"controlled" testing?

I've talked a lot on here about the recipes that I'm trying to dial in; now I'm wondering about testing those recipes.

I want to give each sample more than a couple of hand-washes when evaluating it. One of the things I've considered is using each sample exclusively for a whole day. But as I think about this, I'm seeing so many things that could potentially mess up my perception of each recipe: how many times did I have to wash my hands that day? How was my skin affected by the sample I used yesterday? How many times did I need to apply lotion, and what kind? Was I forced to use a public restroom and wash my hands with the awful soap in there? You get the picture.

Have any of you tried to do semi-controlled testing? I don't know how much control is really possible in the home environment, with so many variables changing from day to day, but I thought it might be worth asking. . .

I'm with you, JBOT, I have so many samples to test that I use multiple ones in the shower and washing my hands, and then am not sure of what the effect is, really. Would welcome advice on this as well.

Here's what I do: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=34844

I've found that to thoroughly test soap, I have to take it in the shower. Since my legs are the driest, most sensitive area of my body, I use them for testers. I wash one leg with soap A and the other with soap B, do this for a few days while keeping notes.

I have been using the same test for many years (~30 years?). I get my wash cloth as wet and soapy as possible. I then step away from the water and wash my entire body with the cloth. If I make it to my feet and still have plenty of suds on the cloth to thoroughly wash all of my little piggies I have a pretty good soap. You would be surprised how many fairly expensive "quality" (hah!) soaps have never passed that test! Very un-scientific, but a reliable indicator of how pleased I will be with the soap. If I have soft water (or use cistern water) my soap doesn't need to be great to pass this test. Hard water is the true test. Still, my mom has soft water and I have had soaps that failed in soft water. For many years I used the cistern (rain water) for washing, and that makes a difference -- the cistern was designed to purify (filters, activated charcoal) not to remove or treat bacteria so it was very soft water. It is a very bad soap if it fails this test in rain water. It can be a good soap overall, but not as moisturizing as I would like it to be -- I like it to moisturize, personal preference. With my skin I can tell immediately if it is drying or depleting my skin of natural oils. I can wash my hands once and I know. I'm guessing, but most women know when washing their hands or face if the skin feels tight from soap.

DeeAnna said:

Here's what I do: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=34844

Click to expand...

That's a great approach to testing lather, I will do that for sure! How do you handle testing soaps that are different ages? For example, will you test a 3-week-cured soap side by side with a 6-week-cured soap? Or 6 weeks next to 8 weeks?

Since I only make it once or twice per week, if I'm testing more than 2-3 samples at a time, then some of them will be several weeks apart in age. But if I test them all at the same points during the cure, then I'm not testing them side by side, and my subjective impressions could shift from week to week.

Do you also test for mildness? That is, which ones are more drying and which ones are less drying? I'm thinking that testing multiples in one session would make it difficult to evaluate how "moisturizing" vs. drying they are.

I'm planning a "blind test" where I'll give 4-5 friends multiple samples, but no information about each sample's recipe, and ask them to give feedback. Very interested to see how that goes!

"... How do you handle testing soaps that are different ages?..."

I just note the age and that's about it. I've gotten out of the anxious need to test my soaps right away, so it might be 2-3 weeks before I think to check a new soap. Even if I wanted to test new soaps, I am really more interested in knowing how my soaps behave after a reasonable cure time. I have had too many experiences with "mediocre" new soaps that turn into lovely teenager soaps, so I just don't get too worried about the young uns.

If I wanted to evaluate whether Soap Recipe A was better than Soap Recipe B, I would compare my notes of each soap and see if I thought A was better than B at the same age. Ideally, I'd make A and B at about the same time so I could track them side by side, but that isn't always possible.

"...Do you also test for mildness? That is, which ones are more drying and which ones are less drying?..."

Mildness and skin feel might have been issues when I was first making soap, but I have never really perceived a lot of differences in those qualities. I do make recipes that are quite different -- recent examples include a 100% olive oil soap, an 80% lard 15% CO and 5% castor soap, a no-coconut facial soap with avocado oil, and other recipes with blends of 3-4 fats, usually with a high % of lard.

I suppose there may be subtle differences in the mildness and skin feel, but I'm not picking up on them nor am I hearing any comments from my family members. Maybe we aren't too sensitive to nuances. I do see differences in appearance, longevity, and lather, and that's mainly what I look at.

I do something similar, I'll test them by hand-washing one right after the other and see which ones I like. I know I can't really test for dryness because I'm drying the heck out of my hands by washing them 10 times in a row, but it gives a good side-by-side comparison for lather.

Soaps also lather differently for different people, too. I can get my soaps to lather, even the hard to lather soaps like pine tar. My husband on the other hand -- he muscles the soap into a slimy mess. I've tried to teach him how to gently lather the soap so it makes bubbles, but he just wrestles with it. Ha.

"...hard to lather soaps like pine tar...."

It's interesting you should say that, Girlish. My recipe with pine tar actually lathers better than the same recipe without the PT. Odd that our experiences should be so opposite!