Hard water soap

[Susie]

^^^Everything TheresaT said!

I thought I needed a course, also. None in my area, either. So I taught myself with videos, books, and this forum. I would actually suggest you use this forum over books to start with. That way, you can get many opinions (with good explanations) on any questions you have. And we darned sure do a better job of troubleshooting than a book that can't respond to you.

 

[earlene]

I was soaping for 6 months before a soapmaking class that fit into my schedule became available to me. It was 2 states away from me and winter time (snow and cold) but I went anyway because although I knew I had already learned most of what the instructor was going to teach, I still wanted to learn more. It was a 2-day course and I am really glad I went. I did learn a few new things and several of my questions were answered. I did meet some very nice people and learned about soapmaker gatherings and conferences. Some of us stay in touch via email, too so that was a nice bonus to taking the class.

Maybe if I had already joined this forum before the class, I probably would not have needed the class. I am sure all my questions would have been answered here at SMF, too. But I had not found SMF as I recall until afterward, or if I did, it was only while doing an internet search and it didn't occur to me to join the forum right away.

To start out I read all the books on soapmaking available at my local library (a very limited choice, sadly) and watched hundreds of youTube videos on soapmaking and read many online tutorials. And I just jumped right in and made soap. I didn't realize at the time that some of those videos and tutorials were showing me some unsafe practices, but over time I learned not to use glass and to choose good quality plastic (recycle code 2 or 5 for lye solution mixing) and so forth. But I managed to make some soap that I really like and some that my husband likes. And I believe my soap making skills are just getting better as I continue.

I do really enjoy being a member of SMF and find the forum climate and the people here to be extremely helpful and supportive. I second what Susie said about the forum being more responsive than books. And even youTube video makers don't always respond to questions with helpful answers or at all.

 

[cmzaha]

When I started I had a little book my daughter gave me from B&B and a video that I think I watched once. Like any craft I ever learned I just started making soap and kept at it until I liked what I made. Colors were my hardest to learn and thought I would never get it right. I was not on any forums or watched any You Tube videos, which would probably have helped me progress with coloring quicker. I do not think we had any classes available here at the time and throwing away small batches would have been cheaper than paying for a class, and I did throw away a few in the beginning which were colored much to heavily, especially when I was learning to use purple

 

[Gaisy59]

Hard Water Soap Attempt #1

Hi all, well i made my 1st batch with sodium citrate. Looking for critiques please:
Recipe = 270 gm coconut oil
450 gm olive oil
250 gm palm oil
30 gm shea butter
142.2 gm NaOH
380 gm water
And I added 1 tsp of sodium citrate mixed in with some of the water for the lye. Once dissolved I added SC to the lye water.

I use HP for my soaping and I did make a mistake here. Instead of a slow cook I forgot to turn it down to low and oops did a fast cook. But it does not seem to have hurt my soap.

I added 30 ml of vanilla EO once soap was done cooking and had cooled off somewhat, as well I tossed in about a nugget of shea butter in the hopes that it would add some conditioning.

This was all done about Sept 22nd and it has been drying on my rack since then. It seems to be hardening nicely.

Any comments/suggestions please?

 

[Shelley D]

I believe any recipe will work, you'll just need to add a chelant to the soap to reduce the soap scum. You can try citric acid, sodium citrate or tetrasodium EDTA. They all work well; however, the EDTA works the best because it reduces soap scum and boosts the bubbles.

Take a look at this thread, specifically post #62 from DeeAnna. This has been one of the most helpful pieces of info I've found on this forum and I know it by heart now.

Sodium citrate from baking soda and citric acid

Take a look at this one too, specifically my "analysis" of the three different chelators in post number 4.

EDTA Detractors?

I hope these help.

Are each of these considered to be safe additives for people with skin sensitivities/ eczema/ psoriasis? Would any one be better than the other?

 

[AliOop]

And I added 1 tsp of sodium citrate mixed in with some of the water for the lye. Once dissolved I added SC to the lye water.

