Soapcalc Share

[edco76]

I thought it may be fun to share little info on our Soapcalc numbers. I know a lot of people are understandably secretive of their recipes but lets post our best an/or favorite recipe's Soapcalc numbers. This one is my favorite so far. I have actually come up with a couple that I feel have better numbers but this one uses mostly inexpensive oils and when the soap was cured I liked it just as well.

Hardness 38
Cleansing 20
Condition 57
Bubbly 25
Creamy 22
Iodine 65
Ins 149

Feel free to critique also because other than what it says on the site I have no idea if this is good or not. I just know I like it and it is withing Soapcalc's suggested ranges.

If you don't know www.soapcalc.com

 

[Lane]

Hardness 44
Cleansing 20
Conditioning 51
Bubbly 30
Creamy 33
Iodine 58
INS 148

It took me FOREVER to come up with those numbers! I was finally able to bump up my Bubbly without making my hardness too high with Castor Oil... Your recipe looks good! It's great you were able to do it with cheaper oils. My recipe is mainly based on a Shea Butter, Soybean and a Coconut/PKO blend.

 

[CPSoaper]

Mine are:

Hardness 42
Cleansing 20
Conditioning 55
Bubbly 27
Creamy 24
Iodine 53
INS 154

 

[edco76]

Hardness 44
Cleansing 20
Conditioning 51
Bubbly 30
Creamy 33
Iodine 58
INS 148

It took me FOREVER to come up with those numbers! I was finally able to bump up my Bubbly without making my hardness too high with Castor Oil... Your recipe looks good! It's great you were able to do it with cheaper oils. My recipe is mainly based on a Shea Butter, Soybean and a Coconut/PKO blend.

Wow! That sounds like a lathery soap!

 

[Lane]

Wow! That sounds like a lathery soap!

I started making soap in Iowa...VERY hard water... so lather has always been a main focus for me. Too much coconut and PKO dry my skin out like CRAZY! Plus, it gets rreeeaaallllyyy cold out there, so I try to keep those oils as low as I can, using shea and soybean to add to the hardness...My secret? About 11% Castor oil, plus it adds to the condition. Some places say Castor can cause a soft bar, so you have to make sure your hardness number is within range.

 

[Lane]

Mine are:

Hardness 42
Cleansing 20
Conditioning 55
Bubbly 27
Creamy 24
Iodine 53
INS 154

Very nice!! HOW did you keep your cleansing number down while keeping the hardness and INS up??? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[Missjulesdid]

Hardness 42
cleansing 19
condition 53
bubbly 33
creamy 37
iodine 55
ins 146


ok, so I haven't actually made this yet... I've only made three batches of soap ever and they were all simple recipies with cheap ingredients.This will be the first of my own recipie. Is that too ambitious? Oh well I guess the worst thing that can happen is that I'll wreck a pound of soap or I'll be really itchy when I test it(granted, the oils proposed here are super expensive, but it's only a test)

 

[Becky]

Ok, for my first time using SoapCalc (I usually use, and LOVE, Soap Maker - Thanks Woodi for my favorite program ever ):

Hardness 41
Cleansing 21
Conditioning 57
Bubbly 20
Creamy 21
Iodine 56
INS 159

this is for a very simple 50% OO, 30% CO & 20% PO that I use to try out ideas etc - I know how this recipe 'works', and so can more accurately judge what is going on with a new FO/EO, colour, technique, etc.

 

[edco76]

Looks like I am winning the "softest soap award" I have yet to figure out how to get my hardness over 40 without losing conditioning? Oh well, it seems hard enough to me after cure, so I am keeping. Does Soapcalc take into acount the soft oils like olive and soy that take on more hardening properties after a full cure? Or are they more based on an "out of the mold" formula?

 

[NEASoapWorks]

Latest Recipe

My latest recipe that I'll be trying, as soon as I get my supply order.

Hardness 43
Cleansing 20
Condition 55
Bubbly 27
Creamy 29
Iodine 55
INS 160

 

[Lane]

Looks like I am winning the "softest soap award" I have yet to figure out how to get my hardness over 40 without losing conditioning? Oh well, it seems hard enough to me after cure, so I am keeping. Does Soapcalc take into acount the soft oils like olive and soy that take on more hardening properties after a full cure? Or are they more based on an "out of the mold" formula?

Your numbers are still in range. I think it is based on full cure, since that's when it's really really soap and the oils have fully developed...

 

[earthygirl]

Hardness 50
Cleansing 38
Condition 43
Bubbly 43
Creamy 18
Iodine 43
INS 191

 

[CPSoaper]

Mine are:

Hardness 42
Cleansing 20
Conditioning 55
Bubbly 27
Creamy 24
Iodine 53
INS 154

Very nice!! HOW did you keep your cleansing number down while keeping the hardness and INS up??? If you don't mind me asking.

it is a recipe that I developed that took me about a year of fussing with to get the numbers I wanted. I use a combo of co, pko, po, lard and babassu. Lard is great for producing a hard bar that is very conditioning. I think it really helps to balance the co out since it can be very drying to the skin. Babassu in soap is wonderful and well worth the price. It also helps to get a harder bar. It is not as drying on my skin as co is.

