Cold Process Liquid Soap

[Susie]

It generally is not wise for me to try to communicate before coffee. I forgot that this morning.

 

[lidia]

Thank you Susie and DeeAnna. I've been sick for a while and finally feel well enough to get back to this project. My problem is that I don't know any longer if I get a zap or not. I have not added any additional fats but there is no more separation. The soap is almost hard, I could sort of roll it into shapes. When I test for zap, I don't feel it at first, but feel tingling afterward, like 1 or 2 seconds after I try. Is that a zap? How else can I check if this soap is neutral? Not sure if I need to add more oils or not... :-?

Lidia

I have just added 0.7 ounce more of castor oil. I heated it up and tried mixing in but this paste is so thick and dry, it's hard to actually mix it. Can I add any water at this point?

 

[Susie]

Thank you Susie and DeeAnna. I've been sick for a while and finally feel well enough to get back to this project. My problem is that I don't know any longer if I get a zap or not. I have not added any additional fats but there is no more separation. The soap is almost hard, I could sort of roll it into shapes. When I test for zap, I don't feel it at first, but feel tingling afterward, like 1 or 2 seconds after I try. Is that a zap? How else can I check if this soap is neutral? Not sure if I need to add more oils or not... :-?

Lidia

No, zap is an immediate sharp *** of discomfort. Not a slow burn. Do not add more oils. Begin dilution.

I have just added 0.7 ounce more of castor oil. I heated it up and tried mixing in but this paste is so thick and dry, it's hard to actually mix it. Can I add any water at this point?

I would not have added castor oil unless it is water soluble castor oil. Do begin dilution, but don't be surprised if you end up with some oil floating. Just pour it into one of those "gravy separator" cups to let the castor oil float to the top, and pour the soap off from the bottom.

Ease into dilution. Add just half the weight of the paste in water to start with. I would start with boiling water. Just get that water in there before you go to bed, and put a lid on it. Then see what you have in the morning. I would then add 1/4 the first water amount to whatever lumps remain. Then give it more time. If you are impatient to use some of the soap, you can pour the diluted soap away from the lumps and use that. It will not affect the outcome of the rest of the soap.

 

[lidia]

Ouch, so I already added more castor oil before reading this... Doesn't pay to be impatient. I first added 0.7 ounce, mixed as much as I could, heated up a little bit and waited a couple of hours (in the meantime made some cold process bar soap ;-) The liquid soap paste looks very clear now. I tested again and definitely felt strong tingling after touching the soap with my tongue. Thus I added another 1.1 ounce castor oil (impatient, what can I say). I tried soapee.com calculator and it looks like my soap is certainly at least 1% superfatted now, cause at 100% purity I'm getting tiny more KOH in the recipe than what I used with the same amounts of fat (7.85 KOH while I used 7.83). I guess I'll need to borrow someone else's tongue next time for testing. May be tough to find a volunteer... ;-)

I'm not in a hurry with this soap at all. I'll dilute some now (first time!) and see tomorrow how it looks. This was supposed to be a bath soap, so I was trying to create a 2% superfat recipe. Thank you so much Susie!

I have one more question: what is this tingling if it's not a zap? I'm confused...

 

[Susie]

If you go get a 9 v battery, and touch both posts to your tongue at the same time, that is the zap of un-reacted lye. The slow tingle is just you tasting the soap. It took me a very long time to get my brain to stop feeling a zap where there was none. How did I finally do it? I got a real zap. There was no longer any mistaking that the slow tingle is indicating an unsafe soap.

 

[lidia]

Soap's done

The soap is done and beautiful: https://youtu.be/VWS2BqjC9qA

I somehow expected that this recipe would make more soap than just one small jar. Is it a soap concentrate and should I dilute it more?

Thank you once again Susie and Dee Anna!

Lidia

 

[soapy_mouse]

Just wanted to say you really took the stress out of making my first batch. I'm so glad you posted this and shared your knowledge. I was freaking out about the paste stage . You're the best!