soo...I made a mistake...is it ok?

[jadelilly]

I made a soap yesterday with 5% superfat in the recipe.
Only I forgot to add the 5% castor oil
soo..no castor oil in my recipe and no superfat.
Soap is not zapping me and looks good. Is it ok? Ugh! I can't believe I missed that! I topped out my container for oils so I was going to add it in once they were colder and I moved to the container I was mixing in...and totally forgot! stupid stupid stupid!
Tell me my soap is ok...I've never made one without at least 5% sf.

 

[dixiedragon]

It's fine.

BTW, just go ahead and your superfat with your other oils. Holding it back makes no difference. Unless you are talking about hot process.

 

[jadelilly]

It's fine.

BTW, just go ahead and your superfat with your other oils. Holding it back makes no difference. Unless you are talking about hot process.

Thanks...I didn't hold it back for that reason..it's actually kinda stupid because I used a too small container to melt the butters in and so didn't have space to add it until after I moved to the bowl I was using to mix the oils and lye...so the plan was to add it when I moved the oils but I forgot.

Thank you for the help! I'm glad it's ok!

 

[lsg]

If it doesn't zap, it is OK to use. It may be a little drying, but you can use it for hand soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

If you're using an online soap recipe calculator, every one I've checked assumes NaOH is 100% pure. This assumption builds in at least an extra 5% of "hidden superfat" because NaOH is almost never going to be that pure. Most NaOH runs around 95% pure as shipped from the manufacturer and by the time its repackaged and shipped to you, and you open and close the container a few times, the purity is going to drop another few percent.

So ... yeah, you're fine.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

If you have a similar situation again, add the castor to the mixing pot at the start, while melting the other oils in the other smaller pot. That way you can't forget to add it in later

 

[Spice]

It's fine.

BTW, just go ahead and your superfat with your other oils. Holding it back makes no difference. Unless you are talking about hot process.

Dixiedragon, what is the difference about hot processing that would affect the sf?

 

[MorpheusPA]

Dixiedragon, what is the difference about hot processing that would affect the sf?

I'm not dixiedragon and I don't play dixiedragon on TV, but I can fill this in.

Theoretically, adding your SF at the end of the HP process before you slap it into the mold sounds like it should leave the oil you used as SF intact.

In practice, it doesn't really work out that way very well, and testing shows that over time the free fatty acids assume the same average profile as the rest of the soap--although they do start out the way you'd expect, with the non-saponified oil or butter dominating the profile.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

In practice, it doesn't really work out that way very well, and testing shows that over time the free fatty acids assume the same average profile as the rest of the soap--although they do start out the way you'd expect, with the non-saponified oil or butter dominating the profile.

I did bring this question up for discussion, but I think we concluded that it does really work out as expected. As long as the oil is an oil it will be your intended superfat. That patent doc was referring specifically to a free fatty acid superfat instead of an oil.

For the most part, our soaps aren't superfatted with FFAs, at least off the bat. You would only get them by acidifying the soap after saponification is complete, either intentionally or with CO2 in the air from a long cure. That would not affect your oil superfat, but over time it could break down like any oil and hydrolyze or oxidize.

 

[dixiedragon]

Dixiedragon, what is the difference about hot processing that would affect the sf?

My understanding - I'm not Deanna who is our Queen of Chemistry - is that during the cook, the saponification process is sped up. The soap is mostly done by the end of the cook. So the lye is mostly gone, and that's when you add your special superfatting oil. BTW, you don't want to add castor then - you WANT the castor to saponify b/c that's how it helps give you better lather.

When you pour CP, saponification is only something like 20% complete (I think?) so there is lots of free lye to gobble up your special superfatting oil.

 

[soapmage]

My understanding - I'm not Deanna who is our Queen of Chemistry - is that during the cook, the saponification process is sped up. The soap is mostly done by the end of the cook. So the lye is mostly gone, and that's when you add your special superfatting oil. BTW, you don't want to add castor then - you WANT the castor to saponify b/c that's how it helps give you better lather.

When you pour CP, saponification is only something like 20% complete (I think?) so there is lots of free lye to gobble up your special superfatting oil.

Yep, I save my better oils or butters for my SF at end of cook... I want my castor already in the pot to saponify to help support the lather. But honestly, I've made HP both ways (adding at the end of cook and all of it in the beginning), and I really don't see much difference but just a tad... I feel more of a difference when using my mango or shea butters than another liquid oil. ???