Skip to main content

4 - Superfatting your soap

0 - Why and how to make your own soap?
1 - How: the saponification process
2 - Using caustic soda: safety precautions
3 - Using caustic soda: the online calculators
4 - Superfatting your soap


Superfatting your soap means you will use excess oil, i.e. more oil than necessary for saponification. Consequently, not all the oil used will be turned into soap; some of it will remain as oil.
When you use any detergent, shower gel, or even homemade soap, it destroys the skin's protective film, which takes a few hours to reconstitute. Washing too often will weaken your skin. When your skin is dry for example, it's actually better not to wash - with soap or gel - the dry and sensitive parts every day rather than trying to fix them with cream afterward.

The oil contained in superfatted soap temporarily replaces this natural film by leaving an oily (but not greasy) film on the skin. This and the natural glycerine contained in cold process soap make homemade soaps very good for the skin although their Ph is a bit higher (around 9) that the skin.

Superfatting...

There are two different methods to superfat a soap: basically before or after the trace. The trace is the moment you know saponification has started. After this step, you are supposed to add colors, scents, and, if you chose to do so, superfat oils.
    Superfatting your soap
  • ... by a lye reduction
You want to use a given amount of oil and from that information, you will adapt the quantity of lye to use to make it fit the % of superfat oil you want (see paragraph on The Sage). It means you will use all the oils of your recipe right from the beginning.



  • ... after trace
Superfatting your soapBy superfatting after trace, you have two different amounts of oil in your recipe. Let's say that you want to make a batch with 500 g oil, this whole quantity is meant to be saponified: no lye reduction here since you want a 0 % fat excess. However, you will add the superfat oil later, after the trace. For a 5 % fat excess, you will add 25 g of oil. You will actually use 525 g of oil in total.

In the first case, with a lye reduction, the untransformed oils remaining in the soap will be the same as in the recipe, with the same proportions. However when superfatting after trace, one considers that the oils added before trace will be entirely transformed at the end of the process; the only actual oil remaining will be your superfat oil.

The advantage of such a method (after trace) is that you choose which oil will (or will not) remain on your skin after showering. When I use lard, I don't want it to be one of the superfat oils (which it would be with a lye reduction). Same thing when you use sensitive oil: it's better to have them transformed, and not remain as oil. Your soap could go rancid over time (read more on oils you can use).

I actually use a combination of both methods: a lye reduction so as to have a 1 % fat excess as a safety precaution, then I add 5 % of the total oil weight which makes a 6 % superfat.

Labels:

Comments

  1. SuzanaJuly 10, 2014 at 7:16 PM

    what are the best oils for superfatting??
    Thanks,
    Suzana

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1 - How: the saponification process

0 - Why and how to make your own soap?  1 - How: the saponification process    Soap is the result of a chemical reaction between fatty substances (oils, lard, vegetable butter) and sodium hydroxide also called lye or caustic soda (NaOH). Caustic soda is a dangerous substance and is to be used very carefully, but it is totally transformed through the process: none of it remains at the end of the chemical reaction...if you used the right quantity of lye. If you use more lye than required your soap will be "caustic" and irritating. Therefore it's recommended that you use less soda and more oil than the exact amount required for total saponification. Firstly, it's a safety precaution: using more oil than necessary for the chemical reaction is a guarantee that the lye will be entirely transformed through the process. And more than that, with extra oil (nonsaponified - remaining oil), your soap will be even softer on the skin. This extra oil is called "sup
1 comment
Read more

How to recycle a fleece jacket?

Fleece is a very useful material and there are many things you can turn an old jacket into, like make up pads ( see previous article ), baby wipes, dusters and so on. Every piece of fleece is reusable, so the first step is to remove all the threads. It's even more interesting because where the fleece was folded (hemline) or inside the pocket, the fabric has remained very soft, perfect to use on the skin. I think, other parts, more "exposed" are still soft enough. You might see the different textures by clicking on the picture. Once the fleece is ready, there is nothing easier: you just have to cut the shape you want, and it's done. Small squares for facial pad s, bigger pieces for baby wipes ...or duster . I didn't expect it the first time I tried but fleece is a very efficient dust catcher. As efficient, maybe more than microfiber cloth . That's why I use it to clean the floor too. I cut a long rectangle so I can tie it on my specia
3 comments
Read more

Why and how to make your own soap?

As I explained it in a previous article, I came to home-made soap because I wanted to control the ingredients (no palm oil) and their origin (as few kilometres as possible), so as to use the most ecological soap for my laundry liquid . But there are other valid reasons to make soap for yourself: some oils are naturally soft and good for the skin, others you will choose because they give extra lather and foam to the soap, or even because they just give a special colour you like. In a word: home-made soap is very good for the skin (also because it naturally contains glycerine, which is otherwise removed from industrial soaps) and it's even better because it's customized to your needs. Another good reason to make your own soap is the price. Finally, it's a very creative (and addictive!) activity, which may explain why soap makers make more soap than they can use. Soap making is a complex and very rich art. It’s a great hobby, and you probably won't offer anyth
Post a Comment
Read more