what to do with soap of super fat 1%

[hyperhounds]

So I made my first batch of soap on Friday from a recipe in the simple soap making book. It turned out great and I was really happy with it.

My second attempt at soap making has not gone so well. I did another recipe from the simple soap making book.
This one is:
18oz olive oil
12 oz palm kernel oil
9 oz distilled water
4.1 oz lye
1.3 oz lemongrass
1/2 tsp of yellow mica

It wasn't until AFTER I made the batch that I realized I used Palm oil and NOT palm kernel oil. AFter putting it into the lye calculator I realized I have only 1% super fat.

So what do I do with this soap? is it safe to use? do I get a PH strip and check it? can it be used as laundry soap or something else? do I have to rebatch and add more oils?

 

[houseofwool]

You could use it for laundry soap.

 

[cmzaha]

I make a lot of soap with 1-3% superfat. Let it age and use it, it will be fine. You might even find you like low superfat soap

ETA: it would be not be a very nice laundry soap

 

[newbie]

Low SF soaps are not necessarily drying or stripping. They can be quite nice and in one of our blind swaps, a blinded SF swap, many people felt the lower SF soaps were just as nice or better than one with a higher SF. Give it a good cure and try it.

 

[DeeAnna]

It will be similar to a nice lard-based soap -- a cleanser that will be mild to the skin and have a dense lather. It may take a few months to develop its best lathering qualities, so be patient and give it a good cure.

As far as the superfat being 1% -- that's no big deal. If you used an online soap calculator, such as soapcalc, your 1% superfat is most likely based on an assumed 100% purity for the lye. That is almost never the case. The actual superfat in your soap, allowing for a lower real purity, is probably more like 6% or even a bit higher. If your skin doesn't like it, I bet someone's will. I make most of my high-lard soaps at 2% to 3% superfat based on the actual purity of the lye -- in other words, my superfat is as close to being a true 2-3% as I can manage. The soaps are mild to the skin, lather very nicely, and last a long time in the shower.

 

[Steve85569]

You could also remelt using alcohol for a solvent and add glycerin to "soften" the bite if you're concern is having the soap be too base ( drying).

That's just a thought. I make soap with 1 to 5% SF and then at gel stage add solvent and glycerin. Makes a very nice conditioning soap. IMHO.

Steve

 

[fuzz-juzz]

Use it?
Most of my soaps range from 0-2% SF. I make my facial bars with 0% SF.
Most lye is about 98% pure so 0% SF is not really 0 and there shouldn't be extra lye left in the soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

Hyperhounds --

I'd love to hear your reaction to our advice about your soap! What do you think?

***

Steve --

I'm confused. Typical lye soap made from a fat-based recipe (not a recipe using fatty acids) will naturally contain a glycerin content of around 10% to 11% ppo just from the saponification of the fats in the recipe. Can you explain in more detail why I would want to add even more glycerin to this type of soap?

I also don't understand the chemistry of adding extra glycerin and/or a solvent such as alcohol to fix a potentially lye-heavy soap, as seems to be the OP's concern. AFAIK, these ingredients are mainly added to make a transparent/translucent soap, not to correct a lye-heavy soap.

***

Geek tip of the day --

If you want to know a quick way to accurately calculate the amount of glycerin created by any recipe, 0.77 g glycerin is produced for every 1 gram of NaOH consumed by saponification. The soap must have a zero to a positive superfat for this to be accurate.

Glycerin weight, grams = (NaOH weight, grams) X 0.77

 

[JayJay]

DeeAnna, can you do a "Geek tip of the day" everyday?:grin:

 

[hyperhounds]

thank you everyone for your replies. I just assumed it would be too drying and no one would want to use it. I feel so much better now. Yes I will let it age and use it!

 

[Steve85569]

DeeAnna,
I know that there is glycerin naturally occurring in soap.
hyperhounds could use a small amount of glycerin as the solvent but I use denatured alcohol. Using stove fuel as a solvent allows me to not add glycerin if I don't want to ( already SF). Started doing the solvent thing to remelt scraps, wife said the soap was a bit harsh so I added a small amount of glycerin. Happy wife!

The reasons that I add more is for conditioning and it gives me more time to mold the soap. It is a must that I keep the water:lye ratio low too or it will not set.
I don't do every batch that way it's just one of the variations that I use and it does have drawbacks.

 

[DeeAnna]

Okay, I understand where you're coming from now. Thanks, Steve. I'm not sure I would recommend glycerin and/or alcohol as additives to help with the OP's concerns in this thread, but if these additives work for your soap given in your situation, that's good!

I know a mixture of ethyl alcohol and 5% glycerin is sold as a commercial remedy for swimmer's ear; the glycerin serves as a humectant to offset the harsh drying effect of the alcohol.

 

[DeeAnna]

"... DeeAnna, can you do a "Geek tip of the day" everyday? ..."

Not a bad idea, JayJay. I don't think I personally can do a geek tip every day, but maybe others will chime in with their own.