Do you want to make outstanding soaps? Finding the best soap calculator online is a great way to start.
When I make a soap batch, It's helpful to find and use the best soap calculator for customizing soap recipes and tweaking existing recipes. Not all recipe calculators are created equal. Some calculators are not working, while others will require advanced coding and/or programming skills to work them properly.
However that being said, the two sites that I find useful are the SoapCalc.net and the SoapmakingFriend.com websites. Both of these sites are very useful and I will compare a few differences between them.
There are two best soap calculators to use online, the first one is the SoapCalc.
The soapcalc.net has been around for at least 10 years or more. It is very simple to use. Open up the website simultaneously for more clarity as you read through this paragraph. Click here to link to the SoapCalc.
Start by choosing your Oils, Fats and Waxes by highlighting them from the white colored drop down menu. Then go to the yellow colored Recipe Oil List and click the 'add' button for each of your oils. Be sure to type in your percentage amounts for each oil in the green colored column. Each percentage amount must be equal to 100 percent or it will not calculate. Scroll down and click on the 'calculate recipe button' now to get your results.
The best soap calculator for side by side comparison of one single oil to an all recipe oil list, is the SoapCalc.
Here is where the magic happens! Look under the Soap Qualities and Fatty Acids columns. The first column is white and the second column is blue.
The white column titled 'One' lists the seven soap qualities for an individual oil (Castor Oil) highlighted on the white drop down menu. This lets you check the soap qualities for that individual oil (Castor Oil) by itself. The blue column gives you the seven soap qualities for your combined recipe oils (Castor Oil and Babassu Oil) listed as 'All'.
This is very helpful as you can experiment with various amounts and combinations of oils and fats to come up with your desired soap qualities.
Use the SoapCalc to discover which fatty acids are abundant or lacking in your oils and fats.
The white and blue columns below continue by listing the eight fatty acid amounts per the single oil (Castor Oil) shown in the white column and the combined recipe amount oils (Castor Oil and Babassu Oil) shown in the blue column. To learn more about each fatty acid click on the little green 'i' buttons to the left of the white column. This links to wikipedia and explains more information on each fatty acid.
There is no fee to use the soapcalc.net but the site is full of ads clustered on the left and right which can be distracting at times.
Another of the greatest and best soap calculators is the SoapmakingFriend website.
Lets take a look at the SoapmakingFriend.com website.
In addition to what the SoapCalc offers, SoapmakingFriend has several more options available when calculating a soap recipe. To view more closely you may want to open the website as you read this section. Click here to open SoapmakingFriend.com.
SoapmakingFriend has a 'Custom Additives' entry box on their site.
On the SoapmakingFriend website the sixth entry is 'Custom Additives'. This is a really great feature which helps tremendously in calculating new additive amounts in your recipes.
You can choose an additive from the drop down list of additives such as Poppy Seeds, Silk Fibers and many others. Entries can be made in the box manually as well. Type in your additive amounts and choose oz's, grams or teaspoons.
The next box to the right tells you where to add, and when to include the particular additive. For this example below you'll add the Poppy Seeds with the fats for best results. The Silk Fibers are best added at trace.
'Custom Liquids' is another great entry on the SoapmakingFriend site.
The seventh entry on SoapmakingFriend is your 'Custom Liquids'. This goes beyond just using water. Choose everything from Beer, Coffee or Goatmilk.
If you look on both the Custom Additives and Custom Liquids entry boxes, to the right of the "+" symbol is an orange circle with an 'i' in the center. If you click on this button you will get information on the usage, purpose and instructions on mixing for each custom additive or liquid used. This is very insightful!
Longevity is a new soap property that I've found on SoapmakingFriend.
When you click to get your results with soapmakingfriend, you'll see a new entry called 'longevity'. This is another soap quality to examine in addition to the 7 soap qualities that are listed on the SoapCalc's site. Longevity is how long the soap will last. It has an optimal numbers range between (25-50). The higher the number, the longer the soap will last.
You will need to subscribe at one of the three membership levels (One of the levels is FREE!) at SoapmakingFriend.
In order to get your results you will need to become a subscriber and a member at one of the 3 level options, otherwise the results that you seek are blurry and unreadable. There are 3 different subscription choices.
The first choice is $39.99 for a one year subscription which includes unlimited recipes and unlimited batches with no advertisements.
Choice number two is $5.99 a month which includes unlimited recipes and unlimited batches with no advertisements.
Choice number three is to subscribe for free, which includes 2 free recipes and 1 free batch.
The choice is up to you depending on your goals. In my own experiment I used both sites to calculate the same exact soap recipe. The results were identical except for the linoleic fatty acid came out as a '6' with soapmakingfriend.com and it was at a '5' with the soapcalc.net.
Both the soapcalc and soapmakingfriend work very well. You can choose which site best fits your budget, goals or needs, I recommend using both sites.