How to evaluate your soap

[Melysg25]

Hello everyone.
I'm curious how others evaluate their soaps.
What questions do you ask yourself when gauging soap qualities?
I know the basic questions that I find on soap calc are:

1. Hardness
2. Cleansing
3. Conditioning
4. Bubbly
5. Creamy

My question is what OTHER ways do you gauge your soap?

I find myself asking
Slip?
Drag?

 

[GemstonePony]

This got hashed out here as well (link to another thread):
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/analyzing-soap-performance.82274/

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Besides what you posted above I'll take in account appearance, scent & bubbles.

 

[Obsidian]

All I really care about is that it lathers and doesn't dry out my skin.
Of course having nice silky, thick lather is great but if it doesn't leave your skin feeling nice, whats the point?

I'm also not too concerned with longevity. I don't want a bar to dissolve away after 2 uses but I didn't enjoy the bar that lasted for a month either. It was a good soap but I got tired of it and wanted to try something else.

My hubby blows through a bar in a week but he does the same with commercial soap. I really don't know how long a bar would last me, I have 5+ bars in the shower.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

It depends on wether you are evaluating the recipe or the final product. I would argue that they can be separate issues.

If I am creating a recipe, I might use or not use an oil or FO because of how it behaves during the soap making process. For example, does an oil or FO cause my batter to accelerate or does it give me time to create a swirl/design. And that evaluation is separate from how it will feel or work when using the final product.

The other side of that is why I would use PKO instead of CO and that is based on how well it makes my soap clean. I hope that doesn't confuse anyone.

 

[SPowers]

I'm finding my soaps are lasting a long time which as @Obsidian said, I get bored with. I don't think too much about it when in the shower but realize after the fact that I'm not missing creaminess or bubbles and my skin has never felt tight after using any of my bars. I'm currently using a salt bar which seems to be getting smalller fast - is that usual for salt bars? It's only got 10% salt. I quite like it... has just enough exfoliation for my liking and the scent has really held nicely.

 

[Obsidian]

I'm finding my soaps are lasting a long time which as @Obsidian said, I get bored with. I don't think too much about it when in the shower but realize after the fact that I'm not missing creaminess or bubbles and my skin has never felt tight after using any of my bars. I'm currently using a salt bar which seems to be getting smalller fast - is that usual for salt bars? It's only got 10% salt. I quite like it... has just enough exfoliation for my liking and the scent has really held nicely.

Is your salt bar high in coconut? Coconut soap is very soluble and doesn't last long. You could try upping your salt to 25%, see if that helps.

 

[SPowers]

50% coconut oil. I really like the soap so will try a higher salt ratio and see how that goes. Thanks for the tip.