Palm oil vs. palm kernel oil

[neidenn]

Hi. I had a question regarding a batch of soap I made yesterday. I basically used palm oil instead of palm kernel oil because I realized I had purchased the wrong oil when I was first ordering supplies. I don't have the exact amounts used with me at the moment but the recipe called for olive oil, palm kernel oil, distilled water and lye. I realized it as I was preparing the stuff and ended up using it. My soap looks good today but I haven't tested it's ph. Do you guys think it might make a big difference in the texture of my soap? I would appreciate any information you can provide me with. Thanks so much.

 

[krissy]

when you get time you might want to run your recipe through soapcalc if you haven't already, with the palm oil that you used. i never use palm or palm kernal so i don't know if the sap values are the same, but it would suck if your soap was lye heavy.

other than that, i think they are about the same for hardness and texture.

 

[neidenn]

Thanks, I'll do that tonight. I would hate to think it might be lye heavy. I'm pretty new to this and I've always used recipes from a book for my soap. I have never calculated quantities. All the soaps I've made have had good ph levels from the recipes. I'll try to figure out how the soap calc works. Thanks so much.

 

[Val]

Ouch! There is a difference ....... hope it is ok. How much did you discount your lye?

Val

 

[neidenn]

I didn't discount the lye at all. I just substituted one oil for the other. I'll check the ph tonight. I hope it's not too much. It looked ok this morning when I checked the mold. Thanks for letting me know though. I definitely will try never to do that again. Is it because of the consistency of the palm vs. the palm kernel oil?

 

[IrishLass]

Uh Oh! Palm and Palm Kernel are two very different animals with two very different sap numbers. They should never be substituted for one another 1:1 in soap.

Palm Oil is much like tallow or lard, lending hardness but little in terms of bubbly lather, while Palm Kernel Oil is much like coconut oil in terms lending a goodly amount of cleansing, hardness, and major bubbly lather.

The sap # for Palm Oil is .142
The sap # for Palm Kernel Oil is .176

That's a bit of a difference.

Is there any chance you can post your whole recipe and superfat level?

IrishLass

 

[neidenn]

I took the recipe from Anne L. Watson's book "Smart Soapmaking" and I don't remember how much I used of each oil. I do believe that I used 116 gms of lye though and 255 gms of distilled water. The olive oil was somewhere in the 500's and then the palm kernal oil it called for I don't really remember. I'm so bummed. I'm hoping it's not lye heavy. I'll have to see later. Thanks for you replies. I really appreciate it.

 

[Guest]

You can always reinvent it , shred it , or make laundry soap etc , no batch ever goes to waste and you learn something new every time.

Kitn