citric acid

Hi everyone! I’ve been doing some research trying to figure out how to make a natural hair conditioner bar. Currently I am making my shampoo bars using cold process soap and so I want to figure out how to make a conditioner bar that is more acidic. Essentially, I want the conditioner bar to be...

I am experimenting with making my own syndet hair shampoo bars and came across advice to use a 'preservative booster or co-preservative' along with PhenoxyEthanol (PhE) because PhE is weak at combatting mold and yeast. I feel particularly motivated to look into this because of my extremely high...

Hello! I am following Catherine Failor's process for making liquid soap, where you mix your oils with excess KOH to ensure that all the fatty acids are saponified, and then during the dilution phase, you add citric acid (or borax, or boric acid) to 'neutralize' the excess KOH. I am using...

i made liquid soap paste. Turned out the ph (using the ph paper) is 9. So need to reduce the ph to about 8 or less. Thus I have been reading/ searchinh on when is the best time to put citric acid to do it, ie when it is in the paste form or the already diluted to liquid soap. but i have found...

I'm confused about at what point you add citric acid to cold process soap recipes. Also I know that CA required additional NaOH to not affect the superfat, but does it also require additional water? If so, should I dissolve it in its own water and then add it to my lye solution or can I just...

My #1 aim is to maintain the apparently deep cleansing and oil fighting properties of magnesium, calcium, and potassium in BRINE soap. However, do these same wonderful minerals promote rancidity and soap scum? Furthermore, do chelators like sodium citrate (derived from adding citric acid) and or...

Can you improved the performance of soap in hard water by adding citric acid to the soap. Would it make any difference while you using the soap with hard water. Just to be perfectly clear. I'm NOT talking about using hard water to MAKE the soap -- I ALWAYS use distilled water for making soap.

Hi, I am a newcomer here so best regards to all of you soapmakers. So, recently I made a surfactant-based (decyl glucoside, lauryl glucoside, SMCT, cocamidopropyl betaine) liquid hand soap and after a few experiments, I tried one with an addition of 1% diluted citric acid (1 part water : 2...

I just started using 1% ppo citric acid to reduce the likelihood of soap scum and rancidity. Of course, since 10g citric acid neutralizes 6g of NaOH, I counteract this addition of citric acid with an excess of NaOH. My impression is that many soapers use 1 to 2% citric acid for bars as a...

My house has hard water, and my DIY 100% coconut oil-based liquid soap (I used distilled water to dilute) is leaving soap scum when I rinse it off. For my next batch, what percent of citric acid should I add to help chelate? Is there any difference (besides adding more KOH) between using citric...

I'm occasionally having issues with the recipe I've been using for the last year or so. I've made this same recipe (with different FOs, sometimes no FO) about a dozen times, but I've had issues with it 3 of those 12 times. My process with the lyewater is: Dissolve non-iodized salt and citric...

Hi everyone, We were at Sam's Club and saw soybean oil but the ingredients also had citric acid. I heard that citric acid in soap making requires more lye. Can I use this oil without changing the lye calculations? Will the citric acid impede saponification?

Okay, so my understanding is that including citric acid at approximately a 2% ratio can help with lather in hard water (which we most definitely have), can help reduce soap scum, and - to a lesser degree - may assist in preventing DOS... I've even got the math for replacing the lye that will be...

Every bath bomb or bubble bar recipe that I have ever made involves mixing your well blended dry ingredients with your oils/fragrance/poly80 or wet ingredients. Today I came across an old article in Marie Claire with photos from a Lush tour. They included photos of an employee making bath bombs...

So, I have been been thinking of some ideas; especially that since the human skin has a ph of around 5.5 then in theory an acidic soap would be better for the skin? I know that some citric acid is usually added to liquid soap to balance the ph, but I have been thinking of making an HP batch and...

There’s a reason I don’t try to soap on weekends when husband’s home and we are in and out. Sigh. I thought I would be “smart” and make a 50/50 master batch lye solution using aloe Vera juice to use tonight. As I was putting the aloe juice in the fridge I saw the ingredients were aloe juice...

Hi all, I am new to soap making and will be making my first test batch of shaving soap imminently. I have researched around here and you guys seem very knowledgeable there's some great stuff. In general I'd like to ask when do you add additives and how much?: Living in London I have very hard...

When it comes to using chelating agents, what are your preferences? I know some use EDTA others Sodium Citrate. Are there others you prefer to use? Also, why do you prefer one over the other? I have been using Citric Acid and Sodium Hydroxide to make my own Sodium Citrate.

Hey there! I've been making bath bombs for months now, and loads of them. I have a good recipe but today I got some SLSA and was really excited to try it but I find it decreases the effect of the citric acid? They foam well but don't fizz well, and they sink and only create beautiful...

Hi everyone! I'm having some small troubles here. Tried much different recipes for my bombs, some didn't turn out quite well, but now I have a stable and reliable recipe that works fine. Only problem is that it has cream of tartar in it, which makes it pretty expensive to make them. So I...