Teach Soap

I have been reading other's posts and I am not understanding the % reached for soaping. I have seen super fatting at 5% for a soap (2 TBSP of Castor Oil) or that Olive Oil (Pomace) is 40%. I am guessing that the soap maker is starting from 100% for the recipe but how are the percentages for the oils arrived as well as the lye and water? Thank you.

I use 7% superfat. This means that 7% of your oils or butters have not saponified, making the soap safe to use. There is no need to add any oils or butters at trace. The lye is still very active at this point and it will take whatever it wants. I would not use teaspoons as they are not accurate. Always go by actual weight! When you use a soap calculator just use the amount of oils and butters chosen for your recipe, the general amount of water, then use the weight of lye according to the superfatting range. Olive oil % can be anything you like in your recipe. If you go to The Sage lye calculator and input your recipe, it will give you %'s for each oil or butter you plan to use.

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

Thank you Soapbuddy. If I may pick your brain just a little bit more:

Say I want to make a 2lb batch of Mango Butter soap. I already know that I want to use Mango butter, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and Palm Oil but I don't know what amounts to use. I can go to the Sage Calculator and tell it what I want to use and it will spit back out at what %?

Also, I like blending my own fragrances and from you and Hesty I realize that in CP I need to be mindful of my Orange anchors. So my question is can I up my personal blends until the weight equals 1 oz to my 2lb batch? I learned from your posts that I need to keep an accurate notebook of my process. Thank you again.

I use mango butter at around 5%, coconut at 20% (or below), castor for bubbles at 1-2% and you can use the rest as olive and palm. You can play around with the % to get a 2 lb. batch. Be aware that if you have a 2 lb. mold that it's for oils AND lye water combined. Otherwise you will have some extra. Once you input your recipe in soap calc, then it will give you percentages of each ingredient.

1 oz. of scent for a 2 lb. batch might not be enough. I normally use around 0.7 oz. of a scent (or a blend) per lb. of soap.

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

That's 45g/Kilo? Hmm. (Thinks)
Yes, very close to what I use (50g/Kilo)

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

This link on about.com was a big help to me when I was trying to figure out some recipes to try. I was completely unaware of where to even start with the oils % so it guided me somewhat! I am sure there is more on the internet for some basic guidelines for % of oils

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapm ... ngoils.htm

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www.fostersfields.ca
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Thanks for all of your help. I am wanting to move away from using the base recipes in the soapmaking books that I purchased but was afraid to because I didn't want to mess up and waste money. You all are the best!!!