Do the Numbers Matter?

Screen Shot of Soaping ValuesThere seems to be some debate in soap making as to whether or not the “numbers” matter. When I use the term “numbers,” I speak of the range of suggested values as you see in the image above: bar hardness, cleansing ability, conditioning quality, bubbly lather, creamy lather, iodine number, and INS number.

A hard bar of soap is generally preferred because it will last longer. All soap is cleansing, but some feel that soaps with a higher cleansing value can be more drying, while others may want a more cleansing soap for certain purposes. Soapers generally want their soaps to be conditioning, which makes them gentle. Bubbly and/or creamy lather is desired because it makes it easier to create lather. The iodine number can give soapers an indication of the bar hardness (lower number) and softness (higher number) as well as the bar’s conditioning quality (higher number). The INS number is believed to predict at a glance many of the other bar properties of hardness, cleansing, conditioning, and lather. The ideal INS number is supposedly 160.

But do these numbers really matter? There is some debate among soap makers as to their value. Two different perspectives from two respected soapers, for example, are Anne-Marie Faiola and Jasche Homemade Soap (dead link removed). Neither recommends that you either adhere completely to the INS calculation or deviate entirely from it in formulating your recipes. In fact, both posts I linked advocate a common-sense, test-it-yourself and see-what-works-for-you approach to using the INS numbers.

On the other hand, I have found looking at the numbers to be helpful in creating my own recipes. most of which have an INS in the range of 140-160. My own experience has been that soaping in the 140-155 has been my personal sweet spot in terms of all the qualities I want in soap. I think the INS number is an excellent guide for soapers creating their first recipes, but I also think it’s a good idea to experiment and research what oils actually do. Anne-Marie has just recently published a great guide to soaping oils. I plan to import the handy PDF she shared in that post into my Evernote soaping notebook.

Recently, when I was formulating a recipe for a dry/sensitive/mature skin facial soap, I did a great deal of research into the different properties of oils and other additives. Because I do not have dry skin or even very sensitive skin, I asked several testers to try it out and let me know what they thought about it. The feedback was generally quite positive. However, if I had gone by the numbers alone, I might have been discouraged from even attempting the soap:

Lavender Chamomile Facial Soap NumbersAs you can see, the hardness number is on the very bottom of the suggested range. And yet, the bar feels quite hard, possibly due to the unique quality of the olive oil I used, which though it has a low hardness value, actually produces quite a hard soap if given a longer cure. The cleansing value of 10 is off the chart, which may be desirable in a soap for dry or mature skin. The conditioning value of 67 is near the top of the range, which is also good for dry/mature/sensitive skin. The bubbly and creamy values are within the suggested range. However, the iodine is much higher than suggested, and the INS number is much lower than suggested. If I had formulated this recipe early on in my soap making adventures, I might have discarded it as having an INS that was too low, but I know this is a good soap now that I can read the numbers more critically. Rather than paying attention primarily to the INS number, I tend to look at the ranges for hardness, cleansing, conditioning, bubbliness, and creaminess and experiment with oils in my recipe until these numbers fall in the ranges I am looking for—which may not always be, as you can see, the suggested ranges.

So do the numbers matter? Frustratingly, the only answer I can provide is both yes and no. I think it depends on your level of experience in creating recipes and your goals for your resulting soap. I think soap makers who completely ignore the numbers possibly do so to their detriment, but I think soap makers who adhere to the numbers slavishly may also be missing opportunities to create wonderful soap that doesn’t fall within the suggested ranges.

If you are a soap maker, what are your thoughts about the numbers? Do you use them? How? Do you discard them completely? Why? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

16 thoughts on “Do the Numbers Matter?

  1. Hi Dana, I think you’re right. The numbers can be used as a guide, but there are definitely great soaps out there that will have qualities that fall outside the “accepted” range, and that’s OK. I do pay perhaps a bit more attention to the Iodine content because with increasing amounts of soft oils (and a higher Iodine number), there may be an increased propensity for the oils to become rancid sooner. Other than that, they are a good guide, but just a guide nonetheless.

    1. You make a good point about iodine content and rancidity/DOS. I should have mentioned that in my post. Thanks for sharing that information!

    1. It has been very helpful. Thanks, as always, for all you do and all you share with other soap makers. You are awesome!

  2. Can someone help me with a recipe, if I have the oils that I want to use? I am an old pharte and am just learning all this. It is a bit difficult, as of yet, but I will get it. Here are the oils and butters that I want to use: Pure Olive Oil – Coconut Oil – Palm Kernel Flakes – Castor Oil – Shea Butter. Thanks!

    1. Annette, what kind of help are you looking for? Amounts to use? I recommend keeping coconut oil at 30% of your recipe or less because it is pretty drying if it’s higher than that. I would use castor about 5-7%. Shea butter maybe not more than 10%. You might try the following and see if it works: 40% olive, 25% coconut, 25% palm kernel flakes, 5% castor, 5% shea butter. To be honest, I have not used palm kernel flakes at all, so that might be too high. You can run it through a lye calculator like SoapCalc and see if it works numbers-wise for the kind of bar you are trying to create.

  3. Just reading this now, several years after the initial post. Thank you for your take on it. I was wondering, because I’ve been making and using a bar shampoo that I formulated using SoapMaker 3, which doesn’t give the INS or iodine values.

    I was trying to figure out if I had messed with the lye concentration in it, so I used soapcalc to check it out (it’s fine) and found out that my iodine is really high and the INS very low. By the numbers, it’s very soft (24 hardness in soapcalc), but I’ve never had a problem with it, and indeed found that one small bar lasted me close to 6 months, most of which time I was traveling, so it lived in a plastic thingy and was almost always damp.

    So thanks. I keep learning. Isn’t soaping fun?

  4. Can someone help me with a recipe, if I have the oils that I want to use? I mean amounts to use.
    Here are the oils That i want to use:
    Caster , coconut and olive oil

    And If I add shea butter to my recipe how much ?

    1. That is completely up to you. Why not try out some options using a lye calculator like SoapCalc? There are links in the post.

  5. Can anybody plz help me? I recently made a cold process soap and its cleansing and bubbly value is just 2.I have used coconut oil,sunflower oil ,castor oil,seseme and neem oil.

    1. Have you tried experimenting with different values in SoapCalc? It takes a process of trial and error to come up with soap that has the profile you’re looking for. That said, you can make perfectly good soap that has a low bubble. Castile soap is a good example.

  6. Lovely to see something to read about INS value in soap making. I formulate the perfect INS160 taking the values of the 5 QUALITIES into account. There are lots of excellent soaps that don’t meet the INS160 like the castile soap, and African black soap, shaving soap, and other specialty soaps. I wouldn’t formulate with a CLEANSING property of more than 22% in a soap for general use. A CONDITIONING of at least 50% is very desirable, HARDNESS between 42-45% will suffice, and BUBBLINESS/ CREAMINESS between 25-30% is wonderful. That is all I can say in many of my formulations I have created. You can achieve INS160 using at least 4 oils/butters, with all those qualities fall within the range. Give it ago, you will be proud of your creations when you found out formulating with INS160 is really rewarding. Happy soap making!

  7. Thank you for writing such a helpful article.
    One of my soap developed (first time) DOS so I’ve been analyzing my formulas to figure out the cause. It had the highest INS value at 152.
    With my favorite formula at 144, I think I’ll aim for something in between for my next batch.

    1. Gwen, yes, low INS values can lead to DOS, though pure olive oil soap has a low INS, and it tends to be fine. I haven’t noticed that the “perfect” INS value results in better soap, but it is good to keep it close if you want a nice balance of hardness, bubbles, and conditioning and to avoid DOS. I find certain oils contribute to it as well. I can generally avoid them with olive, shea butter, coconut, and palm oils, but when I’ve used canola oil, DOS developed rapidly.

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