# Liquid Soap Help



## matthews13 (Jun 25, 2015)

Trying to make liquid soap/body wash using one of our homemade goats milk soap bars.  I feel like I'm missing something.  It separates I'm sure do to the water and oil issue.  I've followed a couple of different recipes but just can't get a bodywash consistency.  Am I not letting it sit long enough?  Thanks for any and all information.


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## Susie (Jun 25, 2015)

You can't get a good liquid soap from bar soap.  You end up with a "snotty" consistency mess.  You need to start with potassium hydroxide for the lye, then make liquid soap.

While I know the length of this thread is intimidating, it is loaded with good information on making liquid soap:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114


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## Dorymae (Jun 26, 2015)

Yup, it will not get to the consistency you want - or even one that most people can tolerate. Learning to make real liquid soap is not difficult, it just takes a little while to get comfortable with making - just like bar soap. 

Take the plunge, you won't be sorry.


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## iggymon (Jun 29, 2015)

*I'm in Matthews13's boat too*

Hi all, newbie here, with essentially the same issue as OP Matthews13.

I  prefer bar soap because it is much more economical in so many ways. I  am disabled and hauling home products made with water (that I can add for nothing) is  unacceptable to me. I buy dry dishwasher soap tabs for this exact reason. 

While making liquid soap from the git-go is ideal, speaking just for myself, I am not equipped to, nor inclined to do so. I need reasonable shortcuts where I can find them. 

I decided recently that trying to contend with the remaining bar slivers with my bad hands was more and more difficult, but being reluctant to just discard them when they still had some life left, that I should try converting them to liquid soap primarily for the shower. 

Like the OP, I am at the juncture where I need the liquid result to be more sudsy so I can readily see missed spots. I use a Salux cloth which is similar to a shower puff but all flattened out and great for scrubbing backs and soles. Bar soap lathers up on it nicely. The liquified result I have so far does not nearly so. 

I'm less bothered by the slime factor but to have that mitigated wouldn't bother me. 

If specifics might be helpful now, let me quickly summarize:

1 4oz Zest bar soap, whittled
6 cups water 
1 T glycerin added post melt
3-4 oz Dawn Dishwashing Liquid (in the mistaken hope it would lather)
3-4 oz baby shampoo (in the mistaken hope it would lather, too)

I let the melted bar solution alone rest overnight so it coagulated into a gelatinous mass. I stick blended it to loosen it back into a semi-viscous liquid, added the glycerin, shampoo and Dawn as I blended along until it all seemed fully incorporated. I then poured the result into three washed out squeeze mayo bottles, 1 16oz, 2 22oz., which roughly translates to a half gallon batch. 

The only time the product is not slimey is immediately after blending. Used alone to wash my hands, it makes no lather, none. After sitting for a week, the product is very slimey and slippery. Thus, when I try to dispense it from a turned upside down bottle, it threatens to run out in a slithering ribbon. So, now I just tip it sideways just enough to start a ribbon and then quickly pinch it off with my thumb. 

On the Salux it lathers very modestly but does clean and rinse off nicely.  

My first thought is that Zest is just not suitable. So I purchased a 3 pack of Kirk's Castile 4oz coconut bar soap. (Walmart.com shipped me only 1 bar in error, but that's a whole other fettle of kitsch.) Before I proceed with trying again with it, I want to get far more information and, just as importantly, learn from you all here what the actual result should be, what has resulted after two/three/four weeks, and so on. 

I have slogged through a slew of Youtube videos, most of which are, well, weakly executed. The one I paid the most attention to was posted by Cheap Geek. However, none of the videos offer any updates showing time elapsed status. After reading around here, it seems that some recipes improve markedly with several weeks of rest. 

_Well this first post is way longer than I planned. :Kitten Love: :smile:
_
Ok, so here's my first question: Can I rehab this first batch by adding coconut oil "lard" (not fractionated, not liquid)? If so, how much should I add and in what process (re-heat, just blend, or...?). 

Is there any difference between food grade coconut oil lard or beauty grade? Anyone have a favorite brand or supplier? 

Many thanks to any and all who reply. I think I will try to make a more comprehensive how-to video that does cover the A-Z of it but we'll see how it goes. 

I will continue to read all threads I think might be pertinent, but as I am so new to this whole new world, I don't know enough to know what to ask. 

Cordial regards,
Iggymon, 06-29-15, 740p CDT


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## iggymon (Jun 29, 2015)

*Forgot to add*

Because a bar yields such a generous result, I don't think I should use animal ingredients such as milk or tallow. My fridge is already full. ;-)


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## Susie (Jun 29, 2015)

Bar soap is not going to give you good liquid soap.  I don't care what you add to it, or what brand it is, or what it is made of.  Period.

While I truly do sympathize with the physical limitations, bar soap is just not going to yield the results you desire.  Should you be willing to learn to make liquid soap from scratch, several of us have simple processes that do not require lots of physical labor.  I would be more than willing to help come up with an easier process if you will tell me what your limitations are. (I am an RN, and worked home health for years.  So, I am accustomed to helping patients figure out how to have as independent a life as possible with new limitations.)


