# Look at this!!!!



## Smee (Mar 11, 2013)

One jar of plain ol' LIQUID (well, so far it's still liquid) soap
One jar of bergamot-lemon (not too fond of it now that it's blended into
the soap, and it clouded somewhat)
And one jar of good ol' lemon scented! 
:clap:

I used a simple coconut & olive oil recipe as a first-time attempt.


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## Badger (Mar 12, 2013)

Those look wonderful!  I would love to try making some liquid soaps after I get used to CP.  I bet they smell wonderful as well.  I like Bergamot and Lemon, sory it is a bit discolored... did you make them all at the same time and the scent them?  I am just curious why only one of them is cloudy...


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## lsg (Mar 12, 2013)

Nice clear soap.


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## melstan775 (Mar 12, 2013)

Wow cool.  I thought they were color infusions at first.  Good job!


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## Smee (Mar 12, 2013)

Update:  they're all clear as bells this morning.  YAY!  I made one batch
and divided it before scenting each.  No colors added.  That's what
color the batch cooked into.  I LOVE bergamot-lime, but didn't have
enough FO so had to substitute with lemon, which I liked when I mixed it.  
Don't know why it doesn't appeal as much now that it's in the soap. oh well

And now to try something a little more complicated!  Jojoba shampoo
maybe??

You're next, Badger!


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## houseofwool (Mar 12, 2013)

Smee, what recipe did you use?  I am tempted to try liquid soap to use for washing dishes.  I think I prefer it to using my bar soap, but I really prefer to have complete control over what is in the soap.  (Yep, no issues here.)


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## ruby61 (Mar 12, 2013)

I have never done liquid soap!  Great job1


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## Smee (Mar 12, 2013)

This is my first attempt, ruby, that's why I'm so tickled about it turning out well  :shock:


HouseofWool, I used the "All around cleaning soap" listed here:
http://chickensintheroad.com/house/crafts/how-to-make-liquid-soap/

I don't remember who it was here that posted this link, but I found it pretty helpful.
So, THANK YOU! to whoever you are!  :wave:


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## Badger (Mar 12, 2013)

I am glad the third one cleared up for you! They are awesome  Do these need preservatives or what kind of shelf life do they have?  I love my soaps in the shower, but I often prefer liquid soaps at the sink.  Also, how does this work or differ from dish soap? Am I asking too many questions? ;-)


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## Smee (Mar 12, 2013)

Dear Badger, to answer your many questions, I have no idea  :shh:

I didn't put a preservative in them only because it wasn't listed in the
recipe.  I'm debating about a bit of Germall tho.  And I just finished
turning about 3 oz of the plain into milk shampoo derived from a recipe
in a soaping101 video LSG (I think?) posted elsewhere.  I think it turned
out fabulous!  Used heavy cream instead of coconut milk.  I've never ever
been able to comb & blowdry my hair without tons of conditioner before.

update:  Wait, I found it.  LSG posted the soaping101 vid on how to make
liquid castile, and I followed that to the following week's vid on how to
make shampoo from the castile.  see it here: 
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/liquid-soap-preservative-necessary-32752/  )
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/liquid-soap-preservative-necessary-32752/http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/liquid-soap-preservative-necessary-32752/


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## Badger (Mar 12, 2013)

Thank you for the link and the answers!  I love how helpful everyone here is


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## Mildreds.naturals (Mar 13, 2013)

Smee said:


> This is my first attempt, ruby, that's why I'm so tickled about it turning out well  :shock:
> 
> 
> HouseofWool, I used the "All around cleaning soap" listed here:
> ...



Below is the recipe but does your soap dry out your skin? it's nearly half coconut! also, did you superfat at 3%? How far did you dilute it? My soap with high amounts of coconut keep making my hands feel dry after  it's very disheartening because I love making clear soap but everyone says that I don't need to add more than 20% coconut to keep me from drying out. I really don't see as much bubbles. I actually bought a bottle of the Dr. Bronner's soap so I could compare. There seems to be a lot more bubbles and, yep, that made my skin feel somewhat dry also. It's so runny also.  I would like to get more cleaning power though :/. I'm glad to hear it cleared up later after adding the fragrance. I added lemongrass to one and it clouded up too. Took a week or so for it to clear up. I probably should have added some glycerin (and I added the oils after the soap was done and in a bottle)

Oils
23 ounces coconut oil
25 ounces olive oil
Lye Solution
12 ounces potassium hydroxide
36 ounces distilled water


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## Mildreds.naturals (Mar 14, 2013)

Smee said:


> One jar of plain ol' LIQUID (well, so far it's still liquid) soap
> One jar of bergamot-lemon (not too fond of it now that it's blended into
> the soap, and it clouded somewhat)
> And one jar of good ol' lemon scented!
> ...



