# I made dish soap!!   That WORKS



## kdaniels8811 (Feb 28, 2016)

Not sure where I read this but someone posted somewhere about using potato water from boiling potatoes for the liquid in 100% coconut oil soap, 0% superfat, to make a grease cutting dish soap. I made some and just used it today. WOW!! 

I made beeswax lotion and you know what a pain it is to clean the pots. This liquid soap cut through the grease and even left my greasy plastic bowls clean.  

The picture shows the amazing amount of suds in my shiny clean lotion pot! I have made straight coconut oil soap and it has not cleaned dishes this well. The suds are still in the water a half hour later. I think this compares favorably with Dawn dishsoap!! (Note - the pan is full of suds before I rinsed, this pic is to show the lather).  I did not strain the potato water, I measured the amount and ran it through a lye calculator.  The liquid soap is sequestering but turned out nice and thick.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Feb 28, 2016)

That's an intriguing suggestion. Next time we make some potatoes I'll have to save the water. The Admirable Lady will think I'm losing my marbles, but that's nothing new!


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## dixiedragon (Feb 28, 2016)

That is interesting! So it works better than 100% coconut oil soap made with regular water? I wonder if you could add a small amount of potato flakes to some water, so you don't have to wait until you make potatoes? My dad is diabetic, so not a lot of potatoes in this house. *sigh*


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## Susie (Feb 28, 2016)

My (current) theory on this is that the complex carbohydrates breaking down into maltose is responsible for the lasting bubbles.  I am definitely going to try this.  Was the potato water used for the batch, or dilution?

ETA- Easy to understand article about simple vs complex carbohydrates:

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/carbs/simple-vs-complex-carbohydrates.html


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## cmzaha (Feb 28, 2016)

Susie said:


> My (current) theory on this is that the complex carbohydrates breaking down into maltose is responsible for the lasting bubbles.  I am definitely going to try this.  Was the potato water used for the batch, or dilution?
> 
> ETA- Easy to understand article about simple vs complex carbohydrates:
> 
> http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/carbs/simple-vs-complex-carbohydrates.html


I was going to say it is the sugar, lol, you just explained it better. 100% coconut soap is a fantastic cleaner on its own.


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## Seawolfe (Feb 28, 2016)

Maltose? So could one use the dried malt extract that can be used to brew beer? Heh or even "Goya" soda - which is unfermented malt. Hmm or maybe barley water for our UK soapers...

I mean, I use sugar in my dish soap, but this is interesting, very interesting.


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## kdaniels8811 (Feb 28, 2016)

Potato water was used for lye water, distilled water used for dilution.  I had tried 100% coconut oil soap for dish washing and it was disappointing.  This works much better.


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## ngian (Feb 28, 2016)

Well it is known as potato soap that some of the handmade soapmakers are marketing their soaps but I don't know if it is any better /different than by just adding plain sugar. 

Is it worth the boiling potato time?


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## Susie (Feb 28, 2016)

ngian said:


> Well it is known as potato soap that some of the handmade soapmakers are marketing their soaps but I don't know if it is any better /different than by just adding plain sugar.
> 
> Is it worth the boiling potato time?



Only one way to find out...


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## Obsidian (Feb 28, 2016)

I've used potato water and puree in CP soap before, it definitely added to the lather.


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## ngian (Feb 28, 2016)

Would the boiling of potato starch be the same? (and maybe leaving the flour into the soap batter)


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## DianaPopova (Mar 1, 2016)

Cool, congrats ! Hope one day I am experienced enough to do something like this, too


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## MySoapyHeart (Mar 1, 2016)

Interesting information, sounds like awesome soap, thanks for sharing. 

I assume the potatoes were peeled before cooking to get the starchy water? I just wanted to doubble check as I am going to make 0% SF soapsticks out of  coconut soap. Want to have something on hand for using on clothes that gets spots of grease on them. Hubby usually gets them on his black shirts, and I don`t want to shell out more doe on those sprays designated for spotcleaning. The added suds in your soap sounds great.

eta. I just realized you made liquid soap, but asume this would work on bar soap too.


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## DeeAnna (Mar 1, 2016)

Carolyn (cmzaha) warns about using soap sticks on colored fabric -- the alkaline soap can change the color. She says to test the stick first in an inconspicuous spot before using it on visible areas of the clothing. If treating spots on jeans and tee shirts, that might not be a big deal (it's not for me -- I use stain sticks too) but on a dark dress shirt ... might be a disaster. Maybe she will see this thread and share more details, cuz that's about all that stuck in my mind.


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## MySoapyHeart (Mar 1, 2016)

Thank you DeeAnna, apreciate the heads up! I have read something about that issue somewhere when I researched soap sticks and their uses, so I will be real carefull when testing them.


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## CaraBou (Mar 1, 2016)

I hope to give this a try.  I am not a fan of sudsless dish soap, handmade or otherwise.


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## IrishLass (Mar 2, 2016)

Hmmm.... spuds suds!  Another experiment to add to my list!


IrishLass


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Mar 2, 2016)

IrishLass said:


> Hmmm.... spuds suds!  Another experiment to add to my list!
> 
> 
> IrishLass




Quite. Imagine the bubbles when you're washing up after making more potatoes!


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## ngian (Mar 4, 2016)

Today I bought potato starch (potato flour) so as to test it against table sugar, sorbitol and honey at 5% so as to see if all these additives behave the same if used one at each bar. 
So for now I avoided boiling the potatoes


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## marlajune (Mar 15, 2016)

Coconut oil, KOH and potato water made the best cleaning, sudsing liquid soap I've ever made! I'm doing another batch with some leftover potato water. Love it!


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## kdaniels8811 (Mar 15, 2016)

I know, right?  I am amazed how well this stuff works.  No more Dawn for me.  This is so much fun!!


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## lisajudy2009 (Mar 17, 2016)

*Wow!*

This may be my first liquid soap! Can't wait to try!


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## marlajune (Mar 21, 2016)

kdaniels8811 said:


> I know, right?  I am amazed how well this stuff works.  No more Dawn for me.  This is so much fun!!



I gave a sample to my daughter and her husband to try-they totally agree:
this stuff works fantastic on grease!

I know coconut oil soap is supposedly hard on the hands but so far this potato water soap hasn't bothered my hands at all. 

I saw this first on the yahoo liquid soap forum but when you posted here I just knew I HAD to try it! Great stuff!


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## Arimara (Mar 22, 2016)

Seawolfe said:


> Maltose? So could one use the dried malt extract that can be used to brew beer? Heh or even "Goya" soda - which is unfermented malt. Hmm or maybe barley water for our UK soapers...
> 
> I mean, I use sugar in my dish soap, but this is interesting, very interesting.



Leave the malta alone. It actually used to have a negligible amount of alcohol so you'd have to drink like 40 of those babies to start getting drunk, if you didn't develop instant diabetes from that move.

I love malta.


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