Teach Soap

When I look at the numbers on Soapcalc.net, here's what I get:

Olive oil (pomace):
Hardness 17
Cleansing 0
Conditioning 83
Bubbly 0
Creamy 17

Soybean oil:
Hardness 16
Cleansing 0
Conditioning 82
Bubbly 0
Creamy 16

In other words, nearly identical. Now, I know that the numbers are a little bit of a lie because while the olive oil soap will be hardness 17 after the usual 2 month cure, same as soybean oil, it will harden considerably over its recommended 6-12 month cure, which soy-only soap will not.

I'd be just fine solving that problem by adding salt to my lye-water solution, so that I could make soybean oil soap at a 25% cost reduction and be just as happy with the bar. However, I also know that olive oil does clean the skin, despite what the numbers suggest. Does soybean oil cleanse like olive oil does, despite the numbers, or is this an instance in which the number is accurate?

In soap calc olive oil doesn't look good for hardness, but we all know that castile soap make a very hard bar. Take the calc in this instance with a grain of salt. Soybean oil is a soft oil and that doesn't change.

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

Olive oil is the gentler of the two. They both will clean. If I had the choice between the two, I would take olive oil. Soybean needs other oils to make a good bar of soap. 100% soybean soap will not make for a good soap. Castile will.

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

Here is olive oil's breakdown.
Oleic Acid, a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid. It makes up 55 to 83% of olive oil.
Linoleic Acid, a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid that makes up about 3.5 to 21% of olive oil.
Palmitic Acid, a saturated fatty acid that makes up 7.5 to 20% of olive oil.
Stearic Acid, a saturated fatty acid that makes up 0.5 to 5% of olive oil.
Linolenic Acid, a polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acid that makes up 0 to 1.5% of olive oil.

Let me find my notes on soybean.

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

Irena, incase you could not find it I had mine handy:
Soybean oil:
Linoleic 46-53%
Oleic 21-27%
Palmetic 9-12%
Steric 4-6%
Iodine 124-132

This is what my notes on soybean oil states: Adds mildness, lots of fluffy lather and is moisturizing when used in combo with other oils. Used alone it would produce a soap that is too soft. Soy is cost effective when used as a base oil for added bulk in a recipe.

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Thank you Susie. I got another wholesale order today, so I'm running a little bit behind.

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

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

I'm a beginner and not a chemist, so that information is valuable to someone with more knowledge than I have. Someday I hope to understand it, so I'm bookmarking for that day.

I'm not a CPer, but I know that Beth Byrnes of Saponifier magazine did an article in the March/April 2012 issue about single oil soap observations. There's also a link to a spreadsheet describing the testers' observations including lather and cleansing ability. I haven't read the actual article though which might be helpful to CPers like you.

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Armi

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

Hi Soapbuddy! Um, yeah that's what it says in her blog post for Saponifier. I was wondering about that because I thought castor makes a soft soap. But it was interesting to see what each single oil soap was like per the testers' observations in the spreadsheet.

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Armi

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