Pretty much but if you add botanicals or dairy products you will need to find a preservative that will work in the high pH.
A Cream Soap Tutorial
- Thread starter Lindy
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
I haven't found anything, but then I have tried. Whipped soap is a different product and this was always meant to be more of a creamy style soap.
Thanks
2 very different ingredients with different properties. I wouldn't sub them for each other. Cream soap is based on stearic acid and from there you choose your oils depending on what properties you want to bring to the soap.
rogue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2014
- Messages
- 100
- Reaction score
- 40
I meant for the supercream. I did the whip on my first batch today. I apparently was not paying close attention to my recipe yesterday when I realized at supercream time,"oh most of that glycerin shoulda been in there already. Hmmmm." Seems to be fine but softer than expected. I set aside 150gm & added a gm of boric in 5cc water to see how it changes it. I'll redo the whole thing this week the 'right' way to compare also so I can see what I've got when I actually use it in a few months & see what difference the timing of glycerin makes.
rogue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2014
- Messages
- 100
- Reaction score
- 40
If you plug into their calc at summerbee's http://summerbeemeadow.com/content/advanced-calculator-solid-cream-or-liquid-soaps it gives you options for steric or boric acid. I know Failor book uses it for thickening I don't off the top of head remember supercream & I'm at BF house. Need to re-read again.
Okay. I understand boric acid is sometimes used for cream soap, but I can't say it's as often used as stearic acid from all the recipes I've collected for this type of soap. But hey if it works, it works.
LBussy
Well-Known Member
I think what DeeAna is raising her eyebrows about is that stearic acid is a fatty acid while boric acid is an acid of a metalloid. As something to use to lower the pH of a substance it's probably good because it's readily soluble in water. It will not saponify and smart money is against it creaming anything. I suppose if it reacts with the lye preferentially that technically leaves cree stearic acid for creaming but ...
I dunno, I have to go back to what that old man told me once: If you want to learn, first imitate. Start with a known good recipe then branch out. That's always worked for me. By "you" in this I'm not pointing at anyone, it's just the saying.
I dunno, I have to go back to what that old man told me once: If you want to learn, first imitate. Start with a known good recipe then branch out. That's always worked for me. By "you" in this I'm not pointing at anyone, it's just the saying.
Last edited:
Sounds something like "by using boric acid you'll lower the pH of a soap enough to convert some of the soap salts back into fatty acids."
To translate, by adding the acid you're "un-making" your soap.
Not sure why you'd do that with a salt of a metal (instead of a salt of a fatty acid) since the thought here for "supercream" is to add more stearic (fatty acid).
Cheers-
Dave
Dosco and Lee are reading my mind. Not saying boric acid won't work ... just that I don't think the method is particularly common anymore.
Adding stearic acid after the cook will neutralize any lye excess by making stearic soap, which has the beauty of just making more of what you have already made. Stearic acid is also going to provide a consistent type of thickening if you are adding an excess of stearic for that purpose.
Adding boric acid after the cook will neutralize any lye excess by making sodium borate (aka borax). Some people argue this might lower the pH slightly, but borax is still alkaline, so I can't get too excited about that. The thickening created by an excess of boric acid due to breaking down the soap into fatty acids will vary depending on the fatty acids in any given recipe -- some fatty acids do not thicken as much as others do. If you read about the use of boric acid to thicken liquid soap, you'll see this inconsistency to be a real concern with liquid soap makers. Not to mention there are some health concerns about borax that make people increasingly leery of using it in their soap and other body products.
But, hey, YMMV and all that.
Adding stearic acid after the cook will neutralize any lye excess by making stearic soap, which has the beauty of just making more of what you have already made. Stearic acid is also going to provide a consistent type of thickening if you are adding an excess of stearic for that purpose.
Adding boric acid after the cook will neutralize any lye excess by making sodium borate (aka borax). Some people argue this might lower the pH slightly, but borax is still alkaline, so I can't get too excited about that. The thickening created by an excess of boric acid due to breaking down the soap into fatty acids will vary depending on the fatty acids in any given recipe -- some fatty acids do not thicken as much as others do. If you read about the use of boric acid to thicken liquid soap, you'll see this inconsistency to be a real concern with liquid soap makers. Not to mention there are some health concerns about borax that make people increasingly leery of using it in their soap and other body products.
But, hey, YMMV and all that.
rogue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2014
- Messages
- 100
- Reaction score
- 40
I wonder if it was a cost issue at one point. Boric being relatively cheap and the needed quantity quite low. Until the age of readily available Palm steric (which btw if someone has a source for non palm stearic I love to know!) I bet it was a lot more $$$
boyago
Well-Known Member
Are you talking about her "Making Cream Soap" book? I've been looking for it and can only find the one copy on Amazon for $3,097 + $3.99 shipping. And I mean Pfff, come on, who's gonna pay four bucks for shipping!
Dorymae
Well-Known Member
The paperback is only $79.00. Might help you with the shipping!
Or libraries in Kansas and one in Wyoming carry it!
Last edited:
Fully hydrogenated castor oil, also known as castor wax, is evidently high in stearic acid.
Discussion here.
Regards-
Dave
boyago
Well-Known Member
Found it at thesage.com for $7.
https://www.thesage.com/catalog/Books.html
I think I might hold off though as my to read stack is ever-growing.
