Quick question for those of you who have used aloe vera juice ... I'm thinking of using in instead of water ... does the lye react with it badly or is it OK? I've tried various liquids instead of water, and most times the chemical reactions aren't too nice. (DON'T add lye to oat water - disaster!) Was curious if aloe is OK ... don't want to waste ingredients if possible! Thanks!
Aloe Vera ?
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snappyllama
Supporting Member
I have some bars curing right now with 100% substitution. I used frozen aloe water cubes and had no problems at all with it. No smell. No speeding up. It was just like I used water.
My bars are very fresh so I haven't tested them yet... hopefully someone with more experience will chime in. I seem to remember a soaping 101 video where she did an aloe additive from fresh aloe, but I just bought some water.
My bars are very fresh so I haven't tested them yet... hopefully someone with more experience will chime in. I seem to remember a soaping 101 video where she did an aloe additive from fresh aloe, but I just bought some water.
hmlove1218
Well-Known Member
I bought a big gallon jug from Wally World and I've used it multiple times without any problems. I don't even bother freezing it. I keep the jug in my fridge so it's chilled, but not frozen. The lye doesn't even change the color of the juice. It doesn't thicken up noticeably. It pretty much acts just like water when mixed with lye. I've even dissolved salt and sugar in the AVJ before adding lye and still no problems. It's really an easy 100% substitution for water.
SoapBro
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made a test batch using aloe vera gel directly from the plant leaves a week ago, blended the gel up till it was smooth and added my lye to it in an ice bath, as it turns out using the gel as 100% water replacement was a bad idea because a few seconds after the lye hit the gel it stopped dissolving and the gel that was liquid took on the texture of a seized batch of soap, had to throw it out.
in the end i used a 40% lye water solution, brought the soap to a light trace and then added the aloe gel so the total water content in the soap with the gel is 38%, this way it mixed right in.
the fact that store bought aloe vera juice shows no reaction when combined with lye leads me to believe that the actual concentration of aloe vera in the "juice" must be a extremely low if present at all.
heres the final product:
in the end i used a 40% lye water solution, brought the soap to a light trace and then added the aloe gel so the total water content in the soap with the gel is 38%, this way it mixed right in.
the fact that store bought aloe vera juice shows no reaction when combined with lye leads me to believe that the actual concentration of aloe vera in the "juice" must be a extremely low if present at all.
heres the final product:
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I've use Aloe juice 100% sub for water no problem and it was a lovely soap! My vote: Do it!
Yup! It worked for me. I bought the Lily of the Dessert's whole leaf aloe vera juice from a health store. I made the Castile soap with it (100% sub for water). It came beautifully!
