Remember though, just because an oil preforms a certain way in soap doesn't mean it's something it isn't. While the advice given here is EXCELLENT, I humbly disagree with this particular statement. To count olive oil as a "hard" oil, and amongst that desired 60% (ish!) hard oil ratio will result in soaps that will initially be very soft (olive oil makes a rock hard bar of soap over time, yes, but soaps made with high amounts of OO will take CONSIDERABLY longer to cure), and will produce a finished bar with higher conditioning properties, but lower lather. The fact is that even though the long term outcome of OO in soap is a hard bar, OO is an UNSATURATED fat, and not a hard oil (ie: saturated). When formulating your saturated (hard oils/butters) fats and unsaturated fats (soft/liquid oils) to create a soap recipe, the general guideline (not rule!) Is to formulate recipes which contain approx 60% hard oils/butters and 40% soft oils. My fav recipe actually consists of 55% hard oils & 45% soft, so again, this 60%/40% ratio is just a guideline & nothing more. However, if I were to take my above mentioned favorite recipe & count the olive oil as one of my hard/saturated fats, my recipe would be 83% "hard oils" and "17%" soft... This just isn't correct, and my recipe will always be a ratio of 55% hard/saturated fats and 45% soft/unsaturated fats, regardless of what qualities these fats impart to my finished soaps. Another thing to keep in mind is that the hard/soft percentages or ratios in my soap recipe are NOT the same thing as that little Sat/Unsat ratio soap calc shows you in the upper right-hand corner... understanding your fatty acid profiles, and what they bring to your recipe will help you to balance this! For example... That favorite recipe I was telling you about; while it might contain 55% hard oils & 45% soft, the saturated/unsaturated ratio of this recipe is 43:57/Sat:Unsat. As a general guideline for your recipe's fatty acid profile, a sat:unsat ratio of 40:60/sat:unsat is recommended. As you can see, my favorite recipe doesn't land precisely on that 40:60/sat:unsat "bullseye", but is within close proximity of it, and is a wonderfully balanced recipe! The 3 most valuable things I learned when formulating my own recipes (and having them actually turn out awesome!) were: #1 When you fully understand your fatty acid profiles (oleic, linoleic, linolenic, stearic, myristic, etc etc etc), and what roles they play when formulating recipes, there's NOTHING you won't be able tweak to formulate the best recipes ever ("best" being subjective, of course)! #2 Soap Calc is NOT the bible... Take it's final "judgment" with a grain of salt. And #3 There are VERY VERY VERY few rules when it comes to soap making (with rules pertaining mostly to lye safety), so any suggestions or guidelines you see out there (INCLUDING my own!) are ONLY that! Experiment, think outside the box, go against the "standard" and see what YOU like best! I know this thread is old, but I say these things more so for any soap maker who may stumble upon it in a search, as I know that sometimes it's hard to find answers to every single question that comes to mind, and when you DO, everyone seems to have a different opinion (myself included!). That can be SUPER confusing & frustrating to the newbie soap maker, so I do hope this helps in some small way!
