Hi Maddie, I don’t know any other way to tell you this, but no. This is not totally accurate.
Superfatting or lye discount, is the oil that is left behind after the saponification process (generally speaking), it is usually referred to as the “free” oils that have not been converted into soap.
As I mentioned in a previous post, soapcalc by default sets the superfat of soap to 5%. That means 5% of your oils are not converted into soap. When you make a soap that is 100% coconut oil and send it through soapcalc and not change the superfat, yes, your skin will be in a lot of pain as you’ve just stripped it of everything. However; if you change the superfat to compensate for the over eager stripping power of coconut oil soap to 20% or higher, you have an very lovely bar of soap.
For example:
100% coconut oil
Superfat: 30%
AMAZING bar of soap
But to make this soap even better:
80% coconut oil
20% shea butter or lard
Superfat 30%
I have tried superfatting these recipes at 20, 22, 25, 26, 28, 30, 33, and 35. I find for my skin, it likes the high percentage coconut oil soap at 30-33%. It is through trial and error that you learn how to set your superfat in your recipes.
Most soapers generally would not put castor oil into a high percentage of coconut oil soap simply because castor oil helps to create large fluffy bubbles. With high percentage coconut oil soap, coconut oil does create very awesome bubbles all on its own.
Good luck and don’t forget to share pictures of your finished soap! We love soap porn here!
