# Adding Water to Premade Base



## Soapsense (Oct 20, 2015)

So I haven't made the plunge to make my own Liquid soap yet.  I bought a base from Wholesale Supplies.  It is a little too thick for the foamer tops, which according to questions on their website this is a problem.  So here is my question, if I add distilled water to the base + preservative, do I calculate my percentage of perservative on the total of base + water, or just the additional water?


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## Susie (Oct 20, 2015)

If you aren't selling the soap, you need not use preservative.  I never do, and I have a small bottle of diluted liquid soap that is over 2 years old.


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## DeeAnna (Oct 20, 2015)

Susie has a valid point. If you decide to use a preservative, however, the dosage is always based on the total weight of product being preserved. Be sure to use a preservative that can handle the high pH of soap -- I use liquid Germall Plus.

ETA: I read your post more closely. You would still calculate the dosage based on the total weight, even though the base may have its own preservative. The function of a preservative is based on concentration, so if you don't get the concentration high enough, the preservative won't be effective. That said, you do have some flexibility -- I might base the dosage of my preservative using the mid to lower end of the recommended dosage range. 

For example (speaking from memory, so don't assume I'm right), I think Liquid Germall Plus has a recommended dosage range of 0.2% to 0.5%. I usually use 0.5%, but if I were adding LGP to something that was contributing its own preservative, I might use 0.3% of LGP or something like that.


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## Soapsense (Oct 20, 2015)

Thank you everyone, it is actually for Christmas gifts, so not selling but still not using it for myself.  This is the kind I bought
http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/creamy-hand-body-wash-for-foamer-bottles.aspx  I asked what preservative they would suggest
in the questions for this product, they replied Optiphen plus or Germaben II, I liked that Optiphen plus is paraben free, but it says it is only effective
up to a PH of 6.  I will look at the Germall Plus. Everyone is so helpful here.  I just want piece of mind that I am not giving my family and friends anything bad.


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## DeeAnna (Oct 20, 2015)

I see this base is a synthetic detergent blend, so it might well have a pH low enough for Germaben II or Optiphen Plus to be effective. The MSDS doesn't show the pH, so I'd say you are going to have to trust the WSP staff to give you a good answer regarding what preservative would work best.

That said, do you have a sense of how much more water you need to add to get the foaming action you want? I've been thinking until your last post that you would be diluting with quite a bit of water, as is usual for lye-based LS paste. But that might not be true -- have you had a chance to do any tests to figure this out?


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## Soapsense (Oct 20, 2015)

DeeAnna, yes I Added by weight, 2 oz of water to 6 oz of the Wash, and it greatly improved the foam where I was satisfied with it.


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## DeeAnna (Oct 20, 2015)

My gut feel is that I'd base the dosage of added preservative on the entire weight of product (base + water), but I would use a % that's on the lower end of the recommended range. 

I'd also wait for a bit to see if someone else chimes in with their suggestion, because I don't have a lot of experience with this type of situation. My experience is based more on using preservative in my homemade diluted LS.


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