# How much of other ingredients in soap?



## rvmommy (Feb 27, 2015)

Hello everyone.

I'm new here, and have been lurking in the background for a little bit, reading and reading and reading some more. Its been about 15 years since I've made soap, and then it was out of necessity and very basic. Now, I would like to begin again, as a hobby-- gifts for my friends and spoiler treats for me 

Before, my soap was mostly just lard and olive oil, cheap and effective. Now I'd like to play with some more ideas. I've used an online calculator to figure the amounts of fats, liquids and lye that I need for the base to the cold process soap I would like to make (not brave enough for hot process or milk yet), my question is, how do you know how much of the "yummies" to put in? I'm measuring in ounces, and would like to add things to different soaps, like ground oats, honey; actual coffee grounds for a coffee soap, EO's like lavender and patchouli, aloe... is there a calculator that will allow me to put in the amounts of fats and liquids that I intend to use, and then allow me to choose additions of dry ingredients and tell me how much of them to use? Or do you just kind of play it by ear and see what works?

Thank ya'll so much for this wonderful site.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I can give you a rough guideline, but some is what works best for you.

Additives like ground oats, coffee & other botanicals, start with 1 tsp PPO (per pound of oil)

Essential & fragrance oils, anywhere between .5 oz to 1 oz PPO

Honey, dilute this with equal parts water and add after adding lye solution. Too much honey will cause your soaps to always being soft by attracting moisture from the surrounding air. Start with 1 teaspoon ppo


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## rvmommy (Feb 27, 2015)

Thank you so much for answering  I'm going to try the coffee soap today...


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

The more expensive the essential oil, the less you use. That is my rule of thumb.


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## TammyT (Sep 29, 2014)

Scent or Essential oils are often measured in percentage for easy scaling. The general rule of thumb is 3 % of fragrance or if you like you can do 1 tbs per pound. Here's a percentage calculator if your not working in round numbers or don't want to do the math 

https://www.elementsbathandbody.com/Calculators.html


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