SWEET ALMOND SHEA SOAP

Sweet Almond Oil and Shea Butter soap!

Sweet Almond (Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis) Oil is one of the most used oils in skincare and soap making. Moisturizing; softening; fast penetrating; rich in essential fatty acids & vitamins A & E. It is the perfect ingredient for stressed out sensitive skin.

When you talk about the quality of soap, composition of fatty acid in the oils comes first but also you can think of other components such as unsaponifiables. Generally, soap made with olive oil is very moisturizing. Yes, I agree if the soap is superfatted 8% or more. Washing face with Olive Oil Soap (5% superfat) is very refreshing, after rinse with water, no greasiness left on the skin. I actually recommend Olive Oil Soap to oily skin people.

How about Almond Oil Soap? It makes your skin very smooth and leaves really thin layer (of oil? I'm not sure what it is, but really good!) on the skin. There are definitely differences between Olive Oil Soap and Almond Oil Soap in feeling on the skin even their fatty acid compositions are very very similar.

I made this soap with Sweet Almond Oil and Shea Butter as main oil, adding Coconut Oil and Rice Bran Oil for hardness and bubble. Unscented, no options. This is moisturizing, soothing, very gentle, slightly smells like nuts!

Blended Oil and Lye Water

=RECIPE=
Sweet Almond Oil, Shea Butter, Rice Bran Oil, Coconut Oil, LYE, WATER

Soap Qualities (thanks to SoapCalc)
Hardness - 26
Cleansing - 7
Conditioning - 70
Bubbly - 7
Creamy - 19

Soap in Mold

=COLD PROCESS SOAP MAKING=

1. Melt Shea Butter and Coconut Oil with double boiler. (I do not like micro wave!)
2. Make Lye Solution. Always use caution.
3. Cool Oil and Lye Solution. (60-70℃)
4. Mix Oil and Lye slowly, do not make bubble in the Oil Mix.
5. Use stick blender until get light trace.
6. Pour into mold.
7. Cover with towel to keep warm.
8. Leave for half a day or until soap gets hard enough to take out of mold.
9. Cut soap and leave for a month to cure.

Soap at Gel Phase

=TIPS=

Do not be bothered to check temperature of Oil and Lye Solution. The recipe include more soft oil, you can add Lye Solution immediately after make it (when it is still quite hot). When I put more hard oil, Blend Oil is quite warm to melt all the oil so I just let Lye Solution get a bit cooler (about 60℃, when touch the container by hand, you feel a bit hot).

Use stick blender for few seconds and hand blend with stick blender, repeat this to avoid getting trace quickly which causes air hole in the soap!

Keep soap warm but not too hot. To go through saponification, soap needs to be warm but hot. Too hot soap will get crack on the surface.

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