Vegetable Oil %

[Sima]

I have a bottle of oil I don't use for cooking, which has corn and canola oils, I don't want to throw it in the trash so I decided to use it for personal soapmaking but I can't figure out the % of each oil to plug it in soap calc. Would someone help me?
Thank you.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

If the label doesn't give you a pointer of the composition, this might be tricky indeed. Does it have a “Nutritional Values” table? The poly-unsaturated fatty acids might be a good pointer.

In any case: unless special precautions are taken, I'd not recommend use either corn or canola at much more than, say, 20% of a bar soap recipe.
That means: open a soap calculator, enter a balanced soap recipe like Basic Trinity, reduce olive oil by 20% and add either corn oil or canola oil instead. Write down the amount of NaOH needed in both cases. They will be quite similar, the true value is somewhere in between.

You might also consider making a liquid soap, where you can use up to 100% soft oils – Or, if you want to leave some room for bubbly coconut and castor oils, 70–80%.

 

[Sima]

If the label doesn't give you a pointer of the composition, this might be tricky indeed. Does it have a “Nutritional Values” table? The poly-unsaturated fatty acids might be a good pointer.

In any case: unless special precautions are taken, I'd not recommend using either corn or canola at much more than, say, 20% of a bar soap recipe.
That means: open a soap calculator, enter a balanced soap recipe like Basic Trinity, reduce olive oil by 20% and add either corn oil or canola oil instead. Write down the amount of NaOH needed in both cases. They will be quite similar, the true value is somewhere in between.

You might also consider making a liquid soap, where you can use up to 100% soft oils – Or, if you want to leave some room for bubbly coconut and castor oils, 70–80%.

According to the label, the poly-unsaturated fatty acids are 6g, how do I calculate that? Even though I like the other method you mentioned but I am assuming the amount of coconut oil may be more than what my skin can handle, so to solve that I am thinking to apply what you told me above first, then reduce the CO% to the desired amount by adding some other oil. Does this make sense?
Regarding the liquid soap, I like the idea, since the bottle has 40 oz which is a lot, I can try some other things. Would you refer me to an easy beginner recipe to follow?
Thank you!

 

[AliOop]

I agree with Owl; the SAP values for corn (.137) and canola (.133) are quite similar. You could estimate it at 50-50, use a 3% SF just in case, and probably be just fine. If you willing to use lard, you could try something like this:

Lard 52%
Coconut oil 18%
Corn-canola oil 20% (put 10% of each into the calculator)
Shea or coconut butter 5%
Castor oil 5%

You'd probably want to use dual lye or add some form of sugar, milk, or starch to increase the bubbles.

 

[Sima]

I agree with Owl; the SAP values for corn (.137) and canola (.133) are quite similar. You could estimate it at 50-50, use a 3% SF just in case, and probably be just fine. If you willing to use lard, you could try something like this:

Lard 52%
Coconut oil 18%
Corn-canola oil 20% (put 10% of each into the calculator)
Shea or coconut butter 5%
Castor oil 5%

You'd probably want to use dual lye or add some form of sugar, milk, or starch to increase the bubbles.

I am out of lard, how about using up the expired tallow I have instead? It looks ok to me.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Lard can easily be replaced by a 2:1 mix of tallow and a soft oil. So, adapting @AliOop's recipe above, you can use:
34% tallow
18% coconut oil (With tallow, IMHO you don't need bubble booster additives, the coconut and castor oils should suffice for ample lather)
20% mystery vegetable oil blend (plug 10% corn 10% canola into the calculator)
5% shea/cocoa butter (or leave it out and increase tallow instead)
5% castor

According to the label, the poly-unsaturated fatty acids are 6g, how do I calculate that?

Hrm. I forgot that US nutrition labels are not standardised, but relative to some serving size that the manufacturer can choose. I can only assume that it's a tbsp (15 mL, 14 g)?
Then the PUFA would account for 6 g/14 g = 43% (albeit with an uncertainty interval 39…46%).
Corn oil has 52…56% PUFA, canola oil 25…31%. Our value is quite in between, so the half-half assumption isn't that bad.

 

[Sima]

Lard can easily be replaced by a 2:1 mix of tallow and a soft oil. So, adapting @AliOop's recipe above, you can use:
34% tallow
18% coconut oil (With tallow, IMHO you don't need bubble booster additives, the coconut and castor oils should suffice for ample lather)
20% mystery vegetable oil blend (plug 10% corn 10% canola into the calculator)
5% shea/cocoa butter (or leave it out and increase tallow instead)
5% castor

This way maybe the tallow and other oils will reduce the coconut effect on the skin? I heard something like that about tallow, didn't try it myself.
You mentioned castor oil as a bubble booster, I am out of it and trying to use up my expired oils I believe they are still in a good condition if I don't want to add extra CO what is a good bubble booster to use instead?
Thank you.

 

[cmzaha]

This way maybe the tallow and other oils will reduce the coconut effect on the skin? I heard something like that about tallow, didn't try it myself.
You mentioned castor oil as a bubble booster, I am out of it and trying to use up my expired oils I believe they are still in a good condition if I don't want to add extra CO what is a good bubble booster to use instead?
Thank you.

If you want to increase lather cut your superfat and use sugar or sorbitol. Sorbitol is my pick. I do not superfat over 3% preferring 1-2% keeping my total cleaning number at 15-17 and using sorbitol at the rate of 1.1% of my batch weight. I also soap with dual lye either high palm or tallow/lard depending if it is a vegan soap or not.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

A small bottle of castor oil is an investment into the future. A little goes a long way. It does its magic at as low as 2%, and that's not really a deep cut into the budget of oils to use up.

(At least that is how I justify re-ordering castor oil when my oils stash is overcrowded otherwise.)

 

[Sima]

A small bottle of castor oil is an investment into the future. A little goes a long way. It does its magic at as low as 2%, and that's not really a deep cut into the budget of oils to use up.

(At least that is how I justify re-ordering castor oil when my oils stash is overcrowded otherwise.)

You are right, castor oil is cheap, I should be able to get some.

 

[Sima]

If you want to increase lather cut your superfat and use sugar or sorbitol. Sorbitol is my pick. I do not superfat over 3% preferring 1-2% keeping my total cleaning number at 15-17 and using sorbitol at the rate of 1.1% of my batch weight. I also soap with dual lye either high palm or tallow/lard depending if it is a vegan soap or not.

I can cut superfat, I have sugar to add, not sure about the cleaning number, I have to check. I'll look up the dual lye.
Thank you!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

cleaning number 15-17 means coconut oil content 20-25%

Dual lye castile | Dual-lye bar soap trial

 

[Sima]

cleaning number 15-17 means coconut oil content 20-25%

Dual lye castile | Dual-lye bar soap trial

Thank you!

 

[Lindainms]

cleaning number 15-17 means coconut oil content 20-25%

Dual lye castile | Dual-lye bar soap trial

 

[Lindainms]

Thank you for all your help. I will be making my first batch of the year. I am understanding more about the ratios now. Cutting the Co is crucial for me. The recipe you altered for me is spit on for my needs. My question: Since I prefer to sell unscented and chemical free soap, will there be enough people to buy my balanced bar. I do not use lighteners of any sort or dyes. My soaps are for sensitive and damaged skin. Your thoughts?

 

[AliOop]

Hi @Lindainms. It is wonderful that you want to start a niche of selling soaps for folks with sensitive or damaged skin. Please know that this will take a lot of testing on your part. That means making a lot of batches over a significant period of time, to see how they hold up over time in storage and in use. You will want to start by giving away soap to friends and family who agree to provide feedback, and keeping careful track of each batch so you can figure out how to fix things that go wrong (and they will go wrong, eventually).

Only you can know, through market testing, whether there is a market for the kind of soap you are hoping to make, since that varies greatly by region, and also by the type of marketing you can afford. But I will say, most soapmakers have a hard time selling more than the occasional bar of unscented soap. Yes, there is a market for it, but you will have to find those folks and get their attention. In the meantime, you might consider using essential oils in at least some of your soaps, as those are general perceived as more "natural" than fragrance oils, and they provide the scent that seems to draw people to buy.

Unfortunately, there will be no single recipe that is right for every type of sensitive skin. My husband's sensitive skin prefers a blend of lard+neem+colloidal oats. My sensitive skin prefers lard+goat milk. My best friend with sensitive skin prefers olive oil+ goat milk. I suggest coming up with 2-3 standard recipes so that people have options.

Also, there is no such thing as "chemical-free soap." Everything is made of chemicals, including you, me, and every bar of soap we make. A better way to express what you are probably trying to say is that your soap will be free of "harsh chemicals" or "synthetic ingredients." You do have to be very careful about making any claims that your soap is actually suitable for damaged skin. That would be a medical claim, which would make your soap subject to expensive testing for FDA approval, as well as drug labeling. Yes, there are many soap sellers out there who make those claims, but they are breaking the law and opening themselves up to huge lawsuits for liability. Imagine if you recommend that someone use your soap on skin with burns, and their skin gets infected. You could lose everything you own in the resulting lawsuit.

Well, that's enough for now. You might check out the threads here about "Am I ready to sell my soap?" and "What would I tell my beginning soapmaking self?" Both threads have great info about getting started. Everyone here on SMF is ready to encourage you to enjoy the process of learning to make soap, and to post often with questions, requests for assistance, and of course, pictures of your soap.