ladysj Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 (edited) Ok it seems the more I read the more confused I get. What is the difference in superfatting & discounting the water & or lye? I found a recipe that I'm currently using that uses a 36.23% water as percent of oil & superfatting at 8%. I know that I can't really tell anything as far as how well the soap will condition & not be drying with just a few days/weeks of curing. I just wonder is it better to superfat higher for more conditioning? This current recipe is conditioning 56 which I think is a pretty good conditioning number.Here's the recipe for my shea butter soap lolcastor oil 10%Shea Butter 20%coconut oil 30%Canola oil 30 (chosen because higher conditioning according to soap calc)Palm 10% Edited March 9, 2012 by ladysj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladysj Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Ooopsie after I posted this I found threads on this question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ah-soy Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 You've got shea butter in there which is lovely for conditioning. Might want to watch out for canola that high and a 7% superfat. It goes rancid fairly fast and you might get DOS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Don't feel so alone. I get these mixed up too. I understand the concept but not always sure which method is best for a particular soap.For now I am just doing basic superfat of 5-8 % depending on what recipe I am using. For water discount I don't use it on milk soaps. Thats as much as I have experienced doing so far. I hope to make better judgments as I gain more experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ah-soy Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Superfat and lye discount are basically the same thing. If you superfat at 5% or discount your lye 5% you are leaving 5% of your oil unsaponified for conditioning. Just a difference in how you enter them in soapcalc. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Superfat and lye discount are basically the same thing. If you superfat at 5% or discount your lye 5% you are leaving 5% of your oil unsaponified for conditioning. Just a difference in how you enter them in soapcalc. HTHThanks for clarifying that. I thought that was the case but wasn't sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudMarineMom Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 There is a good PDF on this page http://rivercitysoaps.com/dwcp/index.html about lye solutions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ah-soy Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Should add, don't confuse a water discount with superfat%/lye discount. While the superfat%/lye discount is the same thing, a water discount is a separate component. It will lower the actual amount of water you are using in the recipe and not effect the conditioning oils left free after saponification. General rule of thumb is, when doing HP, learning CP, using a new FO without know it's behavior, soaping with "heater" ingredients like milks and honeys - use full water. Once you know your recipe well, you can play with the water discount. A water discount will lessen the amount of time it takes for your soap to harden up because there is less water to evaporate/cure out.I am by no means an expert. I've done HP for a few years and just started CP in the last few months. One of the best things I learned was to soap at room temperature or RTCP. There are several ways to do this. RT lye solution and RT oils. RT oils with freshly mixed hot lye, letting the lye water melt your oils, and lastly RT lye with hot/warm oils. I love RT everything. Unless your FO is a real accelorator, you have lots of time to play with colors and less chance of overheating etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladysj Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 You've got shea butter in there which is lovely for conditioning. Might want to watch out for canola that high and a 7% superfat. It goes rancid fairly fast and you might get DOSThank you soooooooooo much for that info I didn't know that about canola I'll swap part of it out for another oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ah-soy Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Try a light olive oil. Very stable and great in soap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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