FAQ number 2. What are the best values for Hardness, Cleansing, Condition, Fluffy (bubbly) and Stable (creamy)?
These numbers are meant to be a relative indicator of the soap's qualities. The numbers are
based on the combined fatty acid content of your recipe (the “Combined” column) . Each fatty acid contributes
certain qualities to the soap as shown in chart below.
| |
Hardness |
Cleansing |
Fluffy-Bubbly Lather |
Stable-Creamy Lather |
Conditioning |
| Lauric |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
| Myristic |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
| Palmitic |
Yes |
|
|
Yes |
|
| Stearic |
Yes |
|
|
Yes |
|
| Ricinoleic |
|
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Oleic |
|
|
|
|
Yes |
| Linoleic |
|
|
|
|
Yes |
| Linolenic |
|
|
|
|
Yes |
The ranges of numbers below represent typical values. Experienced soapers can successfully
exceed these limits. Of course they (including me) got that experience by making quite a few bad batches of soap and learning from the experience.
Cleansing - This refers to the soap's ability to grab on to oils. A soap molecule is a chain of carbon atoms. One end of the chain attracts water, the other end attracts oil. When you wash your skin with soap and water, multiple chains will gather around a droplet of oil with their oil-hungry ends attached to the oil droplet. The water hungry ends are surrounded with water. To make this happen you need to mix up (scrub or rub) the soap and water on your skin. When you rinse, the oil droplets with the attached soap molecules are washed away.
Some soap molecules can have a very hungry oil grabbing end. Soap made with too much Lauric and/or Myristic Acid can irritate the skin by washing away the protective layer of surface oils on the skin.
Generally speaking, keeping the total of coconut and palm kernal in your recipe to no more than 30-35% can avoid this. A typical range for Cleansing would be 14 to 22. A soap recipe within this range, and made properly, will not irritate the skin.
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 45 to 80 is satisfactory for this soap quality.
Bubbly lather - This refers to the soap’s ability to lather up and get bubbly. A typical range of values would be 14 to 30. The higher Bubbly numbers will tend to produce a foamy, fluffy lather rather than a creamy lather.
Creamy lather - This value indicates the stability and creaminess of the lather. Usually, increasing Bubbly will decrease Creamy and vice versa. A range of 16 to 35 is common here. The higher Creamy numbers will produce a creamy lather with almost no bubbles or foam.
Iodine - As a general rule, the lower the number, the harder the bar and the less the conditioning qualities and vice versa. Definition: number of grams of iodine that will react with the double bonds in 100 grams of fats or oils.
INS - A measure of the physical qualities of the soap based on the SAP and iodine value. Experience has proven a range of 145 - 165 will gennerally be acceptable. Closely related to Hardness and Iodine values.
|
| Summary of values: |
| Hardness |
36 to 50 |
| Cleansing |
14 to 22 |
| Condition |
45 to 80 |
| Bubbly lather |
14 to 33 |
| Creamy lather |
16 to 35 |
| 
