How much of each oil do you need to make the perfect
bar of soap? Do I have to use coconut oil to make my soap
lather? These questions can be answered by making hundreds of
batches of soap and refining the recipe until you come
up with the perfect bar of soap, or you can use the knowledge
of a soap making expert to get your recipe started and make your
adjustments from there. Which one of these two approaches would
be more attractive to you?
First in order to good a recipe to start with
you should google "handmade soap recipe". Have a good look at
about a dozen sites with recipes and choose one that the author
has actually tried an one that they like. Next google SAP
chart and check out all of the SAP values of all of the soap making
oils. Determine which ones are similar enough in value (with-in
a point or two) of the oils in your own recipe and mark them down.
If these oils sound interesting or you researched them and they
have the properties you would like your finished soap to have,
then go ahead and experiment with them in your recipe.
Take 30% of the original oil for which you are
substituting and replace it with the exact amount of the new oil
with the similar SAP value. You can do this over and over again
worth different proportions and different oils so long as the
SAP values are similar. IF you soap is too soft for instance you
may want to replace some of the coconut oil with palm kernle
oil and see if this affects the hardness of your bar. If you need
more lather see if you can find a place to add some castor
oil. With a SAP value of 128 this is an easy oil to substitute.
There is some great information for handmade soap
makers at tlcsoaps.com. Remember the most important thing is to
have fun. I have seen some bars that have over fourteen different
oil. These soaps have extremely small amounts of some oils but
the handmade soap maker loves to be able to add all of these oils
on to their soap label and the buying public just eats this stuff
up. Be sure and know a little bit about each oil and a sale will
be made.