Did you go the glycerin route when making the KOH solution or use water?

I love making it with Glycerin. Sooooooo easy and no standing and stirring! lol.
THe shampoo-coconut recipe from the soaping 101 video...  I did find the liquid glycerin recipe to be very conditioning but the amount of bubbles in the soap for her recipe in the video were laughable. I wouldn't use it for anything but hand soap :/. Also, did it neutralize fairly easily? did you have to cook it for long? I've learned to print my recipies from soapcal.net and take notes as i'm going along.


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## Smee (Mar 15, 2013)

Mildreds.naturals said:


> Did you go the glycerin route when making the KOH solution or use water?
> 
> I love making it with Glycerin. Sooooooo easy and no standing and stirring! lol.
> THe shampoo-coconut recipe from the soaping 101 video...  I did find the liquid glycerin recipe to be very conditioning but the amount of bubbles in the soap for her recipe in the video were laughable. I wouldn't use it for anything but hand soap :/. Also, did it neutralize fairly easily? did you have to cook it for long? I've learned to print my recipies from soapcal.net and take notes as i'm going along.



Sorry, I guess I missed this yesterday.  No, I used distilled water for my 
first attempt.  Does the glycerin & KOH release toxic fumes like water &
NaOH?  I know it can boil up rapidly, but I'm leary of trying it until I
know for sure due to having birds in my home.  They're pretty sensitive
to stuff like that, and I can't exactly move the stove out to the garage roblem:
...can I?

Anyway, yes, the original batch did seem rather drying, so I've added a
good bit of glycerin, which made a huge difference.  The bubbles aren't
worth writing home about, like you said, tho. I guess it neutralized
easily, but I have nothing to compare it to.  It cooked about 4 hours,
just like the recipe estimated.  All in all, I was pretty tickled with the
results.  My goal here was to actually DO this, as I've been avoiding 
it because I thought it was so hard, and so complicated.
(and I didn't have a crock pot  )  I did print off the instructions, and
jotted weights & observations & such so I'll know what I want to
change next time I make this...and I think I will make it again, but
with less coconut and more olive or another oil added, and...
oh yeah, here I go already!

Thanks for the encouragement, Mildred!


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## craftgirl08 (Mar 16, 2013)

Thank you so very much for sharing the liquid soap recipe.  I read the lady's story and that is so inspiring.  Thanks again!


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## VanessaP (Mar 16, 2013)

Smee said:


> Sorry, I guess I missed this yesterday.  No, I used distilled water for my
> first attempt.  Does the glycerin & KOH release toxic fumes like water &
> NaOH?  I know it can boil up rapidly, but I'm leary of trying it until I
> know for sure due to having birds in my home.  They're pretty sensitive
> ...



I didn't smell very much coming off it at all. Nowhere near like what NaOH releases. Very little in the way of fumes.


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## Smee (Mar 16, 2013)

Good to know.  Thanks, Vanessa!


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## Mildreds.naturals (Mar 17, 2013)

Smee said:


> it can boil up rapidly, but I'm leary of trying it until I
> know for sure due to having birds in my home.
> 
> Anyway, yes, the original batch did seem rather drying, so I've added a
> ...



Yay! i'm glad your first experience went well 

Now tell me, what percentage of glycerin did you add to the diluted soap? I'm hearing 5% of your diluted soap is standard and have wondered what happens if you add more? If anyone can give me some insight here, i'd appreciate it.

I know I just posted about the soaping 101 recipe for glycerin castile soap, but I think I need to take some of that back . I posted a new topic asking about sequestering. The recipe didn't seem to produce any real bubbles but that was a batch I made a couple weeks ago. I tried the soap, was dissapointed with the amount of bubbles/cleaning power and set it aside. I tried the soap again today, for whatever reason, and it actually was quite nice! I had to really work hard to get a lather but once I got it, I rather liked it.  So let them puppies sit in their jars for a couple weeks. I thought sequestering was only to allow the soap to clear up but I guess not. Please take a look at that thread and comment if you all will so as not to hijack your celebration of a first liquid soap!

