Superfatting Question

[Soapy J]

I've been soaping (cp) away for the past few months, trying new fragrances and testing how my recipe reacts with them. I'm to the point that I'm not thrilled with the way it's making my skin feel and need to change it up a bit and thought I'd start with the superfat. I was using 7% and running it through soapcalc and using what it gave me. I'm assuming it would be ok to simply run it through soapcalc at 0% and then take say 7% of whatever oil i want and calculate that amount to add to my batch. I know technically the lye spares only 7% total but I want to make the bar more conditioning overall without increasing my hard oils and butters. Below are the recipe's...

Old recipe at 7%
Pomace: 35%
Coconut: 15%
Palm: 25%
Canola: 15%
Castor: 5%
Cocoa Butter: 5%

New Recipe at 7% sf of OO added
Pomace: 38%
Coconut: 15%
Palm: 25%
Canola: 15%
Castor: 5%
Cocoa Butter: 2%

Essentially all I did was raise the % of OO without increasing any of the other oil amounts other than cocoa butter which I read when combined with coconut oil may kill lather and cause excessive skin drying. I'm looking for more conditioning, you guys think this may do it or just go to a heavy OO Bastille?

 

[engblom]

You could lower the SF% to 3-5% and at the same putting less of Coconut oil.

The higher the SF%, the less lather you get. By lowering SF% you need less of Coconut oil for the same lather. As you are lowering the Coconut oil, add more conditioning oils, as Oilive oil instead.

 

[Lion Of Judah]

I I'm assuming it would be ok to simply run it through soapcalc at 0% and then take say 7% of whatever oil i want and calculate that amount to add to my batch. I know technically the lye spares only 7% total but I want to make the bar more conditioning overall without increasing my hard oils and butters. Below are the recipe's...

Essentially all I did was raise the % of OO without increasing any of the other oil amounts other than cocoa butter which I read when combined with coconut oil may kill lather and cause excessive skin drying. I'm looking for more conditioning, you guys think this may do it or just go to a heavy OO Bastille?

here is the thing : that would work wonderfully if you were HPing your soap because really and truly even though we say "Super Fatting" what we are really doing when using soapcalc is "lye discounting", that being said, view the lye like Ms.Pacman... it is going to eat the oil it wants to eat which ever it finds tasty at the time. even adding a % of any oil at the end does not constitute that is what will be your sole SF , why?, because your lye is still active feeding on fats so whatever is around it will eat. In HP you pretty much cause it to bond and transform before adding your SF so its assured that is what will be used when you add it at the end of the cook.
the easiest way to get more conditioning is lower cleaning, which is hard oils like coconut and palm, which also helps with hardness. so if you want to maintain the hardness of your bar and the bubbles i would recommend this :go ahead and tweak your recipe for the conditioning you want once you get it and are ready to make your soap/batch just add 1tspn of sugar and salt ppo to the water before adding your lye and be sure its totally dissolved , then go ahead with your batch making like you normally would. why salt & sugar? salt will add hardness to your bar and sugar will add to your lather. so you may get what you want without losing anything.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

As the above have said, it won't really work out that way in practice.

The lye will just leave 7% of all of the oils unsaponified. It is not likely to be an exact split of the oils as some oils are more keen on getting together with the lye than others, but the variation will be slight enough to say that it is in essence an equal measure.

Looking at the recipe in the calc, I would be tempted to drop the canola and up the olive if anything. Sure, canola is slightly more conditioning than olive, but not by a huge margin and it also lacks some of the hardness and creaminess of the olive.

With a recipe of:
Pomace 50%
CO 15%
Palm 30%
Cac Butter 5%

You get - ardness

29 - 54​

38​

Cleansing​

12 - 22​

10​

Conditioning​

44 - 69​

60​

Bubbly​

14 - 46​

10​

Creamy​

16 - 48​

28​

Iodine​

41 - 70​

60​

INS​

136 - 165​

142​

Or take your original and just move all of the canola in to the olive to give you:
​

Hardness​

29 - 54​

36​

Cleansing​

12 - 22​

10​

Conditioning​

44 - 69​

62​

Bubbly​

14 - 46​

15​

Creamy​

16 - 48​

30​

Iodine​

41 - 70​

62​

INS​

136 - 165​

140​

 

[Soapy J]

I appreciate all of the feedback. I went the route of starting with the conditioning number I was going for then working from there. Here's what I came up with so we'll see how it goes.

OO: 48%
PO: 15%
CO: 15%
CanO: 15%
CasO: 5% (I've got a lot of this compared so need to use it!)
CocB: 2% (I've got to get this stuff used up so might as well)

Soapcalc spit this out
Hardness: 30 (lower range but olive oil will cure out hard)
Cleansing: 10 (I have sensitive skin so didn't want this too high)
Conditioning: 68 (the bar i originally made with grocery store ingredients was 70 that felt so good)
Bubbly: 15 (same as my last batch and I can live with this for now)
Creamy: 24 (I can love with this but not great)
Iodine: 72 (pushing it but it'll get used quickly)

I may try the salt and sugar trick with this to help lather and bubbles. Read a lot about it just never tried it.

 

[BabyPickles106]

If salt hardens the barn and sugar ups the lather can the both be added to the same recipe with good effect?

 

[Obsidian]

If salt hardens the barn and sugar ups the lather can the both be added to the same recipe with good effect?

Yes. I often use both in the same batch.

 

[BabyPickles106]

Thanks Obsidian