unsaponifiables?

[WilsonFamilyPicnic]

this thought has been rolling around in my mind for a few days...

several folks have mentioned that they use oils/butters with "unsaponifiable" oils in them. I know its only a small portion of the oils that are unsaponifiable....that is something that is accounted for in the sap value, correct? i just have visions of extra little lye molecules floating around!

 

[Guest]

Hi -

Actually - unsaponifiable means that the lye will not convert those molecules to soap. As in - it won't react with them to convert it. So you don't have leftover lye - but leftover oil to condition the skin. Shea Butter and Avocado have unsaponifiables to name a few.

hth

 

[Lane]

BIG Shea and Avocado fan!

I couldn't figure out how to drop my cleansing number, so it is up at 22 but, because of the unsap. in these oils, it produces a really conditioning bar...even tho SoapCalc may not lay the numbers out like that... With superfatting at 5%-7% the lye has extra molecules from the other oils to attach too.

 

[morsedillon]

this thought has been rolling around in my mind for a few days...

several folks have mentioned that they use oils/butters with "unsaponifiable" oils in them. I know its only a small portion of the oils that are unsaponifiable....that is something that is accounted for in the sap value, correct? i just have visions of extra little lye molecules floating around!

If we only went by the fatty acids in creation of 'sap numbers' then your concern would be 100% appropriate. As it is, the analysis of an oil's sap number is such that the unsaponifiables are taken into account. This is why, for example, Olive Oil (Pomace) has a different value than Olive Oil (Extra Virgin). Same approximate fatty acid makup, different amounts of unsaponifiables.

One other thing to remember is that when it comes down to it sap numbers are an average value for a group of samples analyzed by a lab. There's no 'exactness' here, because at the end of the day your oil is assuredly different than the samples they analyzed. However, they are close enough that it works out alright.

If I start using a lot of an oil from a source, I like to run a saponification analysis to generate my own sap number for that specific oil (yes, I am one of those 'particular' people ). It takes a little chem lab know-how and solid measurement techniques but it's not rocket science or anything. I especially like to do so in the case of olive oils of unknown origin since they are so prone to adulteration these days. The only saving grace here is that most of the adulterants (soybean oil, sunflower oil, et cetera) have very similar sap numbers so in the majority of cases you're still alright.

 

[WilsonFamilyPicnic]

Thanks morsedillon, that's what i was wondering about. I figured that was the case, however, I was in the car for 4 hours monday afternoon so I had too much time to think about things and all kinds of crazy soap thoughts were bubbling about.