Making Soaping Easier: Meet FormuMate's Soap Calculator and My Big Plans

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If you have somehow found this page because your usual soap calculator is down or you are searching for a new soap calculator, then WELCOME! You are right where you need to be, now head on and use the tool: FormuMateSoapCalc.

If you are still here, (here meaning on this page, still reading) well then listen up. Some time ago, I was all set to make a new batch of soap I had been iterating through in my mind all week. I was ready to go, I wrote down the recipe and then headed to soap calc to get the values of lye and water I needed.

Mind you I DO know how to calculate the amount manually but I always crosscheck with the calculator, because lye is not something you want to guess about. Back to what I was saying, yeah I went on soap calc, entered my values hit calculate and tried opening the results page aaand Nothing!

Hmm weird, let me give it an hour.

Still nothing, then I finally checked if soapcalc was down and Yes it was, Yes it was.

I just sat there looking at my notebook, and then at the blank screen and I just thought to myself why not build a soap calculator which is modern, mobile friendly and has more features that would make soap calculation easier.



Mind you I have used almost every major soap calculator out there. They are great calculators, they get the job done but they all have small small quirks which get to you overtime.

For example with soap calc using it on a mobile phone is quite annoying, the interface is not mobile friendly and you constantly have to pinch and zoom to use it, and with bramble berry, if I want to change an oil or an amount once on the results page I have to start all over, which annoys me. The sage is worse because it just like plop, transferring how it looks like in your notebook directly to the screen 😬. I also wished they had a save button so I could easily return to an old save when I want to cross check something, instead of now going to look through my notebook.

I just got tired.

And that is where the idea behind FormuMate was birthed.

What FormuMate Does Differently.

I built formumate to fix every frustration I had with existing soap calculators. Here's what makes it different:

1. Mobile Friendly

No pinching, No zooming in or tiny buttons. FormuMate's Interface is made to scale on any device.

2. Edit Anything Without Starting Over or Leaving the Page.

This was my biggest frustration with other soap lye calculators.

Now with FormuMate:

  • Want to change your superfat from 5% to 8%? Click, change, recalculate. Done.
  • Want to swap one oil for another? Click the oil name, select the new one, recalculate. Done.
  • Want to increase your batch size from 1000g to 1500g? Change one number, recalculate. Done.

You stay on the same page. Your work is preserved. No starting over. No re-entering everything because you want to test one small change.

Perfect for when you're tweaking recipes, comparing different oil combinations, or adjusting batch sizes for your molds.



3. Save and Load Recipes Locally.

Click "Save Recipe" and your formula stores locally in your browser.

Next time you want to make that perfect shea butter bar? Click "Load Recipe," select it from your list, and boom! All your oils, percentages, superfat, everything loads instantly.

No re-entering. No "wait, was it 35% or 40% shea butter?" No digging through notebooks.

Save as many recipes as you want. 5 recipes, 50 recipes, 500 recipes. FormuMate doesn't care.



4. One click Conversion

Switch your entire recipe between grams, kilograms, ounces, and pounds with one click. No separate calculator needed. No manual conversion math. The unit conversion feature makes it easy to follow recipes from anywhere in the world and adapt them to your preferred measurement system.

5. Export Recipes to PDF

Need a printed recipe sheet for your workshop? Click "Export PDF" and get a professionally formatted recipe with all your ingredients, measurements, lye amounts, and water calculations.

Perfect for:

  • Keeping physical backups in a workshop binder
  • Sharing recipes with soap making friends (with permission)
  • Having a clean printout next to your soap making station
  • Archiving successful formulations

How It Works (Quick Guide)

Step 1: Enter Your Oils

Add oils by percentage or weight. FormuMate has 50+ common soap making oils in the database with accurate SAP values for both NaOH (bar soap) and KOH (liquid soap).

Step 2: Set Your Preferences

  • Choose NaOH for bar soap or KOH for liquid soap
  • Set superfat (5% standard, 8% for facial soap, 3% for high-coconut recipes)
  • Pick water calculation method (38% water is standard for beginners)
  • Adjust lye purity if needed (usually 99%)

Step 3: Calculate

Click the purple "Calculate" button and get instant results:

  • Exact lye amount (e.g., 134.71g NaOH)
  • Exact water amount (e.g., 273.50g)
  • Final batch weight (e.g., 1409.57g)
  • Complete oil breakdown by percentage and weight

Step 4: Save or Export

Save to your browser for next time, or export as PDF for your records.

So... that's the calculator I have built. It's live, free and working, but I am not yet done.

What's Coming to FormuMate

The soap calculator is just phase one. Coming soon:

Recipe Management - Library for all your formulas (soaps, lotions, serums, balms). Version tracking so you never lose a working formula.

More Calculators - Batch scaler to resize recipes instantly. pH calculator for skincare. Preservative calculator for lotions. Batch upscaler, Cost calculator.

Recipe Explorer - Browse community recipes. Filter by product type, ingredients and or difficulty. Save favorites to your library.

AI Assistant - Smart ingredient recommendations. Formula error detection. Troubleshooting help for common problems.

Want early access when these features launch? Join our mailing list, or discord community


Discord: [https://discord.gg/zjN2qCR2]

The Bottom Line

You can't eyeball lye amounts. You can't guess at measurements. You can't skip calculations.

Every successful soap batch starts with accurate lye calculations using a reliable soap calculator.

Whether you're making your first batch or your thousandth, FormuMate is built to make the process faster, easier, and safer.

Ready to calculate your next batch?

Try FormuMate's Free Soap Calculator

No signup. No cost. Just accurate lye calculations whenever you need them.

Happy soaping! 🧼✨

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