I find Sorbitol really help with adding to lather. I use it in every batch, replacing sugar which I used for years.
Aloe Vera Juice - is adding a little effective?
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God~Given Gifts
Member
Hello sorry learning how to use this I didn't realize I had replies. No I didn't use any additives no sugar no citric acid no salt. I just use lye distilled water, aloe vera juice, and my oil blend which consists o9f coconut oil, olive oil, shea butter, palm oil, and castor oil. Not in that specific order of percentage just going off the top of my head. Oh and I did hot process. High temp fluid High process. thanks for all your input
Kiwi2:)
Member
Hi there-
So sorry I missed responding to this earlier - I work in metric but I agree with atiz in terms of volume / pound
I reserved a small amount of water and blended manuka honey powder, aloe vera powder and goat milk powder together then added it to the oils before adding the lye. If you're looking for other additives you could also try adding silk for skin-feel? You use such a tiny pinch (dissolved in your lye solution)! When I came across it as an additive it was out of stock at my suppliers - finally tracked some down with a textile firm who sold beautiful tussah silk so I got carried away and bought 2 x 3.5oz (100g) bags - it will last me forever!!
It does add a lovely feel to the soap though and great label appeal for non-vegans - the soap on the right is my Goat Milk Aloe & Silk and the left is Goat Milk Aloe & Honey
Oh wow! These are beautiful! I use tussah also but I guess I've been using too much. I'll use like half cotton ball sizeHi there-
So sorry I missed responding to this earlier - I work in metric but I agree with atiz in terms of volume / pound
If you're looking for other additives you could also try adding silk for skin-feel? You use such a tiny pinch (dissolved in your lye solution)! When I came across it as an additive it was out of stock at my suppliers - finally tracked some down with a textile firm who sold beautiful tussah silk so I got carried away and bought 2 x 3.5oz (100g) bags - it will last me forever!!
It does add a lovely feel to the soap though and great label appeal for non-vegans - the soap on the right is my Goat Milk Aloe & Silk and the left is Goat Milk Aloe & Honey
View attachment 48380View attachment 48381
LOL I still consider myself to be a newbie so I'm still trying to perfect a recipe.
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Kiwi2:)
Member
Oh wow! These are beautiful! I use tussah also but I guess I've been using too much. I'll use like half cotton ball size
Thank you! I consider myself to be a newbie too So much to learn...notice my fail at a pencil line in the honey soap haha - btw I think that it doesn't matter if you use more rather than less in terms of the size of the "pinch" as long as it dissolves you're all good 
I use a cotton ball size or maybe just a bit smaller in all my batches except my vegan. I purchased 4 ounces 8-9 years ago and still using it.Oh wow! These are beautiful! I use tussah also but I guess I've been using too much. I'll use like half cotton ball size
dotgiorgio
Giorgio Soap
Aloe Vera Juice/Lye EXPLOSION
Yesterday I decided to try using Aloe Vera juice instead of water as I read about here. I prepared all my equipment then went out to the garage to mix the lye solution. I put the lye in the juice and it started bubbling and turned pink, then it turned a deep red and started spraying everywhere within 3 feet. To make matters worse, for the first time ever I forgot to put gloves on! Stupid!! Both of my hands got covered. I quickly ran to the kitchen and yelled for my husband. He came & helped me get ice water to put my hands in. After the first excitement my husband prepared a dish pan of ice water & I sat in my recliner and dipped my hands every few seconds. I stayed there, adding more ice about once every half hour, until about 5 AM when I could finally leave my hands out.
I have no idea why it exploded. Any suggestions?
On a side note: when this first happened the ice water was not bringing much relief so I poured vinegar on them and it was a little soothing. I have read both the pros & cons about vinegar, but at the time I thought it couldn’t get any worse, so I tried it.
Today my hands are barely hot but the skin on a couple fingers seems to be hard & numb.
Yesterday I decided to try using Aloe Vera juice instead of water as I read about here. I prepared all my equipment then went out to the garage to mix the lye solution. I put the lye in the juice and it started bubbling and turned pink, then it turned a deep red and started spraying everywhere within 3 feet. To make matters worse, for the first time ever I forgot to put gloves on! Stupid!! Both of my hands got covered. I quickly ran to the kitchen and yelled for my husband. He came & helped me get ice water to put my hands in. After the first excitement my husband prepared a dish pan of ice water & I sat in my recliner and dipped my hands every few seconds. I stayed there, adding more ice about once every half hour, until about 5 AM when I could finally leave my hands out.
I have no idea why it exploded. Any suggestions?
On a side note: when this first happened the ice water was not bringing much relief so I poured vinegar on them and it was a little soothing. I have read both the pros & cons about vinegar, but at the time I thought it couldn’t get any worse, so I tried it.
