Question on error in oil used

[RDak]

Been soaping for 40 years but I still make BIG boo boos now and then.......LOL!!

Well here goes............Soapers Choice sent me 10 lbs of Cocoa Butter in a box instead of Babassu Oil like I ordered.

I, like an *****, did not notice this and used a lot of it in a LARGE batch.

The recipe was:

1 - 22% cocoa butter (should have been Babassu oil).
2 - 45% palm oil
3 - 15% laurel berry oil
4 - 8% castor
5 - 10% olive pomace

Super fat was supposed to be around 8% but turned out to be only 1% to 1.5%.

Gotta cure for another 4-8 weeks before using.

I hot process using the double boiler method..........not that it matters though.

Question: Will this soap be garbage or is 1% to 1.5% super fat with no Babassu oil going to be ok in your opinions?

I tried some (still too new) to see how it would lather and surprisingly it did good in the lather dept., but I use other stuff for lather. (Sugar, cetyl alcohol and some gum rosin.)

Ok on my skin for the couple of times I used it but that isn't really enough to tell.

Your opinions would be appreciated on my BLUNDER!! LOL!!

ETA: Oh, the reason the resulting super fat was reduced to 1% to 1.5% is because cocoa butter needs less lye than Babassu oil

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

It will be a milder soap, but not likely to have much in the way of bubbles, as there is no cleansing oil now. I don't think it will be garbage, though.

 

[RDak]

It will be a milder soap, but not likely to have much in the way of bubbles, as there is no cleansing oil now. I don't think it will be garbage, though.

Surprisingly the lather was good........much better than I thought but I use other stuff for lather.

Good to hear you think it will be a milder soap even though the super fat is so low.

ETA: Oh, laurel berry oil has some cleansing properties........quite a bit lower than coconut or Babassu oil though.

 

[hoegarden]

This soap will be very moisturising due to the high amount of cocoa butter.
I don't think this will be garbage either.
I have a friend who use this much of cocoa butter in her soaps and the effect is lovely.

 

[lionprincess00]

I like lower sf (I'm hovering at 3-4% tops, but have used 2%). Being there's no highly cleansing oils, the low sf should be fine. It will, if fact, also lend to the lather for more is actual soap and not free oils left behind.

 

[DeeAnna]

I agree with LionPrincess -- the lower superfat will be fine. Carolyn (cmzaha) uses about 2% and there are others who routinely use superfat in the 1% to 3% range. It's only if you get into recipes with more lauric and myristic (aka higher "cleansing" percentages) that a higher superfat might make the difference between a soap that is harsh to the skin vs. one that feels milder.

Also, most recipe calcs assume NaOH is 100% pure and that's seldom the case. This builds in a "hidden" 4-6% superfat and perhaps even more. My personal recipe calc does account for lye purity, so my usual 3% superfat is "realer" than a 3% superfat in a soapcalc recipe. So that's another thing to keep in mind.

 

[RDak]

Thanks everyone...........looks like this LARGE batch might be good to go afterall.

Never thought about that lye impurity aspect Dee Anna...........good point!

 

[Seawolfe]

I think it will end up a lovely gentle bar.

Where on earth did you get so much laurel berry oil?

 

[cmzaha]

I find superfat of 5 or above hard to rinse off in a low cleansing bar. I recently did a boo boo and let out some oil leaving me with a -7 superfat and the soap is fantastic. I did cure it for 2 months. I am going to figure out some of my recipes myself and compare the numbers in soap calc. I know soap calc has a built in superfat but just get to lazy to figure out my own

 

[DeeAnna]

"...Surprisingly the lather was good........much better than I thought..."
"...a -7 superfat and the soap is fantastic..."

I was musing about your comment. I have noticed that soap that theoretically shouldn't be super lathery usually lathers pretty well for me. I'm not sure why ... probably a combination of things ... but I suspect lower superfat gets some of the brownie points.

"...I know soap calc has a built in superfat..."

Carolyn -- Soapcalc doesn't have a built-in added superfat exactly. What it does have is the assumption that NaOH is 100% pure. If your lye actually is 94% pure, to pick a number, then soapcalc builds in a hidden superfat of 100 - 94 = 6%. So if you choose 3% for the superfat when setting up your recipe and you use 94% pure NaOH, then your soap actually has a 3 + 6 = 9% superfat.

Your soap at -7% superfat in Soapcalc might have really had a zero or even a slight positive superfat, depending on your lye. Even the -7% if accurate would cure out fine, which obviously it did for you. Nice to hear this soap has turned out so nice -- it's good when those unintentional experiments are successful!

 

[CaraBou]

Wow - 40 years soaping! That's a lot of fun!

I'm optimistic about your soap too. In fact I really want to hear what you think in a couple months. Hope you'll share your thoughts!

 

[RDak]

Wow - 40 years soaping! That's a lot of fun!

I'm optimistic about your soap too. In fact I really want to hear what you think in a couple months. Hope you'll share your thoughts!

Learned as a kid when helping my grandfather and grandmother make their annual soap batches in the summers in the late 60's and early 70's.

I'll try and remember to say how it is and to the other member, I buy the laurel berry oil from the link below.

It is expensive.......$200 for 5KG (1.3 gallons) total including shipping.

http://www.laurelberryoil.com/#!carrier-oils/cjg9

 

[topofmurrayhill]

1 - 22% cocoa butter (should have been Babassu oil).
2 - 45% palm oil
3 - 15% laurel berry oil
4 - 8% castor
5 - 10% olive pomace

Don't throw that soap at anybody's head.

 

[RDak]

Well it has been about 4 weeks now and I tried it at the kitchen sink.

Spread some compost by hand around 8 trees and my hands were VERY dirty.

Washed with this soap..........using the hand brush I always use...........and it cleaned VERY WELL.

Sudsing was good (maybe as Dee Anna says due to low SF) and it cleaned almost as well as my standard recipes with 20 percent CO.

VERY SURPRISING..........these bars are decent. Not barn burners but pretty darn good.

Obviously no drying whatsoever with all the scrubbing with the hand brush.......but I don't get dryness with my regular recipe.

Oh and topofmurrayhill...........yes they are ROCK HARD.

 

[cmzaha]

"...Surprisingly the lather was good........much better than I thought..."
"...a -7 superfat and the soap is fantastic..."

I was musing about your comment. I have noticed that soap that theoretically shouldn't be super lathery usually lathers pretty well for me. I'm not sure why ... probably a combination of things ... but I suspect lower superfat gets some of the brownie points.

"...I know soap calc has a built in superfat..."

Carolyn -- Soapcalc doesn't have a built-in added superfat exactly. What it does have is the assumption that NaOH is 100% pure. If your lye actually is 94% pure, to pick a number, then soapcalc builds in a hidden superfat of 100 - 94 = 6%. So if you choose 3% for the superfat when setting up your recipe and you use 94% pure NaOH, then your soap actually has a 3 + 6 = 9% superfat.

Your soap at -7% superfat in Soapcalc might have really had a zero or even a slight positive superfat, depending on your lye. Even the -7% if accurate would cure out fine, which obviously it did for you. Nice to hear this soap has turned out so nice -- it's good when those unintentional experiments are successful!

Very true, which is one of the reasons I low superfat. The COA with my lye states give a range that I do not remember offhand but has an average purity of 96%.