Cold Process Liquid Soap

[Susie]

I have a top load HE washer, and my laundry soap works fine. I don't add castor or sugar, so sudsing is minimal and short lived.

I totally agree about the window. But if I don't have suds all over the kitchen, I will count my blessings.

I had to run to town for a couple of hours, and when I got back, the dishwasher had already been run. But I am going to try to make some looser paste today, so it will be easier to mix with borax, washing soda, and salt.

 

[mrs_junn]

Hope I'm not being a pain!

Susie, I followed the recipe, did the calculations, pulled up a separate document and copied ONLY what was needed over, followed the instructions and used the stick blender. I, like another poster, could not recall the thickness of Elmer's paste, I stopped at liquid Elmer's glue instead (warm icing). It went through foamy to applesaucey to thin and splashy to the warm icing stage where I stopped when my blender wasn't working as well. I covered it with a towel, cleaned up and checked other things for about 30 min, then came back to thick thick paste. I zap tested it and it zapped the poo out of me (9v battery x10). Waited another hour or so and it zapped me again, a little less. Waited 2 more hours and it still has a bit of a zap to it. Tested it with the pH strip and it says it's between 11 and 12. Am I on the right track? I am going to just try and wait it out, but it's a giant firm blob in my crock pot (which is off) with a bit of watery substance around it. This is the measurements I got, using just coconut oil:

Coconut Oil 33.7 oz
Potassium Hydroxide 9.05 oz
Water 27.14 oz

Initial Weight 4lbs 5.89 oz

Other Items
Grated Soap 0.5 oz
EO 1 oz

Boy am I lost! But somehow strangely addicted?! This is not quite as expensive (yet) of a hobby as my winemaking is, lol. I'm sure it will be soon though, I am enjoying myself through my mistakes! Thanks anyone and everyone for any help!

 

[Susie]

I am so sorry I missed your post. I don't know what happened.

Your recipe should be fine. I would have run the stick blender longer(until paste), but hopefully it is zapless by now.

The only thing I can think of is a possible mis-weigh. Have you checked your scale lately?

 

[Dahila]

the best invention were made by kitchen alchemists. Oh Susie you abandon your thread? I hope everyone has a nice weekend

 

[Susie]

I have not worked on dishwasher soap recently. I started having eczema on my lips and hands, and have been re-formulating my lip balm and hand balm to try to eliminate the cause. It might be a bit before I am willing to get my itchy hands back into anything.

 

[Dahila]

oh Susie I am sorry to hear about the eczema. Maybe you should start to make some hands and lips creams, formulated especially for eczema.

 

[Susie]

My lip balm and hand balm are exactly what the problems are. I am fairly sure it is the lanolin, as my lips are much better, but my hands are still itchy(it takes a couple of weeks for them to stop itching).

 

[DeeAnna]

Urgh! I am ouching (itching?) in sympathy for you, Susie. I keep reading the experts that say lanolin is supposedly not an irritant, but I keep hearing that it most certainly is an irritant for more people than the experts think. Bummer....

 

[Susie]

I used lanolin in lip balm for 9-10 months, I think. No problem whatsoever. The cold weather/heater running often is drying my hands out, so I needed to "seal" lotion in better. So, I made some hand balm with basically my lip balm recipe, only without the extra beeswax. It took about 1.5 weeks for my lips and hands to react. Don't ask me why, I don't know. Same jar of lanolin I have been using out of for months. This is why we tell people over and over that you can become allergic to anything at any time. It does not matter how long you have been using it.

I have switched to a lanolin free lip balm with lard, and my lips are all but cured. My hands still itch, and may for a while. I don't really want to put the heavy duty steroid cream on them, but if they are no better in a couple of days, I will have to.

 

[Melodyuk]

Hi everyone,

I am new in soap making. I made 2 batches of CP bar soaps. Turned out great. I wanted to try liquid soap....saw few videos on you tube, it scared hell out of me....buying crockpot, cooking for hours. I thought ...liquid soaps not for me. Then I somehow landed on this thread and I had this big grin on my face. Perfect method for me. Thanks Susie for CP LS method. I will try to make some most probably tomorrow. I will post the outcome. I am going to try your hand soap recipe. any suggestions before I begin? as this is going to be my very first LS.
Thanks once again

I used lanolin in lip balm for 9-10 months, I think. No problem whatsoever. The cold weather/heater running often is drying my hands out, so I needed to "seal" lotion in better. So, I made some hand balm with basically my lip balm recipe, only without the extra beeswax. It took about 1.5 weeks for my lips and hands to react. Don't ask me why, I don't know. Same jar of lanolin I have been using out of for months. This is why we tell people over and over that you can become allergic to anything at any time. It does not matter how long you have been using it.

I have switched to a lanolin free lip balm with lard, and my lips are all but cured. My hands still itch, and may for a while. I don't really want to put the heavy duty steroid cream on them, but if they are no better in a couple of days, I will have to.

Sorry to hear about your eczema. I have same problem. When its really itchy....i use witch hazel or aloe vera gel it really helps with itching. i relax for atleast few hours until it starts itching again.

 

[Susie]

I am so happy to help someone not get overwhelmed with the thought of making liquid soap!!!

I have switched to this calculator, as it gives the same results, but is much less complicated:

http://summerbeemeadow.com/sites/all/sbm_calc_input/calc_input_page_1.1.html

 

[Dahila]

When my son had the "attack" of eczema I used mint tea to wet the spots, peppermint helps with itching. You should try to use oil infused with stinging nettle it is very effective

 

[Dorado]

My eczema loves lanolin I add´3% in GLS - but if you'ld like to try something else, not greasy:
Mix 1tsp glicerine with 5tsp (1:5) water/rosewater or aloevera juice/gel, spray itching hands several times during the day. Store in fridge (the liquid, not the hands)

 

[Susie]

Thanks for the suggestions, y'all! With my eczema, I think I have tried every "home remedy" out there. I found out a long time ago that, for me, I have just two choices- put nothing on them, or put the clobetetasol proprionate. It took me many years of trial and error to find that out.

Everyone's skin is different, what helps one, hurt's another. And what is wonderful for a long time, suddenly becomes the problem.

 

[Melodyuk]

I made LS. so far so good.
my experience... I stick blended until it became a thick paste and I covered it in towels like I did with CP bar soaps. IT ACTUALLY GELLED UP!:grin::grin::grin::grin:. sorry for caps but i'm so happy. "gelling" up was after about 30 mins. its still warm. I will wait until it cools down and then I will zap test it. I'm really happy as it has been successful so far and I thought that I would never be able to make it but it's going great thanks to Susie.

 

[Susie]

:clap::clap::clap:

 

[coffeetime]

I remember reading somewhere in here about which calculators use which % purity for KOH, but when I search the thread it doesn't appear. Can anyone enlighten me? I have 90% KOH.

 

[Susie]

Soapcalc.net offers 90% purity. SBM gives 94% as a default.

If you use SoapCalc, you may want to consider adding water to the paste stage to give you the full 3:1 water/KOH ratio. Works much better for me.

 

[coffeetime]

Thanks Susie. Can the SBM calc be changed to 90? I looked but couldn't see anywhere to do it.

 

[Susie]

Not that I can find. However, I use SBM regularly with the ED KOH and no problems.

If you find you are having superfat issues(cloudy layer on top of liquid soap), just use the SoapCalc.net KOH 90% option with the adjustment for water figured in by hand. That should fix it. I just have a horrible memory, and am afraid I will forget to add water.