First, a warning about glycerin. While water boils at 212 degrees, Glycerin will not. Glycerin can get much hotter and be perfectly still. I burned the **** out of my hand with a spec of glycerin that was beyond 220 degrees. Also, as you add in the KOH to the Glycerin do it slowly. That soap 101 chick put all that KOH nearly all at once. You saw her remove it from the hot plate in the video? I think because it overflowed! lol. Anyhow, add the koh slowly and just do it over the stove with the fan on, You can heat up the glycerin in a microwave safe bowl, take it outside and mix it if you like. Once it's all incorporated you should fine to come back in after a few minutes. I know birds are very sensitive to things in the air (I own a non-toxic housekeeping service). I would do a 2 to 1 glycerin to KOH ratio. You'll be amazed how much easier it is using glycerin in place of water. The whole process is cut in half.  You will not work your hand blender so hard either. By the way, I bought some cheap-ass immersion blender on amazon, a Hamilton beach off-label one for around $15 and I melted it! LOL, the Glycerin got to be about 300% and I didn't let it cool down before adding it in. I actually contacted Hamilton beach to tell them the blender "stopped working" (it did, but they never asked why or how hehe) and they sent me a new one. All I had to do was email them a picture of the device showing I had cut the power cord. I was not required to return anything. I purchased this blender for half off! It's still on sale if you guys want one.

I noticed if you make a recipe that has between 25-35% coconut, yeah it's drying but if you dilute it to around 20% it's not as drying.


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## VanessaP (Mar 17, 2013)

Yeah, for glycerin-based liquid soap, you really should invest in a SB that has a stainless steel shaft. I use the $20 Hamilton Beach from Walmart - has a SS shaft. The price on Amazon (as long as its sold by Amazon) is the normal price they sell it for


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## Smee (Mar 17, 2013)

Mildred, reading my notes and cipherin' in my head, I did aprx 5% glycerin after I had
finished & cooled my batch because it did feel too drying.  Later, once I'd mixed some in
a foaming dispenser, I added a good bit more, which really did make it feel much
nicer...how much?  I confess, I dunno. Just kept squirting & trying, squirting & trying
until I liked how my hands felt - this was over the course of several hours, not one
continuous experiment.
I have also added quite a bit to a shampoo I mixed up.  Again, this was more play-time
for me, and I didn't weigh everything.  Figured if I didn't like what I got, I'd start a new
bottle, as I was playing with about 8 oz of soap for each thing I tried.

But it was definitely at least 10% or more glycerin that I've added, and have been pretty happy with the results.

Keep in mind, Mildred, that I have nothing to compare to.  YET! :mrgreen:

And yes, I so want to do the glycerin for my next batch instead of water.
I will definitely do the microwave method you mentioned.  Thanks!


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## Lindy (Mar 17, 2013)

Smee your soaps look fantastic!  Well done....


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## Smee (Mar 17, 2013)

Awww, thank you, Lindy.  That is very nice of you to say  :wave:


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## AngelMomma (Mar 17, 2013)

Thats pretty neat!  I would love to make my own dish soap liquid.


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## Lindy (Mar 17, 2013)

I think the problem for me with dish soap is that I want something that is going to break grease.  Someone was making dish soap here in town and it just didn't do the job.....


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## Smee (Mar 17, 2013)

I mixed a bottle's (16 oz?) worth of the batch I made from chickensintheroad with
orange, lemon & lime eo's (Smells sooo fresh - love it)  and have used it for dishes a
couple times.  It works.  Not worth writin' home about, and I haven't had any greasy or
heavy-duty dirty dishes yet, but it cleaned the glasses & coffee cups, lunch plates &
such.  It's definitely not "Dawn", tho.  I wonder if adding more borax would up the
cleaning...?


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## Lindy (Mar 17, 2013)

Not sure.  I know of one soapmaker that adds something like kerosene to clean grease out of clothes as well as dishes.  Not ready to go there yet.  What about adding stearic acid to the recipe and making a dedicated dish soap?


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## Smee (Mar 17, 2013)

Stearic acid?  Hmmm...You think?  I happen to have some...I wonder...

(p.s. thread drift - I love your avatar.  That looks like the perfect shade of lavender from here)


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## Lindy (Mar 17, 2013)

Thank you.... it's a mix of Pop Grape and blue to create the colour.  I do oil painting as well and love mixing colours.  Sometimes it works and sometimes not so much.... LOL


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