Teach Soap

I have been using basically the same recipe for the last year, and made at least 30 batches of soaps that all come out really well. I made two batches last night and both of them are very soft today.
Long story short... I realized when I ordered new oil I got palm kernel instead of palm oil. It seemed a little different last night, but I tried it anyways. What is the difference between the two palm and palm kernel in soap making, and is there any chance that this soap will harden up?

Thanks,
Teresa

Palm Kernel is comparable in SAP value to coconut. It should not make your soap soft. Palm & palm kernel have different SAP values. Run the changed recipe through a lye calc and see where it stands.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Both oils come from the same kind of tree, but different parts of the palm's fruit (The PKO comes from the seed, the PO from the pulp.) From what I gather, PKO has a lot of the same qualities as coconut oil in soap, so while it's not a "soft" oil by any means, it doesn't give the exact same sort of hardening effect that palm oil does.

As for whether it will harden up -- did you straight up replace the PO in your recipe with PKO, or did you re-run it through a lye calc? I'm wondering if it might need more or less lye or something.... If you did recalculate, I imagine it will harden up eventually (maybe others can speak more to that), PKO should still make a hard soap

d'oh, ninja'd!

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CP newbie who's turning into a soaping addict!

Yes, I replaced PKO for the PO ounce for ounce. I honestly didn't realize I had ordered the wrong oil until this morning when something seemed different. Given I thought it was the same recipe exactly that I always make I didn't run it threw a lye calculator first. However, I will do it now!.

I really hope it firms up more. The scent and colors turned out great.