recipe and haven't a clue what that percentage would be 
do you use the caster in place of say sunflower or safflower oils??


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Add the weight of all your oils. Then to figure out the percentage of say, your CO, take 31.5 and divide it by that total number. That will give you a decimal number that you can then convert to %. So let's say your total oils came to 157.5 ounces. 31.5 divided by 157.5 is .2 which is 20%. 

10% of that 157.5 ounces would be 15.75 ounces. So if you wanted 10% castor you would need to deduct 15.75 ounces from the other oils. Clear as mud?


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

OH DUH I knew that but guess I am just pure brain dead. Thanks


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## beaglady (Jan 16, 2008)

I use castor at either 5 or 7% in all of my soaps. It seems to boost lather for me.

www.soapcalc.com will calculate you recipe by % for you. You're recalculating your lye when you substitute ingredients, aren't you?

Diane W


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## lynpea (Oct 26, 2007)

Just for kicks I ran my recipe through soapcalc. with and without the castor. With it is a 24 for bubbly and 34 for creamy. Without it dropped to 17 for bubbly and the creamy dropped significantly also. Sooooo...I love the castor!

BTW some sugar will also boost the bubblage......


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Doesn't the sugar add to discoloration?? I am really trying for a very light to white base so I can swirl and of course am using goats milk


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## lynpea (Oct 26, 2007)

hmmm I always use color in my soaps so I would not have noticed the discoloration. I haven't heard about it doing that. But it will bring some heat to the mix, but nothing unmanagable.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I use to use castor. I no longer use castor. I think like most things in soaping, you try everything and then you settle down and start making soap. I know on the dish some have ran their recipe through the calculator only to find they didn't even agree with what it said. I know my numbers are pathetic on the calculator.

Sondra, always run your recipes through the lye calculator at thesage.com this will tell you exactly the percentage of CO you are using. Subbing out the lard for shea and cocoa butter is fine, hard cocoa butter replaces the hard lard fine, and with Shea only 10% it won't make your bars to soft. Safflower also makes a harder bar than most other oils...but it doesn't have any label appeal. Make some soap with castor, and your normal recipe...your recipe you gave me is wonderful! Then see if you can really tell a change. I gave out free soap to everyone, do you like the green bar or the red bar? Most could not tell any difference except color and scent. Vicki


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

thanks everyone


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Very interesting. I am going to try as Vicki suggested. I do like the lather and bubbles I get from my soap. But honestly, I have never made it without castor so do I really know that it is the castor giving it the qualities I like. Hmmm.


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## lynpea (Oct 26, 2007)

Have tried soap without castor and yeah there is a diff. I like thick, dense bubbles and castor delivers on this. You can make nice soap without it, but with it is great soap. But everybodies mileage may vary...KWIM?


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

And how much is the bubblage changed by the hardness/softness of each of our individual water supplies?? Personally, I like my soaps without castor better than the ones with, but I still use it in my shaving soaps.


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## lynpea (Oct 26, 2007)

Aja-Sammati said:


> And how much is the bubblage changed by the hardness/softness of each of our individual water supplies?? Personally, I like my soaps without castor better than the ones with, but I still use it in my shaving soaps.


You know, that is a good question. We have hard water so I don't know about the soft water. People have individual tastes so these kind of things are always fluid. I just like the creaminess and bubblage that comes with castor. My DH on the other hand wants an explosion of bubbles....so he gets the high % coconut, which literally takes the skin off of me. I do use a small amount of castor in that one too. But it's not enough to offset the cleansing properties of the coconut. We each do what works......


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## dblvon (Dec 13, 2007)

What do you mean when you say it takes the skin right off? I really want to start my own recipe and am having trouble deciding what to change on the walmart recipe to make it my own. I thought I would leave the CO oil alone and maybe sub some shea and add castor. Decisions.......Decisions........ :???


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

coconut can have very drying effects so using a higher % would be more drying


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## lynpea (Oct 26, 2007)

Yup, what Sondra said. My skin is very sensitive and the high coconut recipes are really hard on me. Actually any coconut is drying to me. That's why I use the PKO in place of it for my home recipes.

dblvon, go to soapcalc.com and start playing around with the diff. oils. Use the 9 oil calc. and you can do a whole lot of them. I love to sit and mess around on it. That's how I came up with my recipe.


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