 

[Lane]

I use a combo of co, pko, po, lard and babassu. Lard is great for producing a hard bar that is very conditioning. I think it really helps to balance the co out since it can be very drying to the skin. Babassu in soap is wonderful and well worth the price. It also helps to get a harder bar. It is not as drying on my skin as co is.

Oh snap. I can't use lard but I have been eyeing Babassu for a while now...

 

[CPSoaper]

I use a combo of co, pko, po, lard and babassu. Lard is great for producing a hard bar that is very conditioning. I think it really helps to balance the co out since it can be very drying to the skin. Babassu in soap is wonderful and well worth the price. It also helps to get a harder bar. It is not as drying on my skin as co is.

Oh snap. I can't use lard but I have been eyeing Babassu for a while now...

You can sub the lard for some hydrogenated soybean oil or crisco (as long as its 100% soybean and not a blend like soybean and cottonseed), and still get a bar that is pretty hard, lathers great and is very conditioning but cleansing. I do this for my vegetable bars. Your bar won't be as hard as the bar with the lard, but it still will be pretty firm. Using the co, pko and babassu helps to make the bar hard and make great lather.

 

[Lane]

CPSoaper- Thanks for the info!

 

[Guest]

Hi guys! Great thread!

While a hard bar is what you want to achieve - you don't want to sacrifice conditioning properties.

As someone mentioned - Lard makes a hard bar despite what the soapcalc says. And so does Olive. I have pure castile soaps that I can brick my driveway with. Many soapers actually count Olive as a hard oil when developing their recipes.

I have always had the best luck with soap by using soapcalc to get the cleansing and conditioning properties I want and not looking at the hardness of the bar. I keep my cleansing below 17 and have a minimum conditioning of 59. Most of my bars have a conditioning # of 60-61. Any changes to that and it's drying to my skin and to my testers skin. Once I have the cleansing and conditioning factors - I make a test batch and tweak the hardness if necessary.

100% Soy wax and Cocoa butter also make a much harder bar than soapcalc would indicate.

I sound like I am dissing soapcalc and I am not. It's my favorite. I find these things to be true with all of the calculators that I have used so far. Soapcalc has other numbers that I pay close attention to as well. Such as the palmitic and oleic numbers. Many find high palmitic numbers to be drying. I make soaps with low palmitic and high oleic because they are more conditioning.

Sorry for the long post.

Marr

 

[NEASoapWorks]

Soap

I keep my cleansing below 17 and have a minimum conditioning of 59. Most of my bars have a conditioning # of 60-61. Any changes to that and it's drying to my skin and to my testers skin. Once I have the cleansing and conditioning factors - I make a test batch and tweak the hardness if necessary.

I sound like I am dissing soapcalc and I am not. It's my favorite. I find these things to be true with all of the calculators that I have used so far. Soapcalc has other numbers that I pay close attention to as well. Such as the palmitic and oleic numbers. Many find high palmitic numbers to be drying. I make soaps with low palmitic and high oleic because they are more conditioning.

Marr

I don't think you sound like you're dissing soapcalc at all. But I will add this — WARNING: I'm a newbie, so I'm not trying to be an expert. I'm still learning, and may change my position later down the road.

Paul "Soapmakerman" taught me something very valuable and interesting about soapmaking. He said, "It's all about oil SYNERGY". That stuck with me, and I'm finding that to be very true. Meaning, that the "numbers" are guides. But just because a soap shows "60" as the conditioning # doesn't necessarily mean that it will prove to be more conditioning, than a soap with "56". It could depend on the the oils used — the "synergy" of those oils and how they work together, to make a bar of soap.

The soapmaker who inspired me most to start making my own soap, shared that she keeps her cleansing number @ 21 or below. So, I started with the goal of having a cleansing number no higher, and not too much lower than 20.

I personally prefer the highest cleansing — 19 or 20, and a good conditioning number. I want soap to clean primarily. It's "soap", first and foremost. Obviously, I don't want it to strip my skin and make it dry and itchy, but if the soap does all the cleaning AND conditioning, then what would I need all those wonderful butters, lotions and skin "smoothies" for? The soap preps the skin for the "conditioning" products that will remain on the skin — lotions, creams and butters. It's like the soap cleans without stripping, and the lotion takes it over the edge — I don't sell soap yet, but I'm a "salesperson" at heart. So, if I'm trying to sell a bar of soap, and a tub of butter, I have to create the "need" for BOTH.

For hardness, I try to get to between 40 and 42. I'm cool, at that point.

Now, this is MY preference — and I'm probably one of the rare folks who look at it this way. When I begin selling soap, I will probably have to adjust my recipes, for the masses.

I typed a "novella". Sorry also!

 

[Guest]

I just wanted to add that I use the lye calculator for more than just soaping. I use it to figure my bath salts, my oatmeal & milk bath as well as my clay soaking powders.

And just a bit ago I also used it to figure out how much cinnamon and sugar to mix together to make cinnamon sugar to put on toast. I wanted to make 3 ounces to fit into the container that I have. And I wanted 80% sugar and 20% cinnamon......

So think outside the box and how you can use this nifty tool !!!!

 

[Guest]

Also - Soap calcs don't always take into account a superfat % besides listing the lye needed. I'm not positive - but I think oils high in unsaponifiables do not necessarily reflect that in the conditioning number.

Marr