First go at liquid soap

[adelej]

Despite feeling kinda crappy this weekend, I managed to make a batch (my first!) of liquid soap.

I mostly followed the liquid soapmaking tutorial on about.com by David Fisher, with a few changes.

I used citric acid in place of borax. I diluted 10g in 40g of water.
I added 1.5ml of silk protein, and 1.5 ml of hydrolized oat protein, and 2 oz of glycerin.

Once it had cooled and I saw the thickness, I added sea salt to get the consistency I wanted. I am AMAZED at how well salt worked to thicken up the mixture. Pretty incredible.

I also used some ph test strips- the unscented stuff is about 9, and the scented is about 8. The strips are not very accurate though, and I think in the future I will consider purchasing a digital ph tester.

I can't wait till its finished settling so I can use it up! I used mango scent in the bucket, and left the stuff in the jar completely unscented and only added glycerin (no silk or oat protein).



Uploaded with Nothing added except glycerin. The citric acid made it a touch cloudy, but not offensively. Not sure I care for the colour, but it's fine.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/231/photo8ss.jpg/]

Uploaded with This is the bucket- about 82 oz of mango scented deliciousness. I added a few drops of yellow and about 10 drops of red soap colouring to get this shade.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/535/photo9tp.jpg/]

Uploaded with
Lastly, I did a test with large mica- this is thickened a little extra and I wanted to see if the mica would stay put and not sink. So far looks good. Yummy in fact!

Now I wait. Next weekend this is going into pump bottles for xmas gifts. Yay!

 

[soapbuddy]

Congrats! Looks good!

 

[Stinkydancer]

Nice! Great job- liquid soap is next on my to do list.

 

[adelej]

Thank you!

I was pretty shocked at how time consuming it was though... Took 3.5 hrs of cooking on Saturday night, and then another few hours of heating and smushing to get dissolved the next morning (after sitting in water all night).

Looking forward to using it, and getting on the next batch

 

[tryanything]

Congrats! looks good. yeah It's time consuming. When I did mine I had my laptop next to me and got caught up on some TV shows.

 

[Hazel]

Congratulations of your first batch! I have liquid soap on my to-do list, too.

 

[LauraHoosier]

I was pretty shocked at how time consuming it was though... Took 3.5 hrs of cooking on Saturday night, and then another few hours of heating and smushing to get dissolved the next morning (after sitting in water all night).

Yup I'm at the next day phase of my first batch and trying to mush all the hard, jelly-like blobs down is fun. My little crockpot went wonky yesterday and shot up to 180F on Low so I missed seeing many of the phases and it seemed to hit hard taffy and stay there. It either 1) never did go back to creamy or 2) did and I missed it before I realized my temps went nuts. I'm thinking 2. Cooked for 4 hours though so we'll see.

Yours looks great! Hope I get as lucky

 

[carebear]

I generally kinda CP my liquid soap. I cook it in the crockpot for a while - until it's separated then come together again - then put the crockpot insert into a cooler and wrap the whole thing in blankets for a week. When I come back - it's ready for dilution.

 

[Stinkydancer]

I generally kinda CP my liquid soap. I cook it in the crockpot for a while - until it's separated then come together again - then put the crockpot insert into a cooler and wrap the whole thing in blankets for a week. When I come back - it's ready for dilution.

That sounds awesome- I'm going to have to try it. Thanks Carebear!

 

[adelej]

Yup I'm at the next day phase of my first batch and trying to mush all the hard, jelly-like blobs down is fun. My little crockpot went wonky yesterday and shot up to 180F on Low so I missed seeing many of the phases and it seemed to hit hard taffy and stay there. It either 1) never did go back to creamy or 2) did and I missed it before I realized my temps went nuts. I'm thinking 2. Cooked for 4 hours though so we'll see.

I had to do this exact same thing! I was so worried when I finally got it all mixed and it wasn't clear anymore. Plus the thick sludge on the top (I added a bit more water and it helped a bit) Just kept cooking it till it was all dissolved. I had to stick blend it twice to get the chunks out. In the end, the bubbles settled. Also the clearer one in the jar is actually much better looking even two days later. It got more clear since yesterday.

Of course, I have ZERO patience and had to put some in a bottle for use last night. It's thick, shimmery orange. I also wanted to see the shimmer in a clear pump, and see if it sinks. Just to be on the safe side before I bottle up the rest.

I might even whip up another batch this weekend I'm so inspired!

 

[Padamae]

Looks great.