Hand Soap Cleansing Value

[topofmurrayhill]

If you were designing a recipe in SoapCalc specifically for a bathroom hand soap, what sort of cleansing value would you aim for? Does cleansing up around 24 to 25 and conditioning in the 50 to 52 range sound appropriate for that kind of bar, or is it too harsh?

[CareBear]

Yanno Top, it's really hard to say. For me that might be too drying, but not necessarily for others. Also the numbers do not take into account the synergies between oils. I'd say it's a fine starting point, but what you end up with will depend on the oils you select.

The bathroom hand soap recipe of mine that people like best is simply 25% CO, 25% shea. Go figure. This has a Cleansing number of 50!!! But I don't find it drying. Conditioning 21. The numbers don't do the soap justice.

As with candles, ya gotta play.

[topofmurrayhill]

I probably don't need a soap with extra cleansing qualities just for everyday hand washing, but that would eliminate the fun of formulating it . Guess I'll try making the special-purpose cleansing bar and see how it comes out.

For lack of actual batches under my belt, I don't have much to go on except the SoapCalc numbers and whatever tidbits of wisdom I pick up from others. I've learned well that the numbers can be misleading. While playing with FCO I designed a bar that's super-conditioning on paper and drying in reality. I've put the fractionated stuff aside for now.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[RobinInOR]

Another thing that you can do, that doesn't show up in the calculators, is drop your superfatting percent. If you're leaving the SuperFat/Discount at the standard 5%, try dropping it down to 4%, or even 3%. Without even changing your recipe, you're adding to the cleansing (less free oil, more soap molecules)

[topofmurrayhill]

Another thing that you can do, that doesn't show up in the calculators, is drop your superfatting percent. If you're leaving the SuperFat/Discount at the standard 5%, try dropping it down to 4%, or even 3%. Without even changing your recipe, you're adding to the cleansing (less free oil, more soap molecules)

Thanks for the good thought there Robin.

It reminds me of something else that's been in the back of my mind. I was thinking of dropping the superfat percentage down to 4% anyway. My concern is that I don't go through a container of lye all that quickly. I figure over time maybe it picks up some water weight and maybe some turns into sodium carbonate, so maybe the lye discount effectively increases over time. What do you think?

[CareBear]

Top, what size container is it? I haven't noticed any difference over time, but that might explain some of my difficulties, come to think of it. I had forgotten about the carbonate thing until someone brought it up - I had only concerned myself with humidity up till now.

[topofmurrayhill]

Top, what size container is it? I haven't noticed any difference over time, but that might explain some of my difficulties, come to think of it. I had forgotten about the carbonate thing until someone brought it up - I had only concerned myself with humidity up till now.

It's a 2 lb container. I notice a little caking, nothing too major, but this stuff can pick up so much moisture. Sprinkle some beads on a piece of paper on a semi-humid day and they'll liquify. Reacting with CO2 in the air is yet another issue.

If only we could use fresh lye for every batch. It could only be a good thing.

[CareBear]

I often thought of getting those little desiccant packs to keep in with my lye, but then I'd probably accidentally soap one of them so don't LOL.

[topofmurrayhill]

I often thought of getting those little desiccant packs to keep in with my lye, but then I'd probably accidentally soap one of them so don't LOL.

LOL, no need to take the risk of soaping it. It wouldn't work anyway. The lye would suck the moisture out of the desiccant.

[RobinInOR]

Well, when you reduce the superfatting, you're using *more* lye, so you'll go through your container more quickly

On Soapcalc I superfat at 3%. Same recipe on MMS shows 4%. So I'm somewhere in there.

[Crafty1_AJ]

If you were designing a recipe in SoapCalc specifically for a bathroom hand soap, what sort of cleansing value would you aim for? Does cleansing up around 24 to 25 and conditioning in the 50 to 52 range sound appropriate for that kind of bar, or is it too harsh?

The proof is in the final firing up of the cured soap, of course. But on paper ... yes. That would probably be too drying for *my* hands. Caveat: my hands are already exceptionally dry. I'm constantly washing, and I swear I have zero oil glands and zero sweat glands on my hands. I have to use lotion fairly frequently throughout the day to avoid having chapped, tight, cracking hands. Ugh. Most bar soaps, to be honest, are drying to my hands. I'm probably at one end of the spectrum, though, and maybe not typical.