Today my hands are barely hot but the skin on a couple fingers seems to be hard & numb.
@dotgiorgio First let me say that the correct treatment for a lye burn is to flush it under RUNNING COLD WATER for 15 minutes. You need the flushing action to wash away the lye. If you keep dipping your hands into the same container, that container now holds all the lye that was on your hands. This is why it took so long to feel better - you kept exposing your skin to the lye, rather than washing it away.
Also, vinegar DOES make lye burns worse. It is more acidic than water, so its reaction with lye is much hotter. This makes your burns worse. Thus, please do not use or recommend using vinegar for lye exposure. It could mean the difference between temporary discomfort and permanent disfigurement, or even blindness if it gets into your eye.
Now, to the reason that your lye probably exploded. Unlike water, AVJ contains sugar. Did you dump all of the lye into it quickly, or all at once? If so. the sugars heat up the solution very quickly and will explode. If you added additional sugar or honey to your water, the reaction will be even worse.
You should always add the lye very slowly to any solution that contains any form of sugar, or is very acidic (lemon juice, vinegar, etc.). I learned this the hard way in a very similar incident of my own.
In any event, I'm so sorry that this happened to you. It only takes one time of something like that, for us to realize why we need PPE. Just last week, I took off my gloves and then saw the towels I'd used to wipe out my soap bowls. I grabbed them with my bare hands and took them over to the laundry area. Conscious that I was gloveless, I immediately washed my hands. About 15 minutes later, my forearm started itching, then burning, then breaking out in big red welts. It took a bit to realize that the towels had rested on my forearm as I took them maybe 15 steps across the room - and I'd only washed my hands, not my forearms! Fortunately, a good flush with cold running water soothed it quickly. What a good reminder to pay attention to what I'm doing!
Also, vinegar DOES make lye burns worse. It is more acidic than water, so its reaction with lye is much hotter. This makes your burns worse. Thus, please do not use or recommend using vinegar for lye exposure. It could mean the difference between temporary discomfort and permanent disfigurement, or even blindness if it gets into your eye.
Now, to the reason that your lye probably exploded. Unlike water, AVJ contains sugar. Did you dump all of the lye into it quickly, or all at once? If so. the sugars heat up the solution very quickly and will explode. If you added additional sugar or honey to your water, the reaction will be even worse.
You should always add the lye very slowly to any solution that contains any form of sugar, or is very acidic (lemon juice, vinegar, etc.). I learned this the hard way in a very similar incident of my own.
In any event, I'm so sorry that this happened to you. It only takes one time of something like that, for us to realize why we need PPE. Just last week, I took off my gloves and then saw the towels I'd used to wipe out my soap bowls. I grabbed them with my bare hands and took them over to the laundry area. Conscious that I was gloveless, I immediately washed my hands. About 15 minutes later, my forearm started itching, then burning, then breaking out in big red welts. It took a bit to realize that the towels had rested on my forearm as I took them maybe 15 steps across the room - and I'd only washed my hands, not my forearms! Fortunately, a good flush with cold running water soothed it quickly. What a good reminder to pay attention to what I'm doing!
@dotgiorgio everything @AliOop said. That's unfortunate and scary, but I'm concerned your hands may be worse off than they appear. The point of running water is dilution, so while cold is good, running is more important. Dipping your hands in water is not the protocol because it doesn't dilute the lye off your hands as quickly. The chemical reaction with vinegar might have felt better, but the vinegar would have done more damage than running water. Cold is specified, but ice water is not recommended since it can give you frostbite, which is a form of temperature burn that causes permanent nerve and tissue damage (numbness and hardness are symptoms). I can't see what country you're in, but I would get to a medical facility for both the chemical burns and potential frostbite if your hands get any worse or don't improve in the next few days.
For me, Aloe Vera Juice all by itself has always turned slightly brown in the presence of lye, not pink or red, so I'm wondering if there's sugar or something added to the juice you have?
For me, Aloe Vera Juice all by itself has always turned slightly brown in the presence of lye, not pink or red, so I'm wondering if there's sugar or something added to the juice you have?
Sometimes CVS has it on sale cheaper than Wal-Mart. I do a full water replacement.
dotgiorgio
Giorgio Soap
Thanks for your concern and good advice.
Actually, I did start with cold running water. However, I live in Phoenix, AZ and the only cool water is what is in the pipes under the house. After that, it gets too warm to keep burned hands under. I changed the water that I was soaking my hands in every hour.
I just now ran a sink of cold tap water & checked the temp. It was 94 degrees. That’s not hot, but as I said, it is too warm to keep burned hands under.
My hands are fine today. They just still don’t like getting near anything warm. I have had unusually good luck in the past and now again. (I have a guardian Angel) I know it could have been worse.
Thanks again!
Actually, I did start with cold running water. However, I live in Phoenix, AZ and the only cool water is what is in the pipes under the house. After that, it gets too warm to keep burned hands under. I changed the water that I was soaking my hands in every hour.
I just now ran a sink of cold tap water & checked the temp. It was 94 degrees. That’s not hot, but as I said, it is too warm to keep burned hands under.
My hands are fine today. They just still don’t like getting near anything warm. I have had unusually good luck in the past and now again. (I have a guardian Angel) I know it could have been worse.
Thanks again!
I'm so glad to hear your hands are improving! Thank you for explaining about the 94° tap water, not having access to cool running water changes things a bit. A few of my family members work in hospitals, so I occasionally hear horror stories. I'm relieved that it sounds like you'll be ok!
Thank you so much for posting about your experience! I hope your hands are ok and you're feeling better. I'm planning to use AVJ for the first time on Monday, and I really appreciated your post. Not happy it happened to you, but happy I can use your experience to be a little more cautious than usual.
dotgiorgio
Giorgio Soap
I'm glad to hear that my experience may help someone else. I didn't know that I was supposed to pour it in slowly. I am going to do it again after my full face shield arrives.
Good luck to you!
Good luck to you!
It is so much safer to mix lye in the kitchen sink. Glad you are okay.
Louis mercy
Active Member
Mind I ask what you use to keep your soil fertile for plant to flourish
.Sending love and light
I think it is climate dependent. I have a plant currently in a pot that I filled with potting mix. In my previous house I just plonked cuttings ( with stalk) straight into the garden which had no fancy soil/fertiliser etc in it. Both were cuttings off my friend's plant which is as tall as me and grows like a weed. Both took about a month of looking sad after the replanting before they perked up again. We do get frosts here in the winter but only a few but the rest of the year it seems warm enough for the plant to like it. I think once the plants are old/big enough that a frost is not enough to scare it off, however I would be wary of planting cuttings in the winter because i don't think they would take hold.Mind I ask what you use to keep your soil fertile for plant to flourish
Sending love and light
My humble $.02. I do use AVJ every other batch of soap. I don’t mind investing in ingredients to make my soap better but I also really like maximizing my profits. The question for me comes down to how much added value does an additive offer my soap vs. the cost of that additive? To boost lather, I’ve experimented with honey, sorbitol. powdered sugar, AVJ, granulated sugar, rice flour, and fruit juices. That’s outside of using beer, wind, goats milk, etc. I’m thinking more of one-the-fly additives.
I also roughly determine how much it costs/batch to include that additive vs. the noticeable benefit to the soap. If using powdered sugar and sorbitol offers the same qualities in my soap, I would rather maximize my profits by using powdered sugar, which is a lot less expensive and easier (for me) to source. If using rice water (rice that I’ve soaked and then blended, using both the liquid and starch that collects on the bot of my container) is less expensive to use than powdered sugar and both add the same quality, I go with the rice water.
This is the same reason I love to soap with lard. It makes an exceptional bar of soap, it is inexpensive, and I can easily source it. I’d rather spend $$ on good FOs and more expensive butters and fats that I cannot easily source (specifically, rice bran oil).
I also roughly determine how much it costs/batch to include that additive vs. the noticeable benefit to the soap. If using powdered sugar and sorbitol offers the same qualities in my soap, I would rather maximize my profits by using powdered sugar, which is a lot less expensive and easier (for me) to source. If using rice water (rice that I’ve soaked and then blended, using both the liquid and starch that collects on the bot of my container) is less expensive to use than powdered sugar and both add the same quality, I go with the rice water.
This is the same reason I love to soap with lard. It makes an exceptional bar of soap, it is inexpensive, and I can easily source it. I’d rather spend $$ on good FOs and more expensive butters and fats that I cannot easily source (specifically, rice bran oil).
LOL - how's that wind working out in your soap?
Providing lots of extra bubbles?And RBO is my cheapest oil of the lot! It's amazing how different parts of the world all have different prices on things. Look at all the people in tropical climates who can get cocoa butter etc so cheaply!
Aside from that - such a very good point Phoenix.
LOL - how's that wind working out in your soap?
And RBO is my cheapest oil of the lot! It's amazing how different parts of the world all have different prices on things. Look at all the people in tropical climates who can get cocoa butter etc so cheaply!
Aside from that - such a very good point Phoenix.
*wind* I do not break wind on my soap, for the record. You’re right, actually! RBO is inexpensive. I bought 35 pounds @ $59.00 from Soapers Choice just a few days ago. But I get killed on the shipping. I need to add that caveat to my point in regards to RBO.
I actually decided to no longer soap with hemp seed oil for exactly the reason above. It’s expensive and the cost outweighs the benefit. HO sunflower oil is a great substitute and is readily available at a good price.
