# Question before first liq soap agttempt.



## jennikate (Aug 17, 2013)

Hi all so the recipe I have  is for crockpot . I have seen several videos where they added borax is this  something I should do? I have  The everything soapmaking book and nothing about  borax in it, I am not really crazy about adding it if I don't have to. TIA


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## Robert (Aug 17, 2013)

jennikate said:


> Hi all so the recipe I have  is for crockpot . I have seen several videos where they added borax is this  something I should do? I have  The everything soapmaking book and nothing about  borax in it, I am not really crazy about adding it if I don't have to. TIA


It's probably just as a source of sodium to make the product more viscous.  There are other choices for doing that, if it's even something you want to do.

Conceivably borax could be used to make the soap more alkaline to be a better cleaner, as has been done with laundry soaps.

I've seen it mentioned as a pH adjuster for too-alkaline soap, but adding alkali such as borax cannot reduce the alkalinity of a soap solution, even if it does cause the reading on a pH meter to go down a little.  The only way it might work to adjust alkalinity is if you saponified lye-heavy (to make the rxn go faster), then neutralized the excess with an acid (such as citric), but used too much acid and needed to restore alkalinity.


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## 100%Natural (Aug 17, 2013)

Exactly what Robert said.  The Borax would be added after the cook and it's not something I do for mine and so far so good!


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## FGOriold (Aug 18, 2013)

Borax is used to neutralize the liquid soap after it is diluted.  You can also use citric acid.  Some recipes are formulated with a lye excess for purposes of clarity and that excess needs to be neutralized.  If you formulate without the lye excess you should not need to neutralize the finished soap as the PH should be within acceptable range but you can still attempt the lower the ph further with borax or citric acid.  Best to test your finished soap with a digital ph meter and/or phenolphthalein drops while cooking the paste.


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## jennikate (Aug 18, 2013)

Thanks all . I'm not new to soaping and hp soaping just to liq soap .


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## Robert (Aug 18, 2013)

Boric acid could be used to neutralize alkali, but borax has no acidity with which to neutralize alkali.  pH alone is an insufficient indicator of the alkalinity (or acidity) of concentrated materials, and pH meters don't even work well in concentrated solutions.


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