# Are these all the ingredients?



## HowieRoll (Jun 16, 2016)

Hello...

Several months back I purchased a liquid hand soap from Whole Foods.  Since then, I've gotten into bar soap making and also have an interest in trying to make liquid hand soap at some point.  I've done a little bit of cursory research into LS making, but not much.

We recently started using the hand soap from Whole Foods and found we really like it.  As I was looking over the ingredient list for possible future recipe ideas, I was perplexed because the combination of ingredients doesn't strike me as being complete (there is no alkali?).  But it also says the soap is "Traditional French Milled" and I wasn't sure if that is a totally different process?

It is:

_A La Maison de Provence - Honeysuckle Liquid Soap

Ingredients:  Filtered Water, Coconut and Olive Oil, Natural Vegetable Glycerin, Argan Oil, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Plant Extracts and Essential Oils_

I've noticed on their website they've changed their ingredients to now read "Fragrance Blend with Essential Oils" at the end, which clears up the other confusion I had regarding the scent of the soap (I love the honeysuckle smell so started searching for a honeysuckle EO, but found there does not appear to be one).  

Thanks for any insight!


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## maya (Jun 16, 2016)

No. To make liquid soap you need to use KOH Potassium Hydroxide. You cannot make liquid soap with out it, the same thing applies to sodium hydroxide and bar soap.


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## kchaystack (Jun 16, 2016)

You have to remember, labeling guidelines for soap are strange.  As long as they are not making cosmetic claims, they are not required to even list ingredients.  But you can make a liquid soap with coconut, olive and argan oils - use the glycerin method for your lye and add vitamin E and a FO.  

HOWEVER -  I would not use argan oil in soap either liquid or bar.  It is far to expensive to use in a wash off product.  For that matter I probably would not bother with Vit. E either.  Much for the same reason.


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## DeeAnna (Jun 16, 2016)

Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser. The company, along with not disclosing the lye needed to make their soap, also says their liquid soap is made with a "Traditional Triple Milled French process". This would be hysterically funny if it weren't so annoyingly wrong and manipulative.

See: https://alamaisonsoaps.com/our-products/liquid-soap

Oh, and they're making their "natural French soaps" in New York state. Blech.


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## kchaystack (Jun 16, 2016)

DeeAnna said:


> Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser. The company, along with not disclosing the lye needed to make their soap, also says their liquid soap is made with a "Traditional Triple Milled French process". This would be hysterically funny if it weren't so annoyingly wrong and manipulative.
> 
> See: https://alamaisonsoaps.com/our-products/liquid-soap
> 
> Oh, and they're making their "natural French soaps" in New York state. Blech.



Less acidic than Castille?  I hope none of their soap is acidic, since it will have a pH of 9+    hahah!


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## shunt2011 (Jun 16, 2016)

Also funny is their liquid soap states palm free save the orangutans but their bar soap is made with palm....  It also states imported from France.   what a confusing mess.  Selling 8 oz bars for 4.99.  Not much Argan in those.  I use it in B&B not soap.


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## DeeAnna (Jun 16, 2016)

Good point, KC. A pure oleic soap has about the highest "natural" pH of any of the common soaping fatty acids. So a soap with coconut + olive will most likely be slightly less alkaline (aka MORE acidic) than a pure olive soap, due to less oleic acid in the recipe. 

The soap from this company is probably decent stuff, but the marketing is terrible. The Irish Lass/Carrie liquid soap recipe is a lovely soap for bathing and hand washing and it contains olive, coconut, and castor with added glycerin. Oh, yes, and KOH as the lye. Take out the castor and add a touch of argan if you want and you would end up with a liquid soap similar to (and maybe nicer than!) this company's soap without the silliness. See: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114


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## HowieRoll (Jun 16, 2016)

Thank you all for your input and information, it is very illuminating and I've learned many things.  I originally purchased the soap because I was familiar with the ingredients (except the vague "plant extracts"), but not familiar with soap-making process at the time, so their marketing plan was effective on me.  But it seems not all is as advertised, so I will no longer be a customer of theirs.  The inconsistencies/misinformation pointed out on this thread are indeed irritating.

DeeAnna, thank you for providing the link to the liquid soap making thread, along with additional tips.  I am bookmarking it to read thoroughly prior to taking my first foray into liquid soap making.

Thanks, everyone!


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