EO in oil

[Spice]

For whatever reason, I decided to take the castor oil that I use in my soap and mix my EO into the Castor oil. I let it sit overnight and then pour into the batch at the time I would normally add the EO. I did this because I have read that certain oils can be carrier oils and are anchors. Has anyone done this? Should I not do it? I have only done one batch, the EO was Eucalyptus oil. I just poured last week so I won't know any effects for a while.

 

[dixiedragon]

As far as anchors go, we soapers have different theories and preferences, but I don't think there's any hard data.

If you are adding your castor oil + EO to your oils before the lye, great! But if you are adding after the lye, maybe not so great, especially if you are doing hot process and are adding it after the cook. SAPONIFIED castor oil is what makes good lather. If you are doing cold process and are adding the castor oil after the lye water is added, probably not a big deal. The castor is still mostly getting saponified.

 

[maya]

Kevin Dunn has oodles of information about the science involved in soapmaking. Anchoring, zap testing, lyes... everything.

 

[Spice]

As far as anchors go, we soapers have different theories and preferences, but I don't think there's any hard data.

If you are adding your castor oil + EO to your oils before the lye, great! But if you are adding after the lye, maybe not so great, especially if you are doing hot process and are adding it after the cook. SAPONIFIED castor oil is what makes good lather. If you are doing cold process and are adding the castor oil after the lye water is added, probably not a big deal. The castor is still mostly getting saponified.

I had that situation today, was making HP and just then I realized that it was after the lye. Since it was already mix I went ahead and added. Will see how it works. I just won't do that again. The lather seemed to be ok. I cleaned up and didn't noticed a lot of difference, will see though.