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Polysorbate 80 is also an emulsifier and since you are adding additional oils, my assumption is that it is trying to emulsify those oils into your aqueous liquid soap causing these results. Some people will use polysorbate 20 to solubize their FO, but poly 80 for carriers oils into an aqueous...

Potassium hydroxide (and sodium hydroxide) are also used as pH adjusters - not just for saponifying oils.

Many people sequester there soap for a week or two so that the insolubles or unsaponfiables settle out. There is also cloud point - when your soap temperature lowers to the point that the insolubles start to go out of solution, you will see cloudiness, ghosting, white dots, a white layer on the...

You are all welcome - while not as "scientific" as a good lab with lab grade equipment and controls, I feel it is good enough for the small business/home crafter to get a good understanding of the overall issues with pH and the various testing mechanisms. I did this due to the enormous number of...

If you are interested in a long read, you can see testing results of pH, different methods of determining pH and what happens to your soap when you attempt to lower the pH and what will cause inaccurate pH readings - leading to false readings of your soap's actual pH (the reading not the pH)...

I posted the tutorial on my blog to share how I do this technique (there is more than one way too) - since it is a public blog, I have no problem with it being posted here. So, no worries.

First of all, "All Natural" means nothing - it is just a marketing term. Second, why do people assume that natural (per their own definition) means gentle, better. Poison Ivy is natural, cyanide is natural, etc. Also, Dr. Bonner's soaps are very concentrated and the more concentrated a soap...

Have you considered using sodium citrate or potassium citrate as a chelating agent to add to your diulted soap instead of citric acid - that way it will not mess with your pH.

Here is a visual as to what happens to your liquid soap when you attempt to lower the pH beyond what it wants to be - soap is an alkaline product and trying to change the chemical reality of that will alter the make-up of your soap converting it non-soap components and slowly reduce your overall...

That is a site that focuses more on scaremongering than actual data and useful information. There are other, more reputable sites (and "Food Babe" is NOT one of them).

Got it DeeAnna - yes excellent use of the olive oil soap gel you have. I love felting soap, it is a great way to utilize bars that just don't look the way you wanted them to and you can do some amazing designs needle felting them afterwards. I call it giving those bars a "makeover" or a new life...

DeeAnna - not that this is related to liquid soap, but if you are wet felting over bar soap, you really do not need any additional soap. I just allow the soap from the bar come through and it works wonderfully.

You cook the soap paste because traditionally, liquid soap was a hot processing method. Heat decreases the saponification time. You don't "need" to do it that way. Many people choose to not use heat and allow the soap to saponify at its own pace - no problem with that as the end result is the...

What I am referring to is when you use glycerin at 100% to dissolve your KOH. Not referring to any water content at all, no additives, just the process of making the paste with 100% glycerin and not water. If you stick blend too much using this method/ingredients what I explained above is very...

If you are using the glycerin method 100%, it sounds like you just stick blended for too long. It is not uncommon when using this method to get a thick white to off white or beige foamy/spongy layer on top and a liquid layer beneath it. It is not ruined and will still dilute, just too much...

Soapcalc defaults to 2 X the weight of the KOH, Summbee does 3 X the weight of KOH. How much water you use to dissolve your lye is really a personal choice. Less water = quicker trace but stiffer paste, more water = slower trace but often a more fluid paste. Also, keep in mind that the stiffness...

I don't about how much sodium lactate, but I do have a 100% olive oil soap that I need to thicken and am going to try the sodium lactate to do so and see how well it works. It will be a good experiment.

I agree with Susie - the one thing to watch out for is haziness in your soap. I find that any amount of sodium added whether it be from sodium hydroxide in a mixed lye soap, using dissolved salt as part of your lye/water and even adding table salt as a thickener can lead to a haziness in liquid...

Since sodium lactate is a salt, it would make sense that it would thicken the same type of formulations that regular old table salt would thicken.

The only thing I have found that will consistently thicken any liquid soap formulation is HEC (Hydroxyethyl Cellulose). Other ingredients may or may not be consistent based on your formulation and pH.