# Solid dishsoap recipe



## min (Nov 4, 2018)

Hi,

I would like to make a solid dish soap using  palm shortening as the main oil, it being the cheapest that I can get.

I have tried making the soap using a 20/80 mix of  palm kernel oil/palm shortening but the soap is brittle.
I would appreciate if anyone has any experience or any recipe of solid dish soap cold process.

Thank you.
min


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## BattleGnome (Nov 4, 2018)

Can you post your exact recipe and methods? It helps to know exactly what you’ve done so we don’t ask you to repeat a bad recipe. Also: individual molds or a loaf? How long did you wait to cut? Any scents, colors, or anything else? What are the ingredients on your palm shortening? Sometimes there’s a filler oil mixed in to lower costs, that unknown may be the easy answer to your question.

I don’t make my own dish soap but I think others here have. I know I’ve read some threads about it in the past. If you can answer the questions it will help someone who has made dish soap adapt a recipe to your needs.


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## Lin19687 (Nov 4, 2018)

You will get more answers if you post this in the Beginners forum and/or the Recipe thread.
Also might want to search in the recipe thread to see if there is a posting about using Palm in high amounts.
Google search :  https://www.google.com/search?clien...1j33i22i29i30j33i10j33i299j33i160.V8N3nja1XWw


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## min (Nov 4, 2018)

Thank you for responding BattleGnome and Lin19687.  That was my first question upon joining the forum.
I was at a lost as to where I should post the question then. I will post this in the Beginners forum/ Recipe Thread as advised.

Thank you again.

post moved


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## Lye-h20-oil (Nov 22, 2018)

I want a dish bar recipe too. Please let us know if you find a good recipe.


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## SaltedFig (Nov 22, 2018)

A low superfat, high cleansing recipe would suffice (if you are wearing gloves), so a simple 100% coconut soap would work well enough. If you are using your bare hands to wash, then adding an oil that makes a milder soap can help (I use more olive if I am using it for a hand-washing without gloves - olive oil soap is quite soluable, as is coconut soap, so you don't have to work too hard to get the water all soapy).


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## lsg (Nov 23, 2018)

If you have access to palm oil, then you probably have access to palm kernel oil, which can be used as a sub for coconut oil.  Make sure to run your recipe through a lye calculator.


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## Lye-h20-oil (Nov 23, 2018)

I recently tried zote soap to wash dishes. It did a great job but unfortunately I had a skin rection on my hands from it. The reason I need a bar soap for dishes is because I'm allergic to preservatives in commercial liquid soaps. I know I could just wear gloves but they are awkwardly bulky, I can't feel if the dishes are rinsed well, they get holes, roll down and I still end up with water in the gloves. Zote has 66% beef tallow and the other ingredients are coconut oil, citronella, optical brightners and fragrance. I will not be adding citronella and I have no clue what they add as optical brightners or fragrance. I'm not sure how easy it will be to find beef tallow but I have easy access to Lard. Is there a big difference between beef tallow and lard as far as cleaning properties? Should I go the extra mile and hunt down beef tallow to wash dishes? Also If I add borax to this bar would that be a mistake? Is that harsh on hands? Coconut oil will be my other oil.


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## Saponificarian (Nov 23, 2018)

I use beef Tallow @ 60% and coconut @ 40% with a negative super fat of -5 for dish soap. I use Tallow because it doesn't get 'mushy'. I have a 6 year old who likes to  spend 5-10minutes washing her plate and a 2 year old who likes to make bubbles with soap, uses every opportunity to wash her hands and I hate mushy soap so Tallow it is. Palm would work as well but it won't be as hard as Tallow. I don't use Lard so can't help with that. Why not try a 1lb batch and see if it works. Experimenting is half the fun with soaping, Playing with fragrance and colors, that's the other half


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## Lye-h20-oil (Nov 23, 2018)

Saponificarian said:


> I use beef Tallow @ 60% and coconut @ 40% with a negative super fat of -5 for dish soap. I use Tallow because it doesn't get 'mushy'. I have a 6 year old who likes to  spend 5-10minutes washing her plate and a 2 year old who likes to make bubbles with soap, uses every opportunity to wash her hands and I hate mushy soap so Tallow it is. Palm would work as well but it won't be as hard as Tallow. I don't use Lard so can't help with that. Why not try a 1l
> 
> 
> Saponificarian said:
> ...


