INS

[foresthome]

I read that for good soap the INS should be between 135 and 165. When I check a lot of soap recipes they are way out of that range, for example any true castile soap comes in at 105. What is the real story?

 

[newbie]

I think the INS is just a guideline and to be taken with a grain of salt. Soapcalc, for instance, gets castile and some bastile soaps all wrong. Says they'll be extremely soft and have no cleansing ability, both if which are wrong. It's fine as a guideline, but only that.