Kpg009
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They look absolutely gorgeous!
Today’s Cuts
- Thread starter Jersey Girl
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Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
Vinegar will not increase lather, nor will it harden the soap as salt does. Rather, vinegar will react a little with some of the NaOH, thereby increasing your super fat.
Are you saying that vinegar will not harden soap as well as salt or that it will not harden soap at all? This could be confusing to new soapers, Because from what I’ve learned here, it is used for that purpose quite regularly and successfully. I think you may need to clarify this a bit Just to avoid confusion.
I use vinegar for most of my soaps. It definitely does increase hardness, and I believe it gives a very slight boost to lather, as well, especially when used in combination with sugar for a lather boost. Most of all I like how the lather with my vinegar soaps feels softer somehow. And my husband likes that I don't take all his distilled water that he needs for his CPAP.
Vinegar when added to NaOH becomes sodium acetate, which is a mild salt. In my opinion, it doesn't work as well as salt. NaCl does harden soap better. When adding vinegar to your soap you will definitely increase the superfat, unless you compensate by adding additional NaOH. 28 grams of vinegar neutralizes 1 gram of NaOH. So, for example, if you would use vinegar for half of your liquid and the additional liquid as vinegar at 224 grams of vinegar, you would need 8 extra grams of NaOH. Personally, I like to add citric acid instead to my soap for it's milk chelating properties as well as its ability to reduce soap scum. In this case 10 grams of citric acid neutralizes 6 grams of NaOH. You can use citric acid at 1-2% in soap. So if you have 16 ounces of oils, you can use 1.6-3.2 ounces of citric acid.
I will admit that one advantage of using salt instead of vinegar as a hardener is that you can also use citric acid as a chelator if needed. Vinegar doesn't play well with citric acid, so a different chelator would be need to be used - IF you actually need one. I don't tend to need a chelator, so vinegar is fine for me except when making soap for family members with hard water.
And while I do agree that salt or SL has more hardening affect than vinegar, I like the feel of the lather when using vinegar. And when I combine vinegar with a bit of salt for hardening and sugar for lather boost, the effect of the sum is greater than the parts, IMO. YMMV.
I use ACV in almost every bar of HP soap I make - there I feel it improves the lather and the skin feel. I don't notice an appreciable difference in CP soap.
That's interesting. I alternate between CP and HP and like it in both. Could be a difference in the oils or process used?
Maybe I'm crazy, Hehe! But seriously, I don't know. I have many recipes I make, both CP and HP - so I don't just follow one - I make all my own - but of course there are similarities. I have noticed that ACV tends to discolor my lighter colored soap - if I want a really white bar (of HP), I use white vinegar instead. But really, we all use the same basic oils/butters: Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Olive Oil, Avocado Oil, Mango Butter, Cocoa Butter, Castor Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Safflower Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Oil - anyway those are the ones I use most often in some sort of combination. So - I just don't know. Personal Preference?
Well, there are times that my driveway doesn't go all the way to the garage, if you get my drift.
Out of your listed oils, I mostly use CO, CaO, plus a lot of lard and tallow. I only occasionally use shea, cocoa, olive, and avocado. I don't really use the others much at all. So maybe a difference of base oils? But each of us has such different skin reactions to soap anyway, so it's probably just that.
Jersey Girl these are gorgeous!
Goldenearthgirl
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Pardon my ignorance, what is ACV?
Apple Cider Vinegar
Goldenearthgirl
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Thank you!
