New Zealand sea water is the next best thing though! ;-)
Zany's no slime castile
- Thread starter Zany_in_CO
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Yes, but she delivers locally
Wow!
I keep meaning to ask if my friend who does research in Antarctica has any water saved from her last research cruise. I doubt there’s any cleaner salt water on the planet and the “label appeal” would be through the roof with my oceanography buddies
Lynn Miglets
Member
This is such a good recipe. Thanks for posting it. I have no slime and it's a lovely hard bar. I only made it a few months ago. I love it.
Here’s a pic of the lather from the soap I made on July 2, so not quite a month old.
How much friction did you have to use to get that lather?
Not much. I used it the same as I use any other soap when I wash my hands. The soap doesn’t make a dense creamy lather like lard, and it’s not bubbly like a high CO soap, but it’s definitely a gentle soap. I would not call it slimy. I like it.
I’m glad it worked out for you. How old was your soap? Mine is about 2 months now, I have it stashed away. I’ll probably give it a try at the 3 month mark.
I made it on July 2.
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
Hi linne. FYI: No need to wait any longer. This is not like your normal castile. If you follow the exact recipe, with no variation, you can almost use it right away. I started washing my face with it at 2 weeks with my last batch because I'd been completely out for while! LOL See Post #1:
It doesn't seem as hard as my other soaps at the same amount of time. It's not soft per se, just not as hard, if that makes sense, lol. So I parked the soaps (I only made 1 pound=4 soaps) on a cloth on an aerated table in the corner of my bedroom and I figured I would try one out in about a month or so. I made them sometime in June.
Mrsitaly22
Member
I've been reading about this for quite some time; I am not understanding how this is not a harsh bar of soap with 0% SF? Hoping someone can give some insight...Thank you, Sara! I'm happy it worked for you. And, yes, isn't it remarkable to get down to that last little sliver of soap and it still keeps its shape?!
Zero SF is the way to go if you want to reduce slime.
Adding 10% coconut & 5% castor will give you the same nice, long lasting castile you first experienced, but with more dense lather. Dissolving a tablespoon of table sugar in the water to make the NaOH solution also helps lather.
I think it's because the OP said that olive oil is high in unsaponifiables.
I think it's because the OP said that olive oil is high in unsaponifiables.
When I checked on Google - it stated that 2% of olive oil is unsaponifiable.
Per industry standard, regular olive oil should be no more than 1.5% to 2% unsaponifiables. That's not any higher than most oils and fats to be honest -- the numbers I have range up to 2% for most of the fats/oils commonly used in soap making. Pomace olive is different -- it can be as high as 3% per industry standards. Fats that do have high unsaponifiable content include avocado (as much as 9%) and shea butter.
"...I am not understanding how this is not a harsh bar of soap with 0% SF?..."
It can be easy to confuse excess alkalinity (excess lye) with the cleansing strength of a soap, but the two are completely different things. Excess alkalinity is due to a soap that contains less fat than needed to fully react with the alkali. Even if you design a recipe with 0% superfat, there's relatively low risk that this will actually happen, given how most soap recipes are calculated.
The way most online soap recipe calculators are designed, they do not make any correction for the impurities normally found in NaOH. In other words, they assume the NaOH is 100% pure, but that's not really correct. If you set up a recipe with a 0% superfat, the soap you make with that recipe will actually have a small to moderate superfat. The actual % superfat will be equal to the difference between the assumed 100% purity and the actual NaOH purity. That's often somewhere in the 2% to 5% range.
As long as there is sufficient fat to entirely react with the alkali or a bit more fat than that, it is entirely reasonable to make soap with a low superfat and still have a nicely gentle bar, as long as you adjust the fatty acid profile with an eye toward creating a mild soap for your particular skin type.
If you make a soap that has a high "cleansing" number -- typically one high in coconut oil -- then you may need to increase the superfat high enough to reduce the cleansing ability on the skin. The soap becomes milder because you're forcing it to emulsify its own superfat, not strip the fats off your skin.
"...I am not understanding how this is not a harsh bar of soap with 0% SF?..."
It can be easy to confuse excess alkalinity (excess lye) with the cleansing strength of a soap, but the two are completely different things. Excess alkalinity is due to a soap that contains less fat than needed to fully react with the alkali. Even if you design a recipe with 0% superfat, there's relatively low risk that this will actually happen, given how most soap recipes are calculated.
The way most online soap recipe calculators are designed, they do not make any correction for the impurities normally found in NaOH. In other words, they assume the NaOH is 100% pure, but that's not really correct. If you set up a recipe with a 0% superfat, the soap you make with that recipe will actually have a small to moderate superfat. The actual % superfat will be equal to the difference between the assumed 100% purity and the actual NaOH purity. That's often somewhere in the 2% to 5% range.
As long as there is sufficient fat to entirely react with the alkali or a bit more fat than that, it is entirely reasonable to make soap with a low superfat and still have a nicely gentle bar, as long as you adjust the fatty acid profile with an eye toward creating a mild soap for your particular skin type.
If you make a soap that has a high "cleansing" number -- typically one high in coconut oil -- then you may need to increase the superfat high enough to reduce the cleansing ability on the skin. The soap becomes milder because you're forcing it to emulsify its own superfat, not strip the fats off your skin.
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Thank you for that explanation. I have found that my skin likes a relatively high super fat. In general I SF between 7-8. I have tried 1% all the way to 30% (coconut oil soap). When I made Zany’s recipe I super fatted at 5% even though the recipe said to use 0%. I just couldn’t do it, lol.
Mrsitaly22
Member
Thank you Deeanna. When I entered this into soapmaker after running through soapcalc, their NaOH numbers were different. This in turn made me unsure of which was best, & a little uneasy given the lack of wiggle room in 0% SF. I was not aware that there was such a significant cushion in those calculators.
Dawni
Well-Known Member
Yeah the numbers never tell it all. It's more so in the case of salt bars n brine soaps with high coconut, Castile and bastille soaps with high olive... A high butter soap has wonky numbers too I recall. I'm sure there's others.
You'll have to rely on your knowledge of each fat you use, the knowledge of others here, and trial n error.
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
LOL Oh that's funny, linne! At least it explains your comment here, which had me scratching my head, BTW.
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Mrsitaly22
Member
TeheheheLOL Oh that's funny, linne! At least it explains your comment here, which had me scratching my head, BTW.
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