The recipe shows a soft bar. I know that it's supposed to be just a guide, but I feel like I used enough hard oils, I also added SL. I should have used olive oil in place of some of the canola?
My recipe shows it's a soft bar
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The recipe shows a soft bar. I know that it's supposed to be just a guide, but I feel like I used enough hard oils, I also added SL. I should have used olive oil in place of some of the canola?
The recipe is skewed heavily toward oleic and linoleic acid -- 60% total -- which will make the soap highly soluble in water. If you use less canola and more olive, the soap might be less likely to go rancid, but it is still going to be highly soluble in water.
The fatty acids that make soap less soluble (aka longer lasting) are palmitic and stearic. Only 14% of your recipe is these fatty acids.
These bars might be physically hard enough to suit you, but they are not going to last very long in the bath. I don't know of any additive that can change that specific problem; the solution is to reformulate the fats to include more palmitic and stearic.
The fatty acids that make soap less soluble (aka longer lasting) are palmitic and stearic. Only 14% of your recipe is these fatty acids.
These bars might be physically hard enough to suit you, but they are not going to last very long in the bath. I don't know of any additive that can change that specific problem; the solution is to reformulate the fats to include more palmitic and stearic.
Thank you, back to the drawing board!! More teadi
BEST if I just learn the basics of the oils.
Bless you for your patience!
deeana, can you give a link to help with oils and what they bring to the table?? I HAVE read! I don't know if WHAT I have read is reputable! I have a problem with sopacalc as well, I can't see those values until I have hit the button for 'view/print recipe'. Somehow (iPad issue?) am not able to go back and readjust. I have to wipe out and start over.
BEST if I just learn the basics of the oils.
Bless you for your patience!
If you can find great value shortening at Walmart and replace the Crisco, it will give you a more balanced, harder bar.
You want the one with the fried chicken on the front. It's a blend of tallow and palm
You want the one with the fried chicken on the front. It's a blend of tallow and palm
If your ipad doesn't work with soapcalc, then you need to do recipes using a desktop computer or notebook that is compatible. Or find a calc that works with your ipad -- have you tried soapee? You say you're a science teacher, so get your inner geek on -- you can figure this out!
"...can you give a link to help with oils and what they bring to the table?..."
Both soapee and soapcalc have information on this very issue. See http://soapee.com/oils and http://soapcalc.net/calc/OilList.asp And also see https://classicbells.com/soap/soapCalcNumbers.html
"...can you give a link to help with oils and what they bring to the table?..."
Both soapee and soapcalc have information on this very issue. See http://soapee.com/oils and http://soapcalc.net/calc/OilList.asp And also see https://classicbells.com/soap/soapCalcNumbers.html
So funny, I just bought this!! I haven't looked yet to see if that brand is even in soap calcs! I will try this weekend
It works, for the most part. In formulating a recipe, I can't go back and forth to make adjustments. I'm either not using it to its full potential, or my iPad is glitchy with it. I'm heading to soapee now, to see it that helps! Thank you. In the mean time I will just keep reading. I both love, and hate, being so new at this!
Edit to add... OMG, Deeanna!!! I'll be here for a WHILE!!
EIGHT of them...
Fatty acids -- myristic, lauric, stearic, palmitic, oleic, ricinoleic, linoleic, linolenic -- are the building blocks used to make soap. To get an idea about the qualities a particular soap may have, you can look directly at the percentages of fatty acids in the recipe. Another way to evaluate the fatty acid profile of a soap is to look at the cleansing, bubbly, creamy, etc. numbers provided by SoapCalc or Soapee.
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Cellador
Well-Known Member
You can find all sorts of charts online about different oils & what they bring to the soaping table. I personally like this one http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/
(Not affiliated)
It shows different oil properties, recommended usage amounts, and if you scroll further, it has an additional chart which shows the fatty acid profile of each ingredient.
(Not affiliated)
It shows different oil properties, recommended usage amounts, and if you scroll further, it has an additional chart which shows the fatty acid profile of each ingredient.
Thank you!
The great value shortening is on soapcalc, it's listed under Walmart.
Here's my fave oil comparison page: http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/
Laura, for a simpler On-the-Fly type of lye calculator, try http://soapee.com/calculator - it's great for seeing the numbers as you make changes and there is no requirement to wait to see the bottom line until after you click on view recipe. All that is necessary is to have your formula include 100% of your oils. If you are unhappy with the numbers, you can change the oils and amounts as you like and the numbers adjust on-the-fly.
A
amd
@Laurabolyard In soapcalc, you should not need to view/print recipe to see the values. On your iPad do you see section 5: the column circled in red below? That is the values of all the oils that you have listed in section 6: Recipe Oil List on the right.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/geek-tips.57129/
Post 19 talks about fatty acid profiles. Each oil has it's own profile and thus brings different things to the party.
I am still being educated / corrected by those that have more know how here so don't get discouraged. The learning is part of the journey.
Post 19 talks about fatty acid profiles. Each oil has it's own profile and thus brings different things to the party.
I am still being educated / corrected by those that have more know how here so don't get discouraged. The learning is part of the journey.
Ok, I'm going to hit Soapee now, AND look at those values (thank you amd) on soap calc. I'll have to write the ranges for the properties until I know them. I am going to try the Great Value Lard today, so I'm going to try to formulate another recipe.
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I don't think Walmart has it's own brand of lard. Did you mean GV shortening? FYI, Walmart has at least two Great Value shortenings. Not all products are carried in all Walmarts, so make sure to double check the ingredients list. For example, the Walmart in my town does NOT sell the GV shortening with animal fats. FYI, GV shortening listed in SoapCalc & Soapee is with tallow, not lard. (Walmart GV shortening, tallow, palm)
For an all vegetable shortening you could use the Crisco, new w/palm as your oil, as they are surely quite close, if not the same.
Here are a couple of additional references for sap values:
https://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/resources/sapon.asp
https://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/guide-to-sap-values
Did you type this while I was editing mine?? I think so! How does the above recipe look to you? The problem is, I don't know how much palm oil is in that shortening!
You can simplify your recipe even more
50% GV shortening, you can replace this with lard or even palm. I prefer lard myself.
25% OO or other liquid oil of choice
20% coconut
5% castor
50% GV shortening, you can replace this with lard or even palm. I prefer lard myself.
25% OO or other liquid oil of choice
20% coconut
5% castor
Well, I guess so. I did not see your post with the attached recipe at all, so I must have had the previous post open for a bit before posting my reply.
You can use up to 100%, but I don't know if anyone recommends a particular percentage as better than any other for shortening. I have not used the tallow/palm shortening myself, so have no experience with it.
Companies don't tell you the percentage of oils in their product as it is considered a 'trade secret' but you will notice tallow comes before palm, and the sap value of the product is higher than the sap value for palm, so there is more tallow than palm. Without a true chemical analysis, one can only guess based on percentages to get the same fatty acid profiles if you mix both ingredients. But if you manipulate the numbers in a lye calculator you can come up with a pretty good guestimate. To me it looks like it's about 45 or 46% palm oil.
Looks good! If I'm wanting a whiter bar, is going with 25% canola going to be problematic? Maybe I should split the difference!
Hmmm... I was hoping it was less palm, that makes my recipe look pretty 'palm heavy', about 30%.
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