# Distilled water vs tap water vs mineral water ?



## summerflyy

I haven't found any threads on the forum regarding this (I may have missed out on it though) so I thought I should ask. 

I know in soapmaking, most recipes would recommend or call for distilled water. But I was just wondering why not tap water or mineral water and what difference would it make ? 

I know there might be some issues with soft/hard water though I don't know how that would affect the process. 

And in the UK, I know the water is chlorinated. So if I were to use tap water, is it okay to run the water through a filter first ????? 

Thanks !


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## Dahila

Some people use tap water for soap , some distilled.  I use distilled for soap and lotions and everything else.  In States and Canada we have chlorinated water too) If you are new in soap making buy distilled one.  It is very cheap.  I buy it in grocery stores.  In Europe I always got it in Pharmacy, but now is probably everywhere


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## hmlove1218

I use my tap water for my soaps when I use water. I have well water. I figure if there's anything in the water, it has a very slim chance of surviving the lye.

I use distilled for lotions just to cut down on any chance of contamination.


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## Confused_Penguin

I use distilled water for my soaps because there might be impurities in the tap water that will go on the lye and float on top or something. I guess you can always strain them. I read somewhere that using tap water might lead to DOS but I'm not sure about that. Better safe than sorry for me so I use distilled-- its inexpensive and buying one lasts me like 10 batches of soap so its all good haha.


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## kchaystack

Yeah it is not organisms I would worry about with tap water, but how whatever is dissolved in the water will react with your lye and what kind of compounds it would produce.


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## biarine

In UK you can buy a purified water in Sainsbury Pharmacy where I got mine or even in boots too.


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## DeeAnna

Dissolved minerals -- copper and calcium being two culprits, per Kevin Dunn -- are known to increase the rate of oxidation of fats and fatty acids. So there is good reason to believe some tap water can be a trigger for DOS.

Dissolved minerals -- magnesium and calcium in particular -- are the "hard water" minerals. If hard water is used to make soap, some of your soap will be magnesium and calcium soaps. These insoluble soaps are the "hard water scum" that leaves a sticky film on your skin and bath tub. If you have a water softener or naturally soft water, this is not going to be as much of a problem.

If you make liquid soap (made with KOH, not NaOH), try diluting part of your soap paste with hard tap water and diluting another part with distilled water. The difference will be marked -- the hard water dilution will be cloudy and the distilled water dilution will be crystal clear.


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## summerflyy

Thank you everyone ! I understand now and I'll stick to using distilled water. 

I have a water filter though, but I think distilled water might be a safer bet ! Or I could try to make the same batch for both and see how they compare !


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## Karen81

I usually use normal bottled water but the other day I used tap water by accident and I ended up with salt crystals on the top (the water is taken from the sea over here) I scrapped them all off but now I'm thinking it might be a good selling point


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## AMyers

I use RO water.  (We installed an RO system years ago, when we were cultivating a marine aquarium.  It became too high-maintenance, and we got rid of the aquarium a couple years later.  I'm happy to have a use for the system again)
I haven't tried tap water, because it's pretty chemical heavy from treatment around here.


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## boyago

In regards to the question of mineral water, it seems you'd just be adding more of the things that I worry about (soap scum ect).  I've heard some chatter about mineral content making sulfur/funk smells bloom in soap as a reaction with the lye and possibly FOs/EOs.  Does anybody have anything thoughts on this?


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## DeeAnna

I suppose it's possible you could get off odors in soap from high sulfur water, but unless the water is really rank, I'd think it's more likely these odors are coming from other ingredients. The use of milk, egg, and other additives that contain proteins (and sulfur) can create some pretty stinky smells when making soap.

This issue boils down (pun intended) to the quality of your particular water, your tolerance for variability, and the evidence (or not) of any problems in your soap that could be related to water purity. If you use tap water and you don't see any problems with your soap and you don't mind the idea of a little chemistry hanky-panky possibly going on between your lye and your water ... well, then, what's to complain about, hey? :crazy:

I'm not that way. I know I can't control everything about my soaping, but I try to keep reasonable tabs on the variables I can control. If I make beer soap, I know the beer may have been brewed with "spring water" or whatever, and I accept this as one of the facts of the game. When I specifically add water, however, I choose to use distilled water. Just me....


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## Cambridgearomatherapy

Unless there is a source for distilled water where I can get refills, I won't use it as buying water in bottles invariably means getting it in plastic which is damaging to the environment. I collect and filter rainwater for anything I don't want to use tap water for.


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## shunt2011

Cambridgearomatherapy said:


> Unless there is a source for distilled water where I can get refills, I won't use it as buying water in bottles invariably means getting it in plastic which is damaging to the environment. I collect and filter rainwater for anything I don't want to use tap water for.



This post is over 3 years old. Feel free to start a new thread but please don’t pull up old threads as in most cases the majority of posters are no longer here.   It’s considered necroposting and is in the stickies of things to know about the forum.


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## Cambridgearomatherapy

Sorry will avoid this in future.  For some reason the thread appeared on the page and I didn't notice how old it was. Will be more careful.


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## DeeAnna

The problem with rain water is that it's not always as clean as you would like it. Sure, it won't have hard water minerals in it, but anything in the air that can dissolve in water is fair game. Especially if you live in an area of high population, your rain water is almost certainly contaminated to some degree with industrial and urban pollutants.


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