Sugar Question ?

true blue · Feb 18, 2014

OK - so I know sugar is usually added as a lather booster, and I know that most who use it use anywhere from 1 t. to 1 T. PPO. Could you use more? Not necessarily to boost lather even further ... but if we can add more than just 1 t. salt PPO (for hardening), couldn't we add more sugar also? I have no idea what would happen (I'm not a chemist, so couldn't say theoretically - I would have to experiment).

The reason I'm asking is I'm wondering just how much honey could be added. I tried looking for answers on this but couldn't find anything so figured I'd ask. (I did find someone who used 2 T. sugar PPO with no problems but it was in a swirl and there were no details.)

AnnaMarie · Feb 18, 2014

Do you mean add both honey and sugar, or honey in place of sugar? Honey alone is something you want to add carefully because it can cause your soap to overheat (the sugars in it). I add about 2 tbsp of warmed honey to a 2 lb batch. I have not done both sugar and honey though...
Cheers!
Anna Marie

jenneelk · Feb 18, 2014

Any sugar will def. warm up.. but you can stop it with a cold fridge.

I recently test out at full sugar bar.. like a full salt bar. We're talking 75% sugar! It's a bit soft still and I don't think it will ever fully harden like normal CP due to the structure of sugar vs salt, I do think it will harden enough for a nice exfoliating scrub.
That all being said, and not really necessary, my full sugar bar didn't overheat. It went to a super cold fridge very fast and was surrounded by cold items. I also did not use a wooden mold.

I think you could get away with a tad more honey but just know that it adds more liquid and softness to your overall bar since it won't evap out.

Obsidian · Feb 18, 2014

I also tried a full sugar bar some time ago. It never did get hard and it left my skin weird feeling, in the end I threw it all out.
I have used 3 Tbs PPO a couple times but didn't notice any more lather then if I just used 1 Tbs PPO.

true blue · Feb 18, 2014

Replies are great! Thanks so much - it was really good to hear your experiences.

I failed to mention that I'll be doing HP so I'm not really worried about the heating up. I'm thinking that if I add 2-3 x the honey as usual I should probably drop my water content somewhat. Let me see - I'll do 2#, maybe use 6 T. honey, lower the water content by about 3-4 T. I'm thinking of adding it after the cook ... maybe some of the honey smell will stick around. Any reasons why this wouldn't be a good idea?