# I'm new to the forum. I notice most of the post



## Marria (Sep 18, 2020)

I'm new to the forum & have a question concerning African Black liquid Soap. I did not see it mentioned in any of the post read, although I have not read every post.  My question is, does too much glycerin or castor oil cause a waxy feel in this soap after it is rinsed off. If so, how can this be corrected?   Thanks


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## shunt2011 (Sep 18, 2020)

You're going to want to post your recipe and process so that we can help you out.


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## Marria (Sep 18, 2020)

Arican Black Soap that has been strained 4 times to remove ash, debris & stones.

Aloe Vera Juice-heated & crumbled soap added & sits till soap is dissolved.

Once liquified & cooled, it is strained

Glycerin added to strained soap & mixed well

Castor oil then added & mixed well
Once all ingredients are added, fragrance oil is add & blended well.
I perfer not to give recipe, but this is my basic process.  

Is there a ratio of liquid soap to glycerin & castor oil?
Thank you


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## earlene (Sep 18, 2020)

Are you talking about using a solid bar of soap to create a liquid soap?  Like in some youtube videos & online blogs  where that is done?

In some of those tutorials, I see glycerin & oil being added in equal amounts and then only 1 teaspoon or 1 Tablespoon each, depending on the maker &/or the total batch size, I suppose.  But not all do it the same way, so I am guessing they came up with what worked for them via trial and error until they hit upon something that worked well for them.  Or they learned from someone else who had already gone through that process.

So the interesting thing about glycerin is that it can help blend water and oils (emulsify).  Although glycerin is rather sticky, so using a lot of it would tend to produce a sticky product. 

Castor Oil alone is also rather sticky, so using both together could produce a stickiness, but as long as they are added in small amounts & well blended using a powerful blender, perhaps the emulsion would not be so sticky.

But I don't know.  I've never added them to a re-liquefied bar soap.  But in regular bar soap, too much of either absolutely does create a sticky bar of soap.  That I have done, without that particular intent.

I also know that the African Black soap I have used was quite drying to the skin and some recommendations I read when I first used it was to use it only once or twice a week.  So the glycerin and castor oil would offset some of that skin drying effect, and I suspect you are using Aloe Vera for the same reason, more or less.


You'll probably find that most soapers here at SMF are of the 'start from scratch' variety, in that we make our liquid soap in a more traditional way where we mix oils and potassium hydroxide lye solution to create our liquid soap, so you may not get many responses.  The only time I liquified ABS was with only water, and no additional additives. It certainly melts easily in water.  I gave a bar to my granddaughter, and it just melted away in the shower.  She didn't really pay close attention to the caution of keeping it dry between uses.


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## cmzaha (Sep 18, 2020)

I dislike ABS because it is very stripping and still have 3 or 4 lbs sitting around haunting me since all my markets shut down.


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## Marria (Sep 19, 2020)

I appreciate the input, however, my soap was not sticky, but waxy.  I was using the pure, raw, unrefined, non processed, natural form ABS. I've made it many times before from same recipe & never had this problem. The soap smelled & lathered great, & everyone I shared it with loved it,
 when I made it before.


I realized now that W with this batch , I did not measure glycerin or castor oil.  I finally fixed the problem though, by adding more liquid ABS & some more fracitionaded coconut oil. I did have to play with it a bit, to get rid of the waxy feel (not sticky feel). Really pleased with final results.
Again, thanks for your input.


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## earlene (Sep 19, 2020)

I am glad to hear you fixed the problem.  Careful measurement & documentation for all ingredients seems to be the best way to be able to reproduce consistent results.  Even then sometimes something happens to throw a fly into the works & figuring out what went wrong can be tricky.  But it sounds like you've got it handled.


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## Marria (Sep 19, 2020)

Thanks for the suggestion Earlene.
This hiccup was my first batch ever & I gestimated the glycerin. & castor oil.  Lesson learned.
Thanks again


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## TheGecko (Sep 20, 2020)

Soap making may be magical, but at its heart it’s science and science requires exact measurements to provide consistent results.


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