Words of wisdom, please

[Dragonkaz]

It's been six weeks since I made this mix -

500 gm Olive Oil
200 gm Coconut Oil

85 gm Lye
198 gm Water

I found this recipe on a blog and didn't put it through a soap calc ... ops, so it's low on both lye and water. Think the lye should have been 100 gm and water 252 gm.

This soap has cured for six weeks and has a ph of 8. I used some today and it lathered nicely, smelled great (lavender) ... but the soap bar feels oily. Is this due to the lye and water amounts being wrong? Or is it because I used so much CO ... I've read that CO should only be no more than 20% of total oils?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

The water isn't really an issue. The soap feels oily because you have a high lye discount due to the amount of lye used. That means that there is a fair amount of free oil in your soap. I regularly use more than 20% of coconut oil and don't have a problem with it but some people find high coconut irritating.

 

[Elly]

Your SF is about 19% which is pretty high in excess oils. Some soapers here do 20% SF when making CO soap which is a bit of a drying oil but OO is a very moisturizing oil and since your recipe has a high % of OO it is probably too much of it as free oil making your soap feel too greasy.

 

[Dragonkaz]

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply!

I used this soap in the shower this morning and it felt great. The blocks probably need to be cut in half, due to this oily feel, as it makes them feel a bit slippery.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I'm sure it's lovely to wash with. I'd use it up fairly quickly though. One thing we don't often talk about, is the slippery factor with high superfat soaps. Care needs to be taken in the shower, not to slip on the free oils that coat your shower base. I put a face cloth down under one foot. Slipping and smashing through the glass naked, would not be fun. :wink:

 

[Dragonkaz]

Thanks so much for that tip ... I never even thought of that happening! It really did feel great in the shower, but think I'll use it at my sink only.

I'm still such a newbie when it comes to trying to work out the SF stuff. Plus not being great at maths (shameful to admit when I used to teach accounting) ... but the whole % thing leaves me confused.

... plus ...

The soap feels oily because you have a high lye discount due to the amount of lye used. That means that there is a fair amount of free oil in your soap.

... does this mean due to the amount of lye I used being to low?

... plus ... if I was to use the same oils, but with the higher quanties of water and lye (as worked out by the soap calc), would this oily feel go away?

Hope you can continue to help. Thanks so much!

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Thanks so much for that tip ... I never even thought of that happening! It really did feel great in the shower, but think I'll use it at my sink only.

I'm still such a newbie when it comes to trying to work out the SF stuff. Plus not being great at maths (shameful to admit when I used to teach accounting) ... but the whole % thing leaves me confused.

... plus ...

The soap feels oily because you have a high lye discount due to the amount of lye used. That means that there is a fair amount of free oil in your soap.

... does this mean due to the amount of lye I used being to low?

... plus ... if I was to use the same oils, but with the higher quanties of water and lye (as worked out by the soap calc), would this oily feel go away?

Hope you can continue to help. Thanks so much!

Just as long as you have enough water to dissolve your lye, that's ok. I discount my water anyway, unless I'm using a fragrance that makes the soap get too thick, too quickly. By all means, try full water if you like.

If you were to use higher quantity of lye, then yes, the oily feeling would go away. Let us know what you think of the next batch. :wink:

 

[Dragonkaz]

Thanks Jenny ... I get so confused by the calculations stuff.

I've been trying to understand the soapcalc ... I can see it gives heaps of information, but I don't understand what all the figures mean.

I've made four different recipes since this one ... so it will be an adventure to check each one after it's been curing for 6 weeks.

I'll definitely make this one again, but with the different amounts of lye and water to see what happens.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I never got into Soap Calc myself although I basically understand how to use it. I bought Soap Maker 3 which is excellent and just has a graph with 4 bars on it saying: Hardness, Fluffy Lather, Stable Lather, Moisturizing. :wink:

http://www.soapmaker.ca/index.php