I use HP for my soaping and I did make a mistake here. Instead of a slow cook I forgot to turn it down to low and oops did a fast cook. But it does not seem to have hurt my soap.

I added 30 ml of vanilla EO once soap was done cooking and had cooled off somewhat, as well I tossed in about a nugget of shea butter in the hopes that it would add some conditioning.

This was all done about Sept 22nd and it has been drying on my rack since then. It seems to be hardening nicely.

Any comments/suggestions please?

It is best to dissolve the SC in the water before adding the lye to the water. The lye is a water hog and makes it difficult to fully dissolve other ingredients.

You can definitely cook your soap on high without hurting it, as long as you don't burn the soap, or overcook it.

There is no true vanilla EO, so if the product you used was labeled as vanilla EO, it was mislabeled. Is there an ingredient list on the bottle?

 

[ewhitake]

No. You are not dumb. It is math. Math sux. 'Nuff said. In my opinion, your greatest mistakes so far are (1) combining weights with volume (2) using weights instead of percentages for your recipe and (3) using the imperial system of measurements instead of the metric system of measurements. I am a card carrying, flag waving American and buy all of my groceries in pounds and ounces. However, I soap only in grams. I weigh everything, including my micas and other colorants. (I'm sure everyone else is shaking their heads over that one.) The reason I weigh my colorants is because a teaspoon of mica can vary tremendously from (1) the manufacturer of the measuring set used (2) if there is air in the mica -- fluffy or not so much (3) what the mica is composed of besides mica (4) how exactly you filled the spoon -- was it level, slightly over, heaping? If it's heaping, how do you measure one "heaping" from a different "heaping"? However, one gram is one gram is one gram. It doesn't matter how you get it onto the scale, it is still going to be one gram.

Why am I saying this? Because the recipe you posted comes out to 58.85 oz of oils. That is 3.678 pounds of oils or 1,668.37 grams of oils according to SoapCalc.com. The percentages are:

Coconut 15.75 oz (26.76%) 446.50 grams
Olive Oil 22.55 oz (38.32%) 639.28 grams
Palm Oil 18.55 oz (31.52%) 525.88 grams
Shea Butter 2.00 oz (3.40%) 52.13 grams

Those are some odd percentages to work with and will be hard to adjust the size of the batch up or down. It can be done, but it will be a bit confusing to the mathematically challenged such as myself. And, it makes figuring out the amount of citric acid or sodium citrate to use a bit more challenging.

When you are using sodium citrate, you need to increase the percentage of sodium citrate by .3 to get the equivalent effect of citric acid. Basically this:
1% citric acid = 1.3% sodium citrate
2% citric acid = 2.6% sodium citrate
3% citric acid = 3.9% sodium citrate.

You either use 1% citric acid OR 1.3% sodium citrate for the same chelation effect. 2% CA OR 2.6% SC for the same effect. 3% CA OR 3.9% SC for the same effect.

You use your chelant based on the weight of your oils. When we talk about the weight of our batches, we are talking about the oils only (unless we specify "total batch weight"). So if you want to make a 1000 gram batch of soap with a 2% chelant added you can either use 20 grams of citric acid and add an extra 13 grams NaOH to the lye solution OR you can use 26 grams of sodium citrate and not have to worry about extra NaOH. If you make a 500 gram batch of soap you will halve these (10 grams of CA or 13 grams of SC).

If you want to use your recipe exactly as it is written (58.85 ounces) then the amount of your chelation ingredient would be:

1% CA = .58 oz 1.3% SC = .76 oz
2% CA = 1.17 oz 2.6% SC = 1.53 oz
3% CA = 1.76 oz 3.9% SC = 2.29 oz

I don't know about your scale, but mine does not measure in .01 oz increments. It only measures in .1 increments as long as there is at least one ounce on the pan. I could not weigh out .58 or .76 oz. That is why I always use grams. 1% CA = 16 grams. 1.3% SC = 21 grams. However, to get that, I had to first find out what the imperial weight would be and then multiply that by 28 (there are roughly 28 grams in one ounce). For me personally, this is way too much math. Using the imperial system is not as easy, nor as accurate, as