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## iggymon (Jun 29, 2015)

Susie said:


> Bar soap is not going to give you good liquid soap.  I don't care what you add to it, or what brand it is, or what it is made of.  Period.
> 
> While I truly do sympathize with the physical limitations, bar soap is just not going to yield the results you desire.  Should you be willing to learn to make liquid soap from scratch, several of us have simple processes that do not require lots of physical labor.  I would be more than willing to help come up with an easier process if you will tell me what your limitations are. (I am an RN, and worked home health for years.  So, I am accustomed to helping patients figure out how to have as independent a life as possible with new limitations.)



Hi Susie, thank you kindly. No worries, I am resigned to the reality that a bar soap to liquid soap is not going to be a commercial grade analog; a semi-reasonable facsimile will suffice. 

If adding coconut (or olive and canola oils) still won't produce at least better than no suds, then I will consider it not a viable option for me. 

I'm willing to share here that I have system wide arthritis. Though pain killers take the edge off, I have a low tolerance for them, and thus mobility is restricted. Heavy lifting and usual range of motion is increasingly difficult.

If I can't rehab the batch I have now, then I'll use it anyway until gone and then go back to using bars alone.  

Thanks again!


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## IrishLass (Jun 29, 2015)

iggymon said:


> If adding coconut (or olive and canola oils) still won't produce at least better than no suds, then I will consider it not a viable option for me.


 
Welcome Iggymon! 

Unfortunately, adding more oils to your concoction will only serve to superfat the soap and further reduce any hope of it lathering. 

Coconut oil is great for making suds in soap, but only when using it to make a fresh batch of lye soap. In other words, adding oil to an already-made soap mixture won't work because all the lye has already been spent and there isn't any more around to react with your new addition of oil. You'll just end up with an oily mess that doesn't lather.

I'd take Susie up on her offer. Liquid soap making from scratch is so much easier than people think. To me, it's actually much less work/much more easier than making bar soap.


IrishLass


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## iggymon (Jun 29, 2015)

IrishLass said:


> Welcome Iggymon!
> 
> Unfortunately, adding more oils to your concoction will only serve to superfat the soap and further reduce any hope of it lathering.
> 
> ...



Hi IrishLass, thank you kindly. :grin: 

Hmm. Well, it sounds like the batch I have now is all it is going to be. I won't bother adding my leftover olive oil and canola oil to it. Very well. Que sera, sera. Live and learn. If there is no practical use for the bar soap in a different format, even as collected slivers, then either I will waste the slivers of un-grippable soap or my money on over-priced commercial liquid soap. I am bummed. 

If making liquid soap from the ground up is my only option, requiring I buy a set of ingredients in varying minimum sizes, just to make shower soap, then I think I am out of luck. 

However, as I've barely landed, I'd like to let this thread play itself out and give someone out there a chance to contribute something none of us knew before. For a week at least anyway. 

Thanks again.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jun 30, 2015)

Take the slivers and stick them to the new bar - just leave them wet on top of the wet bar and let it dry.


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## Dorymae (Jun 30, 2015)

Take an old clean knee high pantyhose and put in your soap scraps - tie the top and use as you would your loofa. 

Unfortunately there really is no viable way to make bar soap into an acceptable liquid soap. Lather is poor and the consistency is not what most people would consider even fair. Sorry there is no better option.


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## iggymon (Jun 30, 2015)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Take the slivers and stick them to the new bar - just leave them wet on top of the wet bar and let it dry.



Hi Efficacious, that I do now and it works most of the time. 



Dorymae said:


> Take an old clean knee high pantyhose and put in your soap scraps - tie the top and use as you would your loofa.
> 
> Unfortunately there really is no viable way to make bar soap into an acceptable liquid soap. Lather is poor and the consistency is not what most people would consider even fair. Sorry there is no better option.



Well now, that I have not done. I'll have to raid someone's unmentionables drawer. Har. 

But yes, the consistency of liquified bar soap is just not pleasant, but I was willing to live with it if I could get it to lather. C'est la vie.8)

Is there a way to convert the liquid soap back to a solid form? :think:

Can you tell I'm trying to salvage this batch? 

Har. Now I have a bottle of glycerin and no knowledge of how to use it up since I just am not up to the commitment of becoming a from scratch soap maker. 

Thanks y'all. 

Iggymon, 06-30-15, 615p

Bleerg.


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## Susie (Jul 1, 2015)

If it is truly liquid, then probably not.  If I were to try, however, I would probably pour it into a plastic container that I could leave open to air and wait for evaporation to take place.  It will take so long, however, that I am afraid you will have nasties growing in there before it gets even to paste consistency.


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## iggymon (Jul 2, 2015)

Susie said:


> If it is truly liquid, then probably not.  If I were to try, however, I would probably pour it into a plastic container that I could leave open to air and wait for evaporation to take place.  It will take so long, however, that I am afraid you will have nasties growing in there before it gets even to paste consistency.



We are of a mind Susie, evaporation is in progress. But I'll re-cap the bottles after a few more days and call it done. 

I'm going to look up other uses for glycerin in the meantime. 

Sorry all, for taking up bandwidth with my question, because it would appear this place is for discussing soap from scratch only. I appreciate the replies and help offered nonetheless. Cheers!:smile:


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