Dryness v. Hardness

[enchantedfrogpond]

Hello everybody! :smile:
Neophyte soapmaker here; only about 7 crock pot hot process batches so far, but mostly happy with the results. I'd like to make my bars a little less drying, but despite using SoapCalc, I'm just missing the mark. Here's what I've been doing as my base:

60% Olive oil
20% Coconut oil (76-degree)
10% Babassu oil
10% Shea butter
38% water
1 oz. FO
5% superfat

This gives me SoapCalc hardness of 39 and cleasing value of 20. As it is, the bars tend to be somewhat malleable after unmolding (I'm guessing due to the high olive oil content) but are getting a little better as they cure. For obvious reasons, reducing the coconut or babassu makes them softer. I don't want to use palm products or stearic acid if I can help it. I tried superfatting at a higher percentage (I think I used 7%) but I ended up with liquid oil collected at the bottom of the mold. Wondering if I am just overlooking some central tenet of soapmaking. Any suggestions are most appreciated!

 

[pamielynn]

I'm guessing they are drying due to using 30% coconut/babassu - that's a lot of cleansing oils. The shea is making it softer too; you could cut that down a bit. What about using palm for some hardness? Plus, realize that the hardness number refers to how fast it's going to melt, in use.
You are correct about the high OO - that will make your bars softer at the beginning. After a good, long cure they should harden up.

 

[bodhi]

I would drop the babassu and up the sf.

 

[Hazel]

I tried superfatting at a higher percentage (I think I used 7%) but I ended up with liquid oil collected at the bottom of the mold. Wondering if I am just overlooking some central tenet of soapmaking. Any suggestions are most appreciated!

Are you sure it was just liquid oil at the bottom of the mold? Did you zap test it? If you had liquid oil at the bottom of the mold, then something isn't right because I've used 8% and never had this problem. Did you add the superfat after the cook? If so, it may not have incorporated and the oil seeped to the bottom. It could be not enough lye to fully saponify. Of course, I'm just guessing what could have caused it.

You have to remember olive oil brings down the hardness value when actually it will cure quite hard. However, a lower hardness value doesn't mean the soap won't get hard. It just means it will be a little more soluble in water as opposed to soap with a higher percentage of saturated fats and will be used up a little faster. I have a recipe which has a hardness value lower than 39 and I don't have a problem with it.

How long have you been curing your soaps before trying them? Soap will become milder with a longer cure. You don't have a lot of choices to make the soap more conditioning. The problem is the more conditioning a soap is, the softer the soap. It's either lower the coconut or babassu percentage or use a higher lye discount/superfat. You could lower the babassu a little and use a little more shea.

 

[kazmi]

I'm far from an expert but I would reduce the amount of water to 35% also. Especially with that high of OO.

 

[Skatergirl46]

I just made this and it's a lovely creamy gentle soap. I did it HP. It makes a nice fairly firm bar also.

OO 30%
Lard 30%
CO 15%
Cocoa Butter 10%
Castor Oil 10%
Shea Butter 5%

SF 6%

Hardness 38
Cleansing 10
Conditioning 58
Bubbly 19
Creamy 37

 

[VanessaP]

I've noticed that my higher OO recipes, when made as HP, are a little bit softer/stickier the first 48 hours or so. But once you get past that, they physically harden up just fine. You might want to consider dropping your coconut amount or the babassu - the babassu has a higher cleansing number than coconut does. You can try adding 5-10% castor oil instead. If the oil on the bottom passed the zap test, then I suspect it was just the superfat that worked its way down. I routinely superfat anywhere from 6 to 12% in HP.