SUPERFAT

[bubbles1970]

Hi All,

Can someone give me a little info on superfatting with oils. I understand the lye discount aspect of superfatting, but how do i superfat with oils. I use a tablespoon of Castor in my 1 LB recipies. Is this considered superfatting? My main goal when making soap is creating a formula that is first and foremost moisturising. Castor oil doesn't seem to be enough. I read about superfatting with more exotic oils like avocado, shea butter, mango, etc. How much of these do I use per 1 LB batches? do I use a TBSP or do I use a few ounces and add it into the initial lye/soap calculation?

THanks

 

[Cattleyabubbles]

Hi All,

Can someone give me a little info on superfatting with oils. I understand the lye discount aspect of superfatting, but how do i superfat with oils. I use a tablespoon of Castor in my 1 LB recipies. Is this considered superfatting? My main goal when making soap is creating a formula that is first and foremost moisturising. Castor oil doesn't seem to be enough. I read about superfatting with more exotic oils like avocado, shea butter, mango, etc. How much of these do I use per 1 LB batches? do I use a TBSP or do I use a few ounces and add it into the initial lye/soap calculation?

THanks

Use Soap Calc it'll to take more than a tbsp of the desired oil to superfatten with. The exact amount (to use), I don't know, for those oils that you mention. You could use the extra oz. or % of oils when you melt it before combining the lye/water mixture or you can do it light trace. Someone with more experience will chime in. HTH[/url]

 

[ChrissyB]

If you have a look at soap calc, or any other lye/soap calculator, you'll notice that there is a number for superfatting. Most soapers will stick to around 5%, but some do go up a bit higher than that. What this means is: based on the individual SAP values for the oils that they are using, they are subtracting 5% off this, therefore only using 95% of lye that would be needed to saponify these oils, thereby leaving 5% unsaponified, this is your superfat. If you go too much higher than this you can run into problems such as DOS, or having too much unsaponified oils in your soap can go rancid, that is the oils go "off". It doesn't matter what you use to superfat, you must include all oils in the lye/soap calculation. Also I personally don't think that it makes a difference if you add the "superfat" oils at the start with all the other oils, or at trace. The lye will take whatever it wants regardless of when it is added. That is why you must use a soap calc and use it accurately.