A big test of 100% one oil soaps – after 15 months
Yes, finally π Those of you who have been waiting for the results of the big test of 100% one oil soaps… here it is!
Actually, it has been more than a year since I made the soaps, but I was extremely busy moving to another country, preparing my wedding (soon…) and having holidays π
You might want to read first the previous 2 posts:
- A big test of 100% one oil soaps β part I – trace, unmolding soaps, smell, color
- A big test of 100% one oil soaps β part II – after 2 weeks – foaming, color, smell
To sum up – I tried to saponify different oils and found both expected and unexpected differences in trace, smell, color and foaming capabilities – these results can be found in the two posts above.
The question was, how do the soaps look like after 1 year. I was asking the following questions:
- Which soaps went rancid?
- Did some of them loose the excess alkalinity?
- Did they foam better?
- Are there any other changes concerning smell, color, hardness…
Results of one oil soap test after 15 months
Summary of changes
Color and rancidity
In general, majority soaps have changed their color, most of them darkened considerably, some got lighter.
Darkened: coconut, shea butter, corn oil, peanut oil soap
Got lighter: jojoba oil, beeswax and cocoa butter soap
Kept their color: palm oil soap and olive oil soap
Castor oil soap was again a pretty special case. It got sticky and developed dreaded orange spots – sign of rancidity.
In peanut oil soap and corn oil soap, there is no doubt their color change was due to rancidity, both smell a bit like old oil. Interestingly, coconut oil soap also got rancid – changing color and smelling of old oil.
Β
Smell
Apart of smell of rancidity (IMPORTANT – the smell of rancidity was in neither case very present, e.g. it would not keep me from using soaps) in four soaps (castor, peanut, corn and coconut), the soaps did not have special fragrance (nor the typical soap “odor”).
The only exception were shea and cocoa butter soaps, which still kept their original scent, although very fainted.
Lather
Soaps that kept their lathering characteristics (good or bad): coconut oil soap, palm oil soap, shea butter soap,Β castor oil soap, beeswax soap
Soaps that decreased their lather: peanut oil soap
Soaps that increased their lather: jojoba oil soap, olive oil soap, cocoa butter soap
Here are the videos of foaming test after 15 months
This entry was posted by evik on August 24, 2013 at 16:44, and is filed under for beginners, My soap experiments, soapmaking. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
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#2 written by toyojiro 4 years ago
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#6 written by evik 4 years ago
Hi Lin, indeed I did! Seems I forgot to put the link there, thanks for letting me know – here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIoVLo2Fkj8
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#9 written by Kiran 2 years ago
This is amazing – I love that you conducted such an in-depth experiment, this is so helpful for me! I’m looking to custom order some handmade non-comedogenic soaps (100% shea butter) for my family, but I wasn’t sure what the lather would be like, so this is a great resource. Thank you, keep doing what you’re doing!
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#11 written by evik 2 years ago
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Didn't find any related posts :(
Iβm really impressed by your thorough research and testing. Great stuff, thatβs invaluable to us beginners!