Soap calculator graph with red bars..

[Dblondi03]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to soaping,
I have noticed something with the friendly soap calculator, which I'm getting familiar with and love how it helps getting an idea of what the soap will turn out like.
BUT!
I have a soap book, I watch soap recipes on youtube.
90% of the recipes that I tested on the calculator gives me abnormal graph results (a lot of red instead of green) and I'm following professional people, so I get it, ok.. 1 or 2 or 3 recipes might have a bad batch results online... but, mostly all of them are outside the green lines... kinda confusing..

For example
I watch a lady that swears by a recipe and I just calculated it and couldn't believe how bad the graph looked. (Attached) so I basically now just play with call calculator and with the oils I have until I reach all of them in green color to know I have a "good recipe" to make.

But I dont understand, in general the calculator shows bad results, yet their soaps come out good?

Thanks for reading this far

 

[AliOop]

Those graphs don't tell all. Mostly they are helpful for beginners to stay between the rails, if you will.

As you get to know more about the fatty acid composition of the various oils, and how they feel when saponified (which often is completely different than how they feel before saponification), you will find the combinations that work for you.

For instance, I don't care much about longevity, but I do care greatly about having high conditioning and low cleansing (aka "skin stripping"). So my recipes rarely look balanced, but lots of family and friends love my soap.

While olive oil makes a supposedly gentle soap, my skin doesn't like it much, nor palm oil. Others swear by those oils and use them in every recipe.

Those are just a few examples of why the graph numbers are just starting points. It's good to make small batches of a few different recipes as you figure out which ones work for you. Plus, it's an excuse to make soap.

 

[Dblondi03]

Thank you so much for the reply, its true, I need to make small batches, and have the patience to wait for my new soaps to cure to know what works for me. Thanks

 

[GemstonePony]

If we knew the recipe, we might be able to explain why it worked in spite of what the graph would indicate. If that's not something you can share, I'm going to guess that it's super high in either coconut or Babassu oil, and that it's either got a high superfat or it would be too harsh for some of us to use on our skin.
There are always exceptions to the rules, but there are also a lot of professionals out there selling soap that my skin wouldn't care for. There are a number of celebrity soap makers who sell soap based on their artistry and/or personality, and not entirely soap quality. Nothing wrong with that, if the soap works for you then it works for you. There are a lot of different skin types and a lot of different lather preferences and priorities.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Yes - it looks like it be a high coconut oil soap, but if it has a high superfat too ( say 15-20%) then it could still work.
Another (opposite) example of this is a castile or bastille soap - where you might have ( for example) 90% olive oil and a couple of other oils. It may not look good in soap calc either - but it still work as a soap.