cleansing factor

[PippiL]

I try to get a recipe together on soapcalc, my cleansing number is always high,I'm using P,PK,OO,RB,Almond,shea butter,and coconut oil,just wondering, is there an oil, that gets the cleansing number up or down?
Mine is about 26, should be 22, does it really matter, I later at trace add a little castor oil....

 

[newbie]

PKO and CO contribute a lot to a high cleansing number. You could try decreasing their percentages or even eliminate one and go just with the other, if you want to simplify. Have you put your recipe into a soap calculator, in percentages and then played around with it significantly? That can tell you pretty quickly which oil is playing which role a bit faster than changing percentages by just a couple percent.

Tell us what you find!

 

[Lindy]

I agree with Newbie that you need to eliminate one or the other. And then you need to lower your percentage or increase your superfat, or both.

Good luck...

 

[PippiL]

I'm playing around with new recipes to use my almond and rice bran oil before they get bad and also bought some palm kernel oil,I did change the hard oil numbers around, which is actually kind of fun. I never used soapcalc before, it's so much easier to come up with a recipe.
I did come up with a recipe the other day,I can't believe how creamy the soap came out and love it, it's like lotion, but it also cleans great.See how it turns out a few weeks from now. I do add some castor oil at trace,hopefully at the end, it brings the cleansing number down...
What does a high cleansing number means, drying out soap????

 

[Hazel]

I've found that if my cleansing number is 20 or higher then the soap is too drying for me. But I have dry skin. I like to keep my cleansing number 17 or lower. I think it just depends on your type of skin and personal preference.

After all, soap has to be a little high in pH to cleanse the skin.

 

[Lindy]

Pippit - add the castor oil with your regular oils and see where it takes your cleansing number. The lye doesn't care if you add the oil in with all the others or at trace, it will use what it's going to use and leave what it's going to leave. The only time that works is in HP and doing it after the cook, but then you run the risk of over-Superfatting....

 

[PippiL]

thank's for all the info,I will work on it..and add the castor oil with the other oils.

 

[saltydog]

Since we're talking about cleansing numbers...
My first few batches had high cleansing #'s - 19, 24, 21 w/ a SF at 5 & 6%.

My question is, if I cure these soaps an extra few wks, will I still get that super-squeaky clean feeling from them? I'm not really a fan of that squeaky, almost sticky clean feeling I get with such a high number.
Does the cure even effect the cleansing factor at all?

Subsequently, I've brought my number down to 17 and increased my SF to 7% for most batches, haven't tried them yet, but I'm anxious to see what kind of difference that makes.

Thanky, thanky

 

[PippiL]

so glad you mention it.I was dumm and inpatient and just went ahead and soaped with a high cleansing number of one batch 24 and the other 25...I didn't realize the importants of that number than, I do now, because the soaps even creamy and bubbely, they do have that squeaky claen feeling I don't like.My husband said, haste makes waste, he is so right....
If I would rebatch the soap and add more ingredients to lower the number would that work?

 

[tryanything]

The recipie I am looking at using has the opposite problem, a really low cleansing number (10). What does that mean? I know it is still soap and will still clean. It has a decent bubbly and conditioning score so I'm not overly worried, just curious what this low number means.

 

[PippiL]

maybe since a high number can feel dry to your skin, a low number might feel oily?

 

[Hazel]

It will still clean you but be very mild. Is your conditioning number really high? On a bastile I did last November (low cleansing value and high conditioning), it was very slippery on my skin and it seemed harder to rinse off. I wasn't thrilled with it and haven't made another. Since high OO takes a long time to cure, I might find later that it's one of my favorite soaps.

Several people have mentioned the lower cleansing numbers are great for baby soap.

 

[catikit]

Ah fantastic. I was wondering about that. Trying to make a mild baby soap and am keeping my cleansing number down to 12-14. I originally made a batch that was at 20 and found it too drying on my baby's skin.

 

[PippiL]

what oils are good to use to have a low cleansing factor and the soap wouldn't come out to soft?

 

[catikit]

I just found that minimising my coconut oil reduced the cleansing factor, but then I had to up the amount of palm to keep it reasonable firm.

 

[carebear]

Don't concern yourself with the number itself - it's just a number - but rather focus on your SOAP. Coconut has a high number, but balanced with other oils, or with the correct level of superfat/lye discount the resulting soap doesn't have to be stripping even with very high levels of coconut oil.

 

[Hazel]

I just found that minimising my coconut oil reduced the cleansing factor, but then I had to up the amount of palm to keep it reasonable firm.

carebear brought up a good point - balancing your oils and superfat. I lowered the CO in my recipes and raised the SF just because it works for me. Someone else might do that and dislike the soap.

catikit -

I also upped the PO percentage a little. Although my soaps aren't very hard, I like them with the percentages I have now. If you want harder soap, you could add some cocoa butter or sodium lactate.

 

[PippiL]

I think I was on soapl calc for at least 2.5 hours, punching in numbers back and force, at one point I thought I'm going crazy, than I thought, the hell with the cleansing factor...I wanted to use those oils.
I think I stick with my regular recipe for right now, I liked it.

 

[Hazel]

I think I stick with my regular recipe for right now, I liked it.

That's the most important thing.