Getting Started with Soaply

Everything you need to know to make the most of Soaply's tools.

🧮 Using the Soap Calculator

The main calculator is where everything starts. By default it measures water as a percentage of your oil weight, and you can switch to lye concentration or a water to lye ratio in the settings if you prefer those methods.

Set your lye type

Choose NaOH (sodium hydroxide) for bar soap or KOH (potassium hydroxide) for liquid soap. Most beginners start with NaOH bar soap.

Set your water amount

The default of 38% water (as a percentage of oils) works well for most recipes. More water gives you a slower trace and more working time. Less water (a water discount) speeds things up and lets you unmold sooner.

Set your superfat percentage

Superfat is the percentage of oils that won't be converted to soap. 5% is standard. Higher superfat (7-8%) makes a more moisturizing bar but can reduce lather.

Add your oils

Click "Add Oil" to browse the 100 oils in our database. Enter the weight for each oil. The percentages update automatically.

Review your results

The calculator instantly shows your lye amount, water amount, and total batch weight. The bar properties chart shows predicted hardness, cleansing, conditioning, bubbly lather, creamy lather, and iodine value.

💡 Tip: Keep your total oils at exactly 100%. If you go over, you'll see a red warning banner.

📝 Saving Recipes

Once you've built a recipe you like, save it for later. You need a free account to save recipes.

Create a free account

Click "Sign in" in the top navigation, then "Sign up" to create your account. All you need is an email and password.

Save your recipe

After building a recipe, click the "Save Recipe" button. Give it a name (like "Olive Castile" or "Bastille Bar") and optionally add notes.

Manage your recipes

Find all your saved recipes under "My Recipes" in the navigation. You can load any recipe back into the calculator, duplicate it, or delete it.

💡 Tip: Free accounts can save up to 3 recipes. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited recipes, version history, and more.

💰 Cost Calculator

Know exactly what each bar costs you to make. The cost calculator factors in all your ingredients and calculates per-bar, wholesale, and retail pricing.

Enter ingredient costs

For each oil in your recipe, enter the price per unit (per pound, per ounce, etc.) in the cost section below the main calculator.

Add overhead costs

Include costs for lye, fragrance, colorants, packaging, and any other additives. Every penny counts when pricing your soap.

Set your bar count

Enter how many bars your batch will produce. The calculator divides total cost by bar count to give you per-bar cost, then suggests wholesale (2x) and retail (3-4x) prices.

💡 Tip: Pro users: your ingredient costs from Inventory automatically sync to the cost calculator. Add your costs once, use them everywhere.

📋 Batch Logging

Keep a record of every batch you make. Track what worked, what didn't, and how each batch turned out after curing.

Start a batch

Go to "Batches" in the navigation and click "Log Batch." Select the recipe you used, set the date, and adjust the scale factor if you made a larger or smaller batch.

Add batch notes

Record anything relevant: trace time, temperatures, additives used, any issues. This becomes invaluable when you're trying to reproduce your best batches.

Track curing

Come back to update your batch notes after unmolding, cutting, and curing. You can also rate your batches to track which recipes give the best results.

📊 Understanding Bar Properties

Soaply calculates predicted bar properties based on the fatty acid profile of your oils. Here's what each property means:

HardnessTarget: 29-54

How firm your bar is. Higher = harder, longer-lasting bar.

CleansingTarget: 12-22

How strongly the soap strips oils. Too high can be drying.

ConditioningTarget: 44-69

How moisturizing the bar feels. Higher = more conditioning.

Bubbly LatherTarget: 14-46

Big, fluffy bubbles. Coconut and palm kernel oils boost this.

Creamy LatherTarget: 16-48

Thick, lotion-like lather. Olive oil and animal fats contribute here.

IodineTarget: 41-70

Measures unsaturation. Too high (>70) means a soft bar prone to rancidity.

INSTarget: 136-170

Overall quality index. Recipes in this range are well-balanced.

💡 Tip: These are predictions based on fatty acid composition. Actual results can vary based on water hardness, temperature, additives, and curing time.

🧪 Specialty Calculators

Beyond the main soap calculator, Soaply includes 18 specialty calculators for other bath and body products:

🛁 Bath Bombs 🧂 Bath Salts 💄 Lip Balm 🧴 Body Butter 🍯 Sugar Scrub 🧂 Salt Scrub 🕯️ Candles 🫧 Wax Melts 🧴 Lotion ✨ Face Serum 💆 Massage Oil 🧴 Shampoo Bar 🧔 Beard Oil 🌿 Deodorant 🌸 Perfume Oil 🌺 Room Spray 💎 Solid Perfume 🧪 Masterbatch

Each calculator includes ingredient ratios, scaling, cost analysis, and printing. Pro users can also save their formulations and load them back anytime.

📚 Community Recipe Library

Browse recipes shared by other soap makers in the Community Recipe Library. Browsing is free and does not need an account. Sign in to collect a recipe into My Recipes, load it into the calculator, or share your own.

⭐ Pro Features

Soaply Pro ($8/month or $60/year) unlocks:

Unlimited saved recipes (free tier: 3)
Recipe version history
Cost calculator with wholesale/retail pricing on all calculators
Batch logging
Inventory management
Custom oil database
Custom SAP value overrides
Shopping list generator
Priority support

💡 Tip: Not sure? The free tier gives you full access to the calculator, bar property predictions, recipe sharing, the community library, and 3 saved recipes. Try it out before upgrading.

Still have questions?

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