How to Use a Lye Calculator

[@yodie5918]

Thanks so much for sharing. Each time I saw the calculator, I got confused and closed it but you explained it so well. Thanks so much.

[@TheSoapArtist]

Glad this was helpful!

[@luksel2918]

Thank you so much Jennifer! Your video is very helpful for me. Looking forward to your "classroom" style videos 😀

[@TheSoapArtist]

Glad this was helpful!! Hope you like the upcoming videos too! There’s a lot of stuff I want to share 🤎🤎

[@Ash0887]

Thanks for this very informative video. You broke it down very well. I am just finding myself tripped up on how to calculate it using goat milk instead of water. I understand that I am probably overthinking it but I just can't figure it out. Any tips would be absolutely wonderful and much appreciated! Thanks again!

[@TheSoapArtist]

It doesn't matter. It's calculating your "liquid" amount. So if you want to use aloe water instead of distilled water it would be the same. Same with goat's milk or coconut milk or any other liquid. Now, using milk has lots of variables you'll need to decide on...is it condensed milk, fresh milk, are you using straight milk or blend of milk/water... mixing these will lye are generally done a bit different than just water because milk can "burn". So the amount is whatever the water is in the recipe.

[@Ash0887]

@@TheSoapArtist ah, I understand. I will be using fresh goat milk, frozen of course! Thanks for the prompt response 😁

[@MtnGrandma]

Thank you for sharing this info! I’m just getting started on my cold process soaping adventure and was wondering how to use that! 😊👍❤️

[@TheSoapArtist]

Glad this was helpful!

[@ifybless72blessing35]

Thank you for sharing

[@TheSoapArtist]

You're welcome!

[@Janabstra]

Super helpful! One question, How do you know the percentage you need for each ingredient to create a good bar of soap? Thank you so much

[@TheSoapArtist]

That is a whole other topic: Formulating a Recipe. There's a lot of knowledge that needs to be gained to formulate and that takes some time, experience, researching, and experimenting with. And, unfortunately, not something I can give a quick or simple answer to. The first place I'd suggest starting is learning about the different oils most common to soap making, the properties they lend to soap and then looking at the combinations of those oils and how they might work together. You can also check out Lovin' Soap (a blog and ebooks) with a lot of information on the topic. It's something I will work on teaching in the future, but it will take some time for me to pull that all together so it won't be anytime soon.

[@Janabstra]

@@TheSoapArtist I completely understand. Thank you so much for explaining. I really appreciate it!

[@arte-mia]

If the mold is for 16oz won’t it overflow, should we just do 70% of the 16oz for the oils?

[@TheSoapArtist]

You have to determine how much oil your mold will hold. Once you know that then you can use the lye calculator. This is the general way people determine it: threelittlegoats.com/how-to-calculate-how-much-oil-is-needed-in-a-soap-mold/ From experience I find these calculations to give you a little under what you need. One of my math videos (I forget which one specifically) gives a cheat sheet for the standard mold sizes and how much oil each will hold.

[@TheSoapArtist]

Note: this example I assume I have a mold that holds 24oz and that I need 16oz of oil (basically).

[@Sebastian23478]

Hello - this is an old video but hoping you might see my comment. Once you know the fragrance oil or essential oil percentage you want to use, do you work the amount out to be measured from the total batch weight or the total weight of the oils? Thank you!

[@TheSoapArtist]

There's a lot of different information out there and some "old" information that persists on sticking around is that the FO is based off the weight of the oils. Ask your supplier, but every one I have asked (and all the ones I use), the IFRA max amounts are based off the total batch weight. So, calculate how much water, lye, and oils you have and then take a % of that number to find the max amount of fragrance you can use based off the IFRA. SoapCalc doesn't calculate the fragrance that way, and I never use it. I always just calculate by hand because it's easy and fragrances all have different usage rates. For calculating Essentials Oils I use this calculator: www.eocalc.com/enter-your-own-blend/

[@Aimen_tw]

Hi , just i wanna ask abou the benefits' soap and super fat , please 1- Do the oils' benefits remove when we combine them with naOH ? 2- when adding super fat , do i reduce from quantity of oil which combined or just add another one Ex : 500g oil + 50g super fat or 450g oil + 50 super fat ?