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## Lye-h20-oil (Nov 23, 2018)

I 100% failed at quoting your reply. Not sure how to fix it. Hope you see the question.


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## Saponificarian (Nov 23, 2018)

Why not 16oz total of oil, just in case you don’t like it. If you do like it, you can always make more. 

For 16oz of oil

Lard @60% => 0.6 x 16 = 9.6oz
Coconut @40% => 0.4 x 16 = 6.4oz 
Total = 16oz of oil. Enter it into a soap calculator at -1 super fat, just cos you are a newbie  and get the appropriate lye and Water amount. 

I hope my explanation make sense. It’s 10:22pm here so I am beat but let me know if you have any question.


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## Lye-h20-oil (Nov 23, 2018)

Saponificarian said:


> Why not 16oz total of oil, just in case you don’t like it. If you do like it, you can always make more.
> 
> For 16oz of oil
> 
> ...


Thank you! You just saved me 4 weeks of waisted time and material. I will definitely take your advice on the one lb batch. Thank you, thank you!


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## DawninWA (Nov 26, 2018)

I took all my soap scraps and put them in a mold, then made a 50% lard, 50% coconut, -10% superfat (trying to negate the superfat in the scrap soap), and poured it in.  Makes an excellent dish soap, and so pretty


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## earlene (Nov 26, 2018)

*DawninWA*, they are quite pretty.  Did you use a chelator?   I find that without one, there is just too much soap scum, at least with our water.  Even with a water softener, we still need a chelator in our soap.


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## DawninWA (Nov 26, 2018)

No, and honestly, I was expecting soap scum.  But there is none, as long as they're washed by hand, they dry clear and residue free.  If I try and put real soap (liquid or shredded bar) in the dishwasher, there's a film on everything.  This soap works far better for hand washing dishes than I expected.


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## lsg (Nov 27, 2018)

Do you have soft water?  Our water is so hard that cp soap is not an option for dish washing.


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## DeeAnna (Nov 27, 2018)

If the water turns milky, that's the visible sign of soap scum. But there's light soap scum and there's bad soap scum, and there's hard water and there's HARD water. How you use the soap will also affect how much scum stays on stuff.

I've been feeling puzzled as I read this thread -- I've been wondering how people use a solid bar for washing dishes. I wouldn't think it would be practical to add soap to the dishwater itself -- I remember my grandmother paring curls off a bar of her 100% lard soap and dropping them into the hot water in her wringer washer. The process was time consuming, and the lard soap was not terribly effective at cleaning clothes. She didn't use washing soda to soften the laundry water either. Over time, soap scum built up in the fabric and left it yellowed, stiff, and scratchy. 

For dishes, I guess the way I'd use bar soap is to rub the bar on the washcloth and then use the cloth to wash the dishes. Is that how y'all do it? If so, that might explain some of why you're not seeing much scum on the dishes. You're keeping the scum from depositing on each dish with the scrubbing process. A chelator would be helpful for washing dishes this way. 

If you add the soap directly to a basin of water, a chelator won't be as helpful -- you can't pack enough chelator in soap to soften a large amount of hard water. It would be better to add washing soda to the dish water instead, just like you'd do for laundry water.


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## Saponificarian (Nov 27, 2018)

@DeeAnna, I hand wash plates so I make a 60% Tallow with PKO and Coconut and add 10% Washing soda with -5 super fat. I run Water over the soap, lather with a sponge and then use the sponge to wash plates. If the plates are oily or extremely dirty, I repeat the lather, wash cycle like twice or thrice.


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## Lye-h20-oil (Nov 29, 2018)

Saponificarian said:


> @DeeAnna, I hand wash plates so I make a 60% Tallow with PKO and Coconut and add 10% Washing soda with -5 super fat. I run Water over the soap, lather with a sponge and then use the sponge to wash plates. If the plates are oily or extremely dirty, I repeat the lather, wash cycle like twice or thrice.


I made a tiny batch last night. It's been about 12 hours. It smells like lard...will the smell go away?


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## Saponificarian (Nov 29, 2018)

Lye-h20-oil said:


> I made a tiny batch last night. It's been about 12 hours. It smells like lard...will the smell go away?


 I am sorry but I don’t use Lard. I use Tallow and my Tallow soap just smell like soap. I am guessing you didn’t use fragrance?


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## Lye-h20-oil (Nov 29, 2018)

Saponificarian said:


> I am sorry but I don’t use Lard. I use Tallow and my Tallow soap just smell like soap. I am guessing you didn’t use fragrance?


I remembered you said you use tallow after I posted this question. I just cut it and the smell already seems to be less...maybe I'm becoming desensitized to it or it really is going to be ok. I'm definitely staying away from fragrance right now. The chemical preservatives that trigger my allergy could be in any random fragrance and I have not researched safe fragrances that I can use. It would have to be 100% preservative free. Hopefully staying away from the preservatives will reboot my system and I will not be so sensitive to it....I hope.


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## earlene (Nov 29, 2018)

How each of us responds to the lard odor is really hard to determine.  Some of us can smell it no matter how old or new the soap.  So the answer to your question really depends on your nose.  Some folks don't smell it ever.  Some smell it no matter what.  And variables in between.  With or without added fragrance.

Sorry, that may not be what you were looking for, but only time will tell how your nose responds.


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## SaltedFig (Nov 29, 2018)

For dishes, we used a soap shaker like this one.
It's just a simple wire cage that flipped open to put soap ends in, and is used to swish vigorously in the dish water to make it soapy.
The dishes are rinsed after washing.

There's a lady in NZ who sells a locally made modern variety of the soap shaker.


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## DeeAnna (Nov 29, 2018)

I think I've seen a few (a very few) of these soap swishers here in the midwestern US. Didn't know what they were for, though.


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## KiwiMoose (Dec 1, 2018)

DeeAnna said:


> I've been feeling puzzled as I read this thread -- I've been wondering how people use a solid bar for washing dishes. I wouldn't think it would be practical to add soap to the dishwater itself -- I remember my grandmother paring curls off a bar of her 100% lard soap and dropping them into the hot water
> .


DeeAnna, when we were kids we only had solid soap for dishes. Mum had a metal ‘cage’ with a long handle and we would pop the soap inside, latch the lid, and shake it under the running hot water until the water was all bubbly.

Whoops! I should read all the other replies before posting, huh?


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## Relle (Dec 2, 2018)

SaltedFig said:


> For dishes, we used a soap shaker like this one.
> It's just a simple wire cage that flipped open to put soap ends in, and is used to swish vigorously in the dish water to make it soapy.
> The dishes are rinsed after washing.
> 
> ...


The price for that soap cage is a little scary . I remember the yellow sunlight soap hardening on the window sills before they put it in the soap cage.


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## lsg (Dec 2, 2018)

Many people in the United States used to have cisterns, which caught rain water from house guttering.  So, they had soft water which worked well with bar soap.


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## SaltedFig (Dec 2, 2018)

Relle said:


> The price for that soap cage is a little scary . I remember the yellow sunlight soap hardening on the window sills before they put it in the soap cage.



Very! (That's why I haven't purchased one )

I'd forgotten the obligatory sunlight soap! ... it used to get the most impressive cracks too


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## Relle (Dec 2, 2018)

SaltedFig said:


> Very! (That's why I haven't purchased one )
> 
> I'd forgotten the obligatory sunlight soap! ... it used to get the most impressive cracks too



There was one in Nundle for $37.95, even that's too expensive, but it came with a bar of soap.


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## winusuren (May 23, 2022)

Saponificarian said:


> I use beef Tallow @ 60% and coconut @ 40% with a negative super fat of -5 for dish soap. I use Tallow because it doesn't get 'mushy'. I have a 6 year old who likes to  spend 5-10minutes washing her plate and a 2 year old who likes to make bubbles with soap, uses every opportunity to wash her hands and I hate mushy soap so Tallow it is. Palm would work as well but it won't be as hard as Tallow. I don't use Lard so can't help with that. Why not try a 1lb batch and see if it works. Experimenting is half the fun with soaping, Playing with fragrance and colors, that's the other half


@Saponificarian
What is negative superfat?? Won't the soap be lye heavy?? Incase you use palmolein, at what percentage do you recommend for a dish soap??


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## Saponificarian (May 23, 2022)

winusuren said:


> @Saponificarian
> What is negative superfat?? Won't the soap be lye heavy?? Incase you use palmolein, at what percentage do you recommend for a dish soap??


Yes, it will be lye heavy but that is deliberate. I want it as hard and as cleansing as possible, but still safe for handling for my kids.

Palmolein would work as well, just won't be as hard as tallow and will wear away faster.


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## Zany_in_CO (May 23, 2022)

Honestly? You can use any soap you have on hand to wash dishes using the soap-on-a-sponge method. I would *not* add Washing Soda to the wash water cuz it is too caustic for my hands. However, any *water softener* like Borax or Calgon (I use the liquid) in the wash water would help with increasing suds and reducing scum. It is also milder to the hands if you don't want to wear gloves. BTW, I wear a glove on one hand that does the washing; the other hand holds the dish or glass better so it doesn't slip out and break.


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## winusuren (May 25, 2022)

Saponificarian said:


> Yes, it will be lye heavy but that is deliberate. I want it as hard and as cleansing as possible, but still safe for handling for my kids.
> 
> Palmolein would work as well, just won't be as hard as tallow and will wear away faster.


Yes but in India we don't use any animal fats. I'm planning to make a dish soap with 50% coconut oil, 40% palmolein and the rest a combination of castor and neem oil for its antibacterial properties, soapnut lye solution with citric acid(gonna use for the 1st time) & 0% superfat. Will this workout??


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## Saponificarian (May 25, 2022)

winusuren said:


> Yes but in India we don't use any animal fats. I'm planning to make a dish soap with 50% coconut oil, 40% palmolein and the rest a combination of castor and neem oil for its antibacterial properties, soapnut lye solution with citric acid(gonna use for the 1st time) & 0% superfat. Will this workout??


I would suggest 40% Coconut oil and 60% Palmolein. Leave the castor and neem, they won’t be needed here. Try a small batch and tweak from there. Yes, the citric acid is a good idea to help with hard water. Account for the fact that the citric acid will consume some lye to form sodium citrate.


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## winusuren (May 25, 2022)

Saponificarian said:


> I would suggest 40% Coconut oil and 60% Palmolein. Leave the castor and neem, they won’t be needed here. Try a small batch and tweak from there. Yes, the citric acid is a good idea to help with hard water. Account for the fact that the citric acid will consume some lye to form sodium citrate.


Thank you so much for your suggestion.I'll make a batch and let you know how it came out. How about the cure time? Can we use it in 2 days or we've to cure them for 4 to 6 weeks to know the results?

Actually I've already tried making a 100% palmolein soap with 0% super fat for laundry few months back. It's rock hard and cleans very well but it doesn't lather and leaves an oily feeling in hands but not in clothes.


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## Saponificarian (May 28, 2022)

winusuren said:


> Thank you so much for your suggestion.I'll make a batch and let you know how it came out. How about the cure time? Can we use it in 2 days or we've to cure them for 4 to 6 weeks to know the results?
> 
> Actually I've already tried making a 100% palmolein soap with 0% super fat for laundry few months back. It's rock hard and cleans very well but it doesn't lather and leaves an oily feeling in hands but not in clothes.


Awesome, let us know what you think with your test batch! Yes 100% Palmolein won’t be a great soap for laundry.  I love Palmolein!


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## The_Phoenix (May 28, 2022)

Honestly, I use any available bar of soap to use for washing dishes. They all work! Got an ugly batch of soap that just didn't come out as you had planned? Use it for washing dishes! I wet a Scotch Brite pad and roll a bar of soap around the pad then wash. I sf at 3% so an oily residue is never an issue.


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## The_Phoenix (May 28, 2022)

Zany_in_CO said:


> Honestly? You can use any soap you have on hand...


What she said.


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## winusuren (May 30, 2022)

Saponificarian said:


> Awesome, let us know what you think with your test batch! Yes 100% Palmolein won’t be a great soap for laundry.  I love Palmolein!
> [
> 
> 
> ...


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