Adding glycerin to hp soap

by C.R.Grimm
(Tennessee)

First...thank you for the wonderful site. I started making cp soap. I hated the 5 week wait. I switched to hp soap making with the same recipe.

16oz lard
3oz coconut oil
1oz caster-oil.

I like it but in the winter my skin is dryer and I wanted to add glycerin to the recipe.

There are no lye calculators, that I can find, mentioning adding glycerin. Do I just take out a small percentage of one of the oils and add glycerin?

Thanks for your help

Answer;

Glycerin is actually a by-product of soap making. When you combine lye and oil, soap containing glycerin is the result. The soap you make already contains glycerin.

I've never added extra glycerin to my soap base but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't replace any of the oils. All the oil is needed to combine with the lye in order to make the soap.

Perhaps extra glycerin can replace some of the water but I have a feeling that adding extra glycerin to the soap might make the final soaps sticky.

Hopefully someone else will have some insight for us.

Cathy