HERB - Soap-superfatting to avoid soda ash

[Gaylin Walli]

Edwinna wrote:

>I added a little more fat, in the form of a small jar of cocoa-butter,

While I am by no means an expert in the field of soap making, I think
this is the source of half of your problems, unfortunately. How much
is a small jar? Even a very small amount is going to cause your soap
to change drastically. However, in my opinion, erring on the fat
side is far safer than erring on the lye side.

>the juice of a medium sized Aloe leaf, and a couple of vitamin E
>pills. Actually, I'm not sure the last two are fats, but they seemed
>like a good idea, so I added them.

The last two are not fats. :) The aloe may help with skin irritations,
however, I think current research suggests that the heat of the reaction
between the fats and the lye water destroy the good things that aloe
does. The vitamin E, however, acts as a preservative, fortunately, I
don't know how the high temperatures of the soap making process affect
that oil. I could find out if you're interested.

>38 ounces of Crisco

This is probably the source of the other half of your problems.
As I mentioned previously, the only way to be truly sure that
you will get a good soap mix is to use a shortening that is 100%
of a *specific* vegetable oil. Not just "100% vegetable oil" on
the label, either. They have to list specifically which plant it
came from. And when they do that, then you can calculate how much
lye and water to use. Without that information, it's sort of a
crap shoot. Different parts of the country receive different
versions of Crisco, as I understand it, to account for geographical
and cultural differences (i.e. hotter areas receive different
Crisco than colder areas; places that deep fry more receive a
different kind than areas that do more baking).

So, let's do a little calculating. These were your ingredients:

24 ounces olive oil
24 ounces cocoanut oil
38 ounces of Crisco

This recipe, using 32 oz of water and 12 ounces of lye already
has your recipe superfatted to about 8%. That's a good amount
of superfatting to start with. Now, you say you added a small jar
of cocoa-butter. Let's say for arguments sake you used about a
4 ounce jar. By increasing the fat in your recipe by these 4 oz,
you've increased your superfatting (or the lye discount, as some
people call it) to around 11%. That's way too much for a hard soap,
I think. Staying between 5-8% is probably a better idea. Lower
than 5% is personal preference, and higher than 8 percent starts
seriously affecting the curing time, the hardness, and the shelf
life (because your soap can go rancid with too much fat).

>It seemed to take about a week to really set up. Part of it mushed
>up as I removed it from the tray,

I'm going to assume that you got the whole mix to start tracing,
right? When it's like thin pudding that you can write your name
in if you drizzle some of the mixture on top of itself? It seems
odd that the mix took a week to set up. The only soaps I've had
do that are all-olive soaps or very large batches (>10 lbs of
ingredients).

Another idea I just thought of was that you might not have
kept the mix warm enough while it was in the mold. That could
account for the fact that it irritated your hands and also
was still mushy in the center. Blankets blankets blankets!

You say you:

>just squished it into balls and let it dry that way.

Probably one of the better things you could have done. I congratulate
you on your first soap making expedition. You have been far more
successful than I was the first *several* times I made soap. :)
I cringe when I think of the things I did to my kitchen then.

>after another week, and it was still fairly strong and irritating to
>my hands.

Did it burn? If it did, that probably means the oil and lye didn't
react completely, or the lye was never really completely mixed in.
There are a lot of variables here, so it's really hard to know for
sure.

>However, after about a month of curing, it turned into the
>best soap I ever used. It lathers great, does not melt in the soap
>dish, and leaves my skin soft as a baby's. Nothing like "grandma's lye
>soap".

The "lye soap" problem that so many people get squeamish about is
often the result of brainwashing. All soap is lye soap with the
exception of those made with potassium hydroxide (liquid soaps or
soft soaps typically use this). The variables that our grandmothers
had to deal with are not the same ones that we deal with now. We have
*much* more knowledge about the actual chemistry and variables that
made the soap making process in our ancestors' times quite a gamble.

In any event, congratulations on your first batch of soap!

jasmine
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