# Sudsy Soap?



## KyMama

So my DH will not use my soap because he says it does not suds enough. Suds just fine for me, I think it's his technique.  Since I am still new to soapmaking I am not sure what ingredient makes a sudsier soap. Help?

TIA


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## Caren

Castor oil make a nice bubbly soap. Do you have hard water if you do a little borax in the saop would help. I used to disolve silk fibers in the lye water. But I honestly never seen a difference in the soap I think it just looked good on the label.


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## MullersLaneFarm

Any oil high in Lauric Fatty Acid will make a nice large bubble. Palm Kernel, Babassu & Coconut are the highest in lauric f.a.

Castor oil creates a low lather, much like olive oil.


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## lathermaker

Post your formula and we can tweak it for you.


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## linn

Adding a tsp. of sugar per pound of oils to your liquid will help with bubbles. I always add the sugar to my water and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Then I add the lye to the water.


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## KyMama

Thanks y'all. I don't have a formula/recipe that I am using. I was wanting to use soapcalc to see what I could come up with, but wasn't sure about making it suds more for DH. There are so many options to choose from that it can get a little overwhelming sometimes. 

Thanks again


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## linn

I always try to use at least 30% coconut oil and 5% Castor oil with my recipes.


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## westbrook

disregard the recipe - use what you are using, scroll down to Oil Characteristics

http://greenaprons.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/bar-soap/ this may help


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## Tinker

Oh nonono! That blog says you can substitute any oil in the recipe---but that is not so. Well technically you CAN substitute, but you MUST run it through a lye calculator, and different oils have different SAP values, and need totally different amounts of lye. If you sub without adjusting your lye, you can get an extremely lye heavy soap (which could be a major skin irritant) or not enough lye to get the soap to set up. NEVER substitute without checking a lye calc, and never take a recipe you find on the web or even in a book without checking the lye first.

I realize you were referring her to the oil characteristics Westbrook, and that looks like a great list, but since she is new, I just wanted to be sure she knew to check the lye calc.


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## KyMama

Thanks. Tinker - I am using SoapCalc to check everything, just looking for oil that would make a better lather. Since I am new I am very leery of using recipes without running them through there. Better safe than sorry, right?


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## lathermaker

KyMama; coconut, palm KERNEL oil, babassu will give you the big bubbly lather that you are looking for.


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## MullersLaneFarm

lathermaker said:


> KyMama; coconut, palm KERNEL oil, babassu will give you the big bubbly lather that you are looking for.


Yup, see post #3

(You & me, Karla ... we'll teach 'em yet!)


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## Maura

I've found that I need both coconut (or similar) and castor oil. The castor oil gives a _rich _lather, like shampoo. Coconut and palm oils give _more_ lather. Don't use more than 33% of total oils as coconut.


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## MullersLaneFarm

Maura, I humbly agree to disagree with you, in part. Yes, like any other -oleic fatty acid rich oil (such as olive, HO sunflower, et al), castor oil will give you a LOW sudsing, rich lather. If you are looking for BIG bubbles, then you need to go with an oil that is high in Lauric fatty acids.

I remember when the big hub-bub started on the internet forums about castor oil giving rich lather because it started on my Yahoo group, Tallow_Soapers and went viral. Back then, folks were saying that you needed to make sure the castor oil was saponified so folks were actually adding it to their lye solution prior to adding the lye solution to their oil pot. (Thing is ... the lady that posted about castor oil on my forum mentioned to me in a PM that she had also increased the coconut oil percentage in her recipe and wondered to me if that had anything to do with the higher bubbles!)

Will castor oil give you a low-sudsing, rich lather? Yes. But then so will any of the oils high in any type of -oleic fatty acids.

Castor oil is Wonderful in shampoo recipes. One of the 'wonders' of castor oil is that is purported to increase hair growth (who doesn't like that ... unless it is on your face :runforhills: )

Men love a large bubble when using soap (at least that is what my research of the past 12 (almost 13) years has revealed. 

Palm oil will NOT give you large bubbles. Palm KERNEL oil will, as will other oils high in lauric fatty acids like Coconut and Babassu oils.


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## cmharris6002

Large bubbles, while important, are not considered the highest standard in soap evaluation. The best soap-like lather involves a combination of bubbly and creamy lather. Using a low a percentage of castor oil greatly improves the quality of the lather overall. The problem seems to arise when people use the 'if a little is good a lot must be better' approach. Too much castor in the recipe and soap quality starts to go downhill fast.


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## MullersLaneFarm

cmharris6002 said:


> Large bubbles, while important, are not considered the highest standard in soap evaluation.


Very true in some cases. It all depends on who is evaluating your soap!

Based on my customer's responses, women prefer a well balanced creamy & large bubbles.

Shavers want a lather that is sustainable; where the bubbles don't break down.

Teens and men of all ages want a very large bubble factor and plenty of it!

Then there are those that don't care about lather at all and just want it because it smells good or looks pretty!


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## cmharris6002

Right, there is always personal preference but I was talking about ranking on competition score sheets, judged by professionals.


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## MullersLaneFarm

Really?? There are actual competition for handmade soaps? Who'd thunk! Do you compete, Christy??

Although my customers aren't professionals, they are the ones that buy my soap! (money talks  ) Some of my customers have been with me for 9 years. Competitions aside, the soap maker that will do well is one that knows their end customer's desires.


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## cmharris6002

Sure! Saponifier Magazine, the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild, and the American Dairy Goat Association all hold regular competitions. 

I don't compete much but I won 3rd with my liquid soap in the 2008 ADGA compitition  The competitive soap makers are amazing and will work months or even a whole year on their entries. I just don't have the time or interest to do that but I love to read the evaluations. They're a great learning tool.


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