When you are new to soapmaking and you jump into online Facebook groups or forums, it can be hard to know what people are talking about when it comes to soapmaking terms and abbreviations.
Here is a list of common soapmaking terms and abbreviations.
Common Soapmaking Terms
Acceleration – Acceleration is the rapid and fast movement of the oil and lye mixture to trace. Some additives can cause soap to move quickly and heat up including honey, sugar, milk, oatmeal and floral and spice fragrance oils.
Ash – Ash is a white dusty layer of sodium carbonate formed the top of soap exposed to air after being poured into a mold.
Color Morphing – Color morphing is when you make soap one color but it changes either immediately or over time. Dyes are known to color morph in the high pH of soap. There are pH stable dyes available from soap suppliers.
Caustic – Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic chemical, capable of burning, corroding, or destroying living tissue.
Cure Time – Cure time is the time that you have put your soap to rest to dry and become mild. The normal cure time for cold process soap is four weeks.
DOS (Dreaded Orange Spots) –When you see bright orange spots start to pop up on your soaps this usually indicates that your soap is going rancid. This can be due to improper storage, humidity, soaping with bad/old oils, etc. Always get your oils from a reputable source and store your cured soap in a cool dry place away from heat and humidity.
Distillation – Distillation is one of the processes used to create essential oils. Steam is run through plant material, picking up the essential oil and taking it to another chamber in a distiller. The water is then separated from the essential oil.
Dyes (FD&C and D&C) – Dyes are synthetic colorants used to color soap.
Emulsifier – An emulsifier is something that allows or creates an environment in which oil and water can mix. Soap is an emulsifier.
Emulsion – Emulsion is the point in which your oil and lye solution have been mixed and should not separate. You don’t have to have visible trace to have a solid emulsion. This is the point at which you could separate out your colors to swirl.
Essential Oils – Essential oils are a natural way to scent soap. They are oils extracted from part or the whole of a plant by distillation, expression or extraction.
Expression – Expression is a process used to make essential oils. Most citrus oils are made by expressing the aromatic oil from citrus peel.
Fragrance Oils – Fragrance oils are synthetic aromatic oils that are produced in a lab. They are used to scent soap.
Gel Phase – Gel phase is the heating phase of saponification where the soap heats up and turns translucent in color.
Lye – Lye is the caustic used to turn oils and fats into bar soap. Also called Sodium Hydroxide and abbreviated as NaOH.
Lye Discount – In modern soapmaking we use a lye discount to reduce the amount of lye in a given recipe to leave a certain amount of oil unsaponified.
MSDS – Materials Safety Data Sheets are important to have on hand when working with sodium hydroxide. They tell you (or medical response persons) safety procedures to follow in case of an accident. They also tell you have to store sodium hydroxide safely.
Potassium Hydroxide – Potassium hydroxide is the caustic used to turn oils and fats into liquid soap. Abbreviated as KOH.
Raw Soap – Raw soap is soap that is still in liquid form before it has gone through saponification. It is an emulsion of the lye solution and base oils.
Soap Calculator – A soap calculator easily lets you calculate the amount of lye needed for a mix of base oils. You simply enter the base oils and amounts that you want to use, hit calculate, and it will tell you the amount of lye needed and water recommended.
Saponification – Saponification is a chemical reaction between fatty acids (soapmaking oils) and a caustic soda solution (lye or NaOH) that produces a salt (soap!)
Sodium Carbonate – Sodium carbonate is the result of active lye in freshly poured soap reacting to air. Also called ash, it is harmless when formed on top of soap.
Sodium Hydroxide – Sodium hydroxide is the caustic used to turn oils and fats into bar soap. Also called Lye and abbreviated as NaOH.
Superfat – In modern soapmaking we use a superfat to leave a certain amount of oil unsaponified. We have more fat than we have lye to turn it into soap.
Trace – Trace is when your soap has emulsified and is thick enough to leave a mark on the soap surface when you drizzle raw soap from a spatula or stick blender while mixing.
Tare – Tare means to zero the scale, thereby subtracting the weight of a container.
Volcano – A soap volcano can occur due to overheating. If you pour a soap too hot, it can lift and expand out of the mold. Check out Theresa’s soap volcano pic on the troubleshooting page.
Common Soapmaking Abbreviations
SAP – Saponification Value
CP – Cold Process
HP – Hot Process
RTCP – Room Temp Cold Process
CPHP – Crock Pot Hot Process
OHP – Oven Hot Process
CPOP – Cold Process Oven Process
MP – Melt and Pour
EO – Essential Oil
FO – Fragrance Oil
DOS – Dreaded Orange Spots
KOH – Potassium Hydroxide
NaOH – Sodium Hydroxide
GM – Goat’s Milk
MSDS – Materials Safety Data Sheet
PPO – Per Pound of Oil
SB – Stick Blender
I hope this list helps you as you navigate the soapmaking community!
Attn: Soapmakers, I need your help! Do you have any terms or abbreviations that I should add? Please comment below! Thank you!
Happy Soaping!
Amanda Gail
Someone on my soaping group asked what SK means, and I have no idea, do you know what that means?
Great information! Abbreviations that still get me are for companies that sell soap making supplies. You’re reading along and come to BB, WSP, NP and many others.
4
Came across one new to me in a soaping forum today. OPHP….oven process hot process.
What a great idea! I’v been making soap for a few years now, but I still found this very helpful!
Will soap harden without using a emerson blender?
Thank you.
Grt details
Thank you for all The Educational Material and Suppliers for soapmaking The Sheet on Common Mistakes is a Life Saver !
Great job. Please what is latest or trendin in the soap world today?
ATC…after the cook in hp
I just found this and wanted to say Thank you!!!
Thanks so much!! This is what I’ve been looking for!! -deborah
What is water discount?
I cannot explain enough how helpful this little dictionary post is for new soapers! We so often start blogging about our soaping adventures, including our own language of soap slang that most people outside of the soaping community don’t understand. Thank you for the run-down of these terms. =)
Hi Amanda, Great posting, thank you.
I would add the following:
Sieze
Ricing
Lye heavy
Soda ash
Good Morning Amanda,
I just reviewed your Common Soapmaking Terms and Abbreviations and like to suggest a list for the various oil abbreviations. Every now and then I’m reading Facebook posts with oil abbreviations and don’t recognize some. Thanks, Renate