100% coconut oil soap with stearic acid

[Nao]

So I got this idea the other day that, since I like the coconut soaps a lot but they tend to not last that long, I could add some stearic acid, maybe 10-20% or so to increase the longlively. I assume I could hot process it and then add the superfat in coconut oil at the end to try to avoid having the stearic acid as superfat since that might not be very nice.

What do you think? Could it work or can any of you say right away that it won't be a very good soap?

 

[kchaystack]

Well, if you are going to add something - why use something difficult like steric when you could just add tallow, lard or palm?

Coconut oil soaps do dissolve faster because the fatty acid salts that are created are very soluble in water.

 

[IrishLass]

One of my variations on the theme of the high % coconut oil soaps is 70% coconut and 30% mango butter with a 15% superfat. It makes a wonderfully bubbly soap that doesn't melt away so fast.


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

You won't have stearic acid as the superfat -- it reacts almost instantly with lye, unlike the fats. But I'm with KC and IL -- why use stearic rather than a fat high in palmitic and stearic acids? Lard, palm, tallow, and butters (cocoa, mango, shea, etc) would work nicely.

 

[Seawolfe]

Have you ever worked with stearic acid? I find it to be a pain and avoid it when I can. It needs to be really hot to melt, it coats the container and mixing utensils (use disposable if you can) and can give you soap on a stick. Id use a butter first, but nobody is saying you can't try it with stearic first.