# Soap Calc ?s



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I am trying to better understand Soapcalc. When it says "water (I use gm only no water) as percent of oil weight" and I have that set at 38 (I am not sure where this number came from-I think it is the default setting) does it mean that my recipe has 38% gm?

If I have the percentage set at 38 AND have it superfatted at 5%. Is this too much extra fat? Soap Calc does not seem to have a place to register the amount of fat in the GM. 

Thanks in advance for your help.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I am going to add another question to this list. Do some oils like jojoba and shea not saponify completly? So when you use them they leave some moisture. 

I tried to wash my hair ( I have a head full of curly hair) with soap made with shea butter. It was soooo greasy. Now I know better. It was a regular walmart recipe, subbed out lard for shea, and ran it through the calc. I usulally ( with goat soap) only wash my hair once every 5 days to a week. But when using the shea formula-run through soap calc, I had to re-wash my hair with my walmart/lard soap.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I've never paid attention to the water/oil percentage but it does sound like they're giving the percentage of your liquid to oil. In the same block you can click on lye percentage which I think is more commonly used. Though I don't pay attention to that either as I just double the lye amount to come up with what I want my liquid amount to be. And no, 5% superfat is not too high, even with using all goatmilk.

As for the shampoo bar....is this the first time you've used one? For some people it takes a couple weeks for their hair to adjust. Some find their hair just doesn't like using it. My dh really likes using mine....says it helps with his dandruff....even in his full beard. LOL *I*, on the other hand, quit using it. My hair is long and while I felt it got clean using the shampoo bar it just looked very flat and limp all the time.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Have you tried entering your recipe at thesage.com? I never have been able to really get a grasp on soap calc, but the sage is very easy for me. I add enough lye to get to 5 or 6 percent superfat. I don't enter the liquid as anything, just liquid. I think, with the goat milk, it actually comes out a little higher than the 5 or 6 percent, but that's why I do a lower percent. 

I have not made the shampoo bar yet, but just use regular goats milk soap regularly on my hair It doesn't seem to make a difference what I use, my hair still tangles and looks a wreck....which is not helped by working outside constantly and fighting this wind!


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

When I use shampoo bars on my hair I have to use a vinegar rinse. It makes a huge difference with my hair. I mostly just buy shampoo though. 

I use cow milk in all my soaps and superfat at 5%. I think there was a thread not too long ago on this subject and it seems to me that the majority of people stick to 5% with milk soaps.

I use soapcalc but I never go by their liquid recommendations. I usually soap using a either a 40% solution or a 33% solution. For a 40% solution I take the amount of lye recommend by soapcalc and multiply that by 1.5 for the amount of liquid I need. If I want to soap a 33% solution I multiply the lye amount by 2 for the liquid amount.


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

It is the percentage of water/gm/whatever to your total oil weight in the recipe. It is a water discount, as opposed to a lye dicount (which is the superfat %.) I usually use a 30% lye solution, which is also about 30% WAO, but for people that prefer to do a steeper water discount, that use a 40% solution, the WAO% is more like 19.5 than the 30%WAO I use or the standard 38% WAO which is equal to a 28.5% lye solution. Greek? :lol

The WAO% of your lye solution is your water discount, and the % of your superfat is your lye discount.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I could never understand the use of the term *discount*. It just seem much more straight forward to talk in terms of lye solution as a percentage and superfat. That's not so greek.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Michelle,
What is WAO? 

I am washing my bushy head of hair with my soap.I have enough hair for two or three folks. I am using Anita's milk (which is wonderful) and I love the way way it makes my hair feel. I do need to make sure it is thoroughly rinsed. It also took some time for my hair to adjust. 

I am not sure I completely understand about the percentages. I am tired and will try to read it all again in the morning.

Thank you so much for all of your help.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I became COMPLETELY lost..and have re-read this several times. I will get my sister to look at this. She is good in math.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

> When it says "water (I use gm only no water) as percent of oil weight" and I have that set at 38 (I am not sure where this number came from-I think it is the default setting) does it mean that my recipe has 38% gm?


It means that whatever the weight is of the oils in your recipe, the weight of the liquid is a percentage of that. So, for example, if you are using 4 pounds of oils (16 oz=1 lb, so 64 oz of oil) and it is set for 38% liquid, then you'd be using 38% of the 64 oz, or about 24 oz of liquid. The total recipe, though, would also include the lye...let's say for the sake of argument, 10 oz (obviously, I have no idea how much lye it would actually be!). So the total weight of the soap recipe is 64 oz of oils plus 10 oz of lye plus 24 oz of liquid, or 98 oz. Which makes the 24 oz of liquid just over 24% of your recipe.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Ok.

This is what I thought at first. Somehow I convinced myself that this was wrong. Thanks for the extra math lesson. 

PSD


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

One more question...then I will stop. I put my recipe (for one pound of soap) in the soap calc and checked all of the water/GM for the different methods above. The range of liquid (milk) varied from 6.08 to 4.57 oz to 2.28 oz of lye. 


Will the higher amount of GM hurt or have any effect on my soap. OR should I use a lesser amount (lesser than 6.08)

Thanks again.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I soap almost exclusively with a 33% lye solution. A lower solution means using more milk....which means a longer drying time and depending on how high you go may make your curing time longer as well. For *me*, with the formula I use, if I needed 2.28 oz of lye I would use 4.56 oz of milk.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Ok, Thanks Kathy, I wondered if it would help with any of the atributes, lke lather or bubbles.


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

WAO- water as percent of oils, I just don't like to type or write that! Like I said, it is another way to talk about water discount.
Harder soap faster, also lasts a bit longer if it is harder, especially if you sell 'younger' soap.


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