Can We Talk About Soapcalc?

[pjb31apb]

Just a couple of questions about the numbers...

What does the INS stand for and why is it important?
How do we end up with iodine in our soap and why is that important? I imagine that it is a by-product of saponification like glycerine but I'm not sure.
Can you have a highly cleansing bar that has no bubble? Not that I would want to, but I always thought that bubbles meant clean.

 

[Guest]

click FAQ at the top of soapcal page for the answers on INS and iodine.


bubbles have nothing to do with clean, but that is what the commercial industry has brainwashed into believing. You need to see bubbles to have clean. But that's not true at all.

just like laundry soap you don't need bubbles to get clean clothes. Infact it just adds extra residue that doesn't wash out in your rinse cycle. *smiles*

 

[CPSoaper]

Because your cleansing oils are the ones that typically add lather, I think you will generally find that cleansing bars have great lather. But, since it is the lather that helps carries the dirt away from our bar in conjunction with the water, I agree that some extent, all bars have some kind of cleansing value.

As to what INS stands for, I don't know. But this is what soapcalc says about INS:

"INS - A measure of the physical qualities of the soap based on the SAP and iodine value. Experience has proven a range of 145 - 165 will gennerally be acceptable. Closely related to Hardness and Iodine values."

I would guess too that iodine is just a by product of the chemical reaction that takes place when you add potassium or sodium hydroxide with animal or vegetable oils.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

I think I might have found the answer to what INS stands for. Here is a cut and copy from The Kathy Miller site;

http://www.millersoap.com/soapsheetnotes.html


INS Values of Recipes
The concept of INS values is borrowed from Dr. Robert McDaniel's book, "Essentially Soap." He in turn borrowed it from an unattributed source. In any event, what he says is that an oil's INS value is based on its SAP value and iodine value, and that a soap's INS is the weighted average of the INS values of its constituent oils. What does that mean to you? Probably not much. The important thing is that (as related by Dr. Bob) the 'ideal' INS value to shoot for when formulating a soap recipe is 160. Now remember: 160 is only the ideal. Most recipes, even really excellent ones, won't be at an INS of 160. The majority of the ones I've looked at are in the mid 140's or low 150's. The INS value's real utility is as a sort of rough gauge of how well your recipe is balanced. In other words, if your recipe's INS is much above or way below 160, you might want to take another look at things. Note that the INS calculation is not done for liquid soap recipes.



INS Values of Individual Oils
Many of the INS values for individual oils are borrowed from Dr. Bob. Specifically, the sheet calculates its own INS values based on the best SAP and iodine values I could find, but where Dr. Bob had a value, I defer to him. You may note that a few of the oils listed have no INS. That's because Dr. Bob didn't list them, and I couldn't find iodine value numbers for them either. You can still use those oils in your recipes, but they will be ignored in the INS calculation for the recipe as a whole.

Paul... :wink:

 

[Lane]

bubbles have nothing to do with clean, but that is what the commercial industry has brainwashed into believing. You need to see bubbles to have clean. But that's not true at all.

It took me FOREVER to finally get over my bubble need... Bubbles do not equal clean...just think of CREAM CLEANSERS!