Couple soap ???'s

[idacandlelady]

I am trying desperately to figure out a recipe I like, so I am playing with soapmaker and soapcalc. Which one of these is better IYHO? Also, which of the lather numbers should be higher? Thanks so much for any help!!!

Rebecca

[CareBear]

both calculators are good. i use soapmaker but I've used soapcalc too and am happy with both.

as for the lather numbers, I personally like the two to be about the same - I like big bubbles backed up by a rich lather. The bigger bubbles are harder to achieve without getting a drying soap, though - in my experience.

have fun!

oh, for an EXCELLENT soap try Darwin's Basic - the recipe is on here somewhere (at least twice!)

[Sara]

You know, I've only used soapcalc, like it good enough. Can't really compare. Maybe I'm the odd duck out but I run mine through mostly for lye, less for figuring out everything else. If I were better at math I don't know that I'd use one. I'd just go on how the finished soap feels.

[idacandlelady]

both calculators are good. i use soapmaker but I've used soapcalc too and am happy with both.

as for the lather numbers, I personally like the two to be about the same - I like big bubbles backed up by a rich lather. The bigger bubbles are harder to achieve without getting a drying soap, though - in my experience.

have fun!

oh, for an EXCELLENT soap try Darwin's Basic - the recipe is on here somewhere (at least twice!)

This is the one I was gonna try next. It just seems when I put the numbers in ( on soapcalc), it shows as very high cleansing and not very conditioning. I have very dry skin so I need as much condition as possible. Or maybe am I focusing on the recommended numbers too much?

Thanks for the opinions.

[CareBear]

This is the one I was gonna try next. It just seems when I put the numbers in ( on soapcalc), it shows as very high cleansing and not very conditioning. I have very dry skin so I need as much condition as possible. Or maybe am I focusing on the recommended numbers too much?

Thanks for the opinions.

I have lovely dry, flaky, papery skin - with eczema to boot - and I still like it. The numbers seem to be very off for this one, somehow.

ETA: everyone's skin responds differently, so it can be difficult to predict.

[Scented]

Well for the recipies, olive oil is a great conditioner. (Ancient Italians in my family used it as lotion lol) ... but I would say you would want the creamy lather to be higher than the other lather perhaps to get more conditioning. Olive oil will affect those later numbers, at least it does for stuff I tinker with.

[eugenia]

You know, I've only used soapcalc, like it good enough. Can't really compare. Maybe I'm the odd duck out but I run mine through mostly for lye, less for figuring out everything else. If I were better at math I don't know that I'd use one. I'd just go on how the finished soap feels.

I've only used Soapcalc, but Santa may bring me Soapmaker lite. I don't worry about the lather because I use castor, PKO, coconut and babassu in every batch. They are awesome bubblers. I try to get the conditioning around 50% and my iodine low enough to ensure that it's a nice hard bar. The rest all falls into place for me.

[Crafty1_AJ]

If you want killer conditioning numbers for dry skin, try Johanna's Super Creamy recipe. I think it's on her site (soapsillywholesalesupplies.com) . Rates something like 70 in conditioning on soapcalc. hth

Edited to add: Sure enough, I found it. Here's a handy dandy link. http://www.soapsillywholesalesupplies.com/recipes.htm

This works out to 5% castor, 65% olive, 15% pko, 15% shea butter. Scores a nice big 57 in the oleic fatty acid profile. Nice mild soap.