What are these "emollients" in soap mentioned in Soapcalc?

[popcorn]

Hi All, I'been making soap for 5 yrs now. I often see soapers state that soap is not moisturising and it only cleanses. But based on my soaps, some recipes do make my skin significantly softer. Since my experience of soap contradicts the understanding that it only strips the skin, I did some digging and found this definition in Soapcalc under Soap Bar Qualities - http://soapcalc.net/info/SoapQualities.asp

Condition - Conditioning refers to the soap’s emollient content. A soap’s emollients are left on the skin. They help the skin retain moisture. They sooth the skin and keep it soft. A range of 44 to 69 is satisfactory for this soap quality.

Now I know soap is a rinse-off product and even the glycerin in it gets rinsed off, so what are these emollients Soapcalc is talking about? It is not the superfat as even with 0% superfat, there is a conditioning value (tested out a recipe with 0% superfat). Can anyone pls shed some light, Thx!

 

[DeeAnna]

The "conditioning" number in Soapcalc is the total percentage of oleic, linoleic, linolenic and ricinoleic fatty acids in the soap. How these fatty acids create an actual emollient property in soap is something I've never quite understood. I can see the logic behind a claim that these FAs as maybe adding mildness, but actual emolliency? Not sure.

The Soapcalc numbers and their names were defined some years ago back when Soapcalc was first made available to the public, but there's no record anymore of reasons why the numbers are calculated a certain way or why they have those specific names.

I also have never understood why the "conditioning" property doesn't include palmitic and stearic FAs. They also increase the mildness of a soap, and IMO they do that even better than the oleic, etc. fatty acids.

 

[popcorn]

The "conditioning" number in Soapcalc is the total percentage of oleic, linoleic, linolenic and ricinoleic fatty acids in the soap. How these fatty acids create an actual emollient property in soap is something I've never quite understood. I can see the logic behind a claim that these FAs as maybe adding mildness, but actual emolliency? Not sure.

The Soapcalc numbers and their names were defined some years ago back when Soapcalc was first made available to the public, but there's no record anymore of reasons why the numbers are calculated a certain way or why they have those specific names.

I also have never understood why the "conditioning" property doesn't include palmitic and stearic FAs. They also increase the mildness of a soap, and IMO they do that even than the oleic, etc. fatty acids.

Hi thanks for shedding some light. I really wanna get down to the bottom of this emollient aspect cause my experience with different recipes has me convinced there is some moisturising property, depending on the recipe. But many soapers are very categorical about stating that soaps are only rinse off and nothing is being left behind - hence my scouring of google for info.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...many soapers are very categorical about stating that soaps are only rinse off..."

Guilty as charged. Many people come to soap making with the goal that their soap should perform amazing things, including eliminating the need for lotion.

In all my years of playing with recipes and testing ingredients, I've never found that to be true. If my skin is dry, I can make a soap that doesn't dry the skin further, but I can't make a soap that adds a significant amount of emollience. Soap alone never makes my skin feel as protected and soothed as when I use a lotion.

The only situation when soap might provide actual emollient properties, similar to a lotion, is if the superfat is unusually high. A few years ago, there was a soap maker posting here who made some pretty amazing claims about his soap moisturizing the skin. When I analyzed his recipe, he was making soap with about 50% superfat. The photos he provided showed a visible film of fat on the skin. I highly doubted his soap actually cleansed the skin, unless it was a type of "oil cleansing" method, but there was no doubt the soap did provide emollience.