Lauric acid in lye soap

[Garden Gives Me Joy]

Would be happy to hear your opinions and experiences re adding pure lauric acid powder to baseoils in your soaping.

My non-expert Google research suggests it can boost bubbles, cleansing and hardness properties of a bar. When I looked at its profile in soapcalc (by entering it as 100% of base oils), its profile looked like CO on steroids re these properties. It even has a lower melting point (of 43C / 109F) than stearic acid which makes me imagine it would be easier to add, even in CP. Am I correct? Are there any special soaping considerations?

Would it allow salty bars to lather fine but without the coconut allergies?

Have searched for it in the catalogues of only 2 suppliers, but in vain. Is it difficult to find? Won't it be cheap, like stearic acid too?

 

[lenarenee]

The lauric acid may be sourced from coconut.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

If you buy large enough amounts, it'll be cheap indeed.
Free fatty acids are no fun to work with. IMHO, strictly HP. They lead to instant seizing when trying to make CP soap.

If you care about coconut soap intolerance, first clarify if it is a classical allergy against coconut palm products, or sensitisation due to medium length fatty acids. In the first case, you can easily switch to palm kernel oil, babaçu, murumuru (or HP lauric acid if you insist on it – but as @lenarenee noted, you can't be sure if the lauric acid is really free of coconut allergens). In the second case, better avoid it altogether. There are enough other ways to boost lather (aloe vera juice, sugar/honey/sorbitol, dual-lye, rice purée, lowering stearic acid or salt addition, or even electrolyte-insensitive syndets) – or give liquid soap a try (foamer!!!).