Favourite Superfat?

[Earthen_Step]

Typically soaps for sale we have done 5-7%. For personal use we have gone as high as 13% just for testing/fun. At 13% the bars have been amazing at conditioning but a decrease in lather. I would also expect them to have a much shorter shelf life.

 

[IrishLass]

Oh goodness- my superfats are all over the place depending on my formulas. lol For instance, with my tallow/lard formula, which contains a 31% combo of coconut/pko, I like to superfat at 8%.

In my all-veggie formula, which has a 28% combo of coconut/pko/babassu, I like to superfat at 6%.

My salt bars made with 25% salt, 100% coconut oil, and 100% coconut milk as my liquid are superfatted at 13%

My 100% goat milk batches made with either my tallow/lard formula or my all-veggie fomula are superfatted at 3%.

Then there are my batches of 100% coconut oil (without salt) and variants thereof, which are superfatted anywhere between 15% to 20%.


IrishLass

 

[fuzz-juzz]

I was using 5% with CM as half of the liquid but I've found it to be too much as CM was pushing the SF higher. Now I'm doing 3% SF and soaps have less of a slimey feel and bubble up more. And they are less soft and last longer.
My favourite facial soap recipe has 0-1% SF and it's really gentle. Yes I'm that brave. It's made with lard, OO and castor oil.

 

[DiddlyO]

I have some castiles curing that are 10%, I haven't used them yet though. I want to see how high I can go but with a year + cure time it's going to be a very long experiment! My salt bars are 100% coconut 1:1 salt at 25%. I will see how high I can go with those too.

 

[Forsenuf]

My super fat is set at 2% for all of my bars except the ones marketed for dry skin, where I'll go to 5%. I find the lower super fat gives a cleaner-rinsing feeling. I also tend to over pour my liquid oils, and I purposely aim for very slightly less lye than the calculator calls for (by about .05 oz). So my super fat is obviously a little higher than 2%, since I've never accounted for lye impurity.

 

[CanaDawn]

Are there any drawbacks to having a high superfat?

I personally very much dislike the feeling of leftover oils on my skin, so a high superfat leaves me dissatisfied with the soap.

I have wrapped my head around the terms "conditioning" and "cleansing" now, and I feel that I would have a wider range of oil options that worked for me if I drop the SF considerably. I just use the default 5% on soapcalc, but for several soaps I have made that makes a soap that is too conditioning for me (leave me feeling greasy).