Soap Noodles — Frequently Asked Questions

TFM stands for total fatty matter: the fatty material recovered when the soap is split with mineral acid, expressed as a percentage of the noodle weight. TFM 78 means about 78% of the noodle is fatty matter, with the rest mostly water, a little salt and any additives. Higher TFM means more soap per tonne. Finished bars usually test slightly lower than the noodles they were made from, because perfume, colour and other additions dilute the soap.

Choose 80/20 for toilet and beauty bars. Its higher lauric content gives quicker, more open lather while the palm portion keeps the bar hard. 90/10 lathers less readily but wears more slowly and costs less, so it suits laundry bars and economy toilet soap. If lather is the main selling point, some makers go to 70/30, at the cost of a softer bar. Ask for the fatty acid composition as well, because the same ratio can be built from different oils.

Cracking usually comes from noodles that have dried out in storage, a blend that is too hard for the line, or plodding at too low a temperature. Mushiness points the other way: too much lauric content, too much moisture in the finished bar, or overly warm processing. Check the noodle moisture on arrival against the specification, keep bags sealed, and adjust plodder temperature before blaming the grade.

Both come from oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, which trace metals such as iron and copper, heat and light speed up. Noodles with a lower iodine value are less prone to it, and chelating agents such as EDTA or etidronic acid, together with an antioxidant, slow the reaction. If you prefer particular additives or want to avoid one, say so in the enquiry. Also keep metal contamination out of the finishing line and store bars away from heat.

Not usually. Laundry noodles have lower TFM, wider colour and odour limits and sometimes contain fillers, so a bar made from them will not meet the whiteness, feel and mildness expected of personal-care soap. Free alkali and salt limits are also looser. It works the other way, though: a toilet grade can be used for laundry bars, but it costs more than the job needs.

The noodles are vegetable-based, made from palm with palm kernel or coconut fatty matter rather than tallow, which is the usual starting point for both claims. A vegan or halal claim on your product still needs evidence. Ask for an origin declaration for the grade offered, and where a halal certificate is required, ask for its issuing body and scope for the manufacturing site with the quotation. Check additives such as antioxidants and colourants for the same claims.