Another Stearic Acid Question.......

[Hina Charania]

Hi,

I ve been trying to google exactly when stearic acid is added to a soap batch. Is it melted with the oils or added just before trace?

I saw a tutorial on youtube that said that recommends 2 tbsps for a 32oz batch of soap. But it turns out the lady was making melt and pour soap. Will it be the same calculation for CP soap as well?

Please help. I ve bought stearic acid and would really like to use this stuff in my soaps.

Cheers

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

I melt it with my hard oils (it takes a bit to melt). You can go on SoapCalc and factor it into your recipes to evaluate the hardness number to determine how much you want to add. It doesn't take much, so maybe start with 0.5 oz ppo.

 

[Hina Charania]

I melt it with my hard oils (it takes a bit to melt). You can go on SoapCalc and factor it into your recipes to evaluate the hardness number to determine how much you want to add. It doesn't take much, so maybe start with 0.5 oz ppo.

Lolz..... u really are an Alchemist..... Other than melting it with the hard oils, I did not understand the rest. I am a total newbie in the science so please bear with me.

What does "hardness number" mean?
And this may seem really dumb but what does ppo stand for?

Thanks

 

[Lindy]

One of the things that stearic brings to the party is it creates a thicker lather with staying power which is why it is preferred in shaving soap recipes. It is however drying so you need to increase your superfat and use oils that are high in conditioning numbers.

 

[maiseycat]

And this may seem really dumb but what does ppo stand for?

Thanks

It's not dumb, ppo = per pound of oils.

You cn find alist of common acronyms used on this forum here viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4437

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

[quote="Alchemy&Ashes":1hf0noq9]I melt it with my hard oils (it takes a bit to melt). You can go on SoapCalc and factor it into your recipes to evaluate the hardness number to determine how much you want to add. It doesn't take much, so maybe start with 0.5 oz ppo.

Lolz..... u really are an Alchemist..... Other than melting it with the hard oils, I did not understand the rest. I am a total newbie in the science so please bear with me.

What does "hardness number" mean?
And this may seem really dumb but what does ppo stand for?

Thanks[/quote:1hf0noq9]
Sorry if I wasn't clear I hate when I type something that makes sense to me but others can't understand it.

No such thing as dumb questions here. :wink:
As was already answered above: PPO means "per pound of oils", meaning your base oil weight before lye solution or additives.

The "hardness factor" is a number value used to determine how long lasting your soap will be. Most lye/soap calculators use this system for hardness/cleansing/bubbly/conditioning/creaminess/iodine/INS etc...are you familiar with SoapCalc?