Teach Soap

Eventually it does start to sink in. I remember when I started reading it was like learning another language. I could pronounce the words, but had NO idea of the meaning. Eventually though, it all just starts to make sense and you have the "ahh huh" moments.

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I've been at this whole 'soap making' thing a month now and already so much is sinking in and I am beginning to understand it Don't worry...it takes a ton of research and studying...but it really does begin to make sense the more you work at it

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

I'm so new I haven't even made a batch of CP soap yet (still waiting on supplies). But as to basics YOU MUST put your recipe through a lye calculator. Go to the library to use theirs if needs be.

You must weigh everything on a scale. One thing I've gotten from "research" is accuracy in weighing ingredients is very important in CP/HP soapmaking.

When you put your recipe through the lye calculator you'll get numbers for your recipe for its ability to condition, bubbles, creaminess, iodine and INS. From what I've read (experienced soapsters pipe in here and correct me if I am wrong):

Conditioning qualities allow your skin to retain moisture, so you want oils with ricinoleic, oleic, and linoleic.
For good bubbles you want a higher number for foamy fluffy lather, so you want oils with lauric, myristic, or ricinoleic.
When it comes to creaminess of the soap bar, the higher the number the creamier it is but your bubbles will be less. For creaminess you need palmitic, stearic, ricinoleic in your oils..
When it comes to iodine numbers, the lower the number then the harder your bar will be and the less conditioning it will be. For hardness you'll want oils with lauric, myristic, palmitic and stearic.
Supposedly the ideal INS number is 160.

REMEMBER your water number should always be bigger than your lye number (2.5:1 approximately).

Hope this helps.

anitasoap:

If it helps: The total amount of the weight of your oils is always 100% - now, it wont always weigh out to 100, sometimes it will equal 75.284 oz. That will depend on the size of your batch. But, you still need to use that number as your total weight of oils (100%) to figure out what percentage each oil occupies in your recipe.

Someone calculated it for you here:

Avocado Oil = 4 oz (12.5%)
Olive Oil = 16 oz (50%)
Coconut Oil = 8 oz (25%)
Sweet Almond Oil = 4 oz (12.5%)

I can help you break it down.

The total weight of all your oils is 32 ounces: 4+16+ 8+4 (this is 100% of your oils). This is your base number (32). For the avocado oil in the recipe above, you want to find out how much of 100% is 4 ounces.

4 divided by 32= .125 times 100=12.5. So the avocado portion of your soap is 12 and a half percent. Do that with the amount of oils for each recipe and you can always figure out what percent of 100 they occupy in your recipe.

[edited for clarity]

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Kristen D. Vineyard
visit my blog http://washwithvegetables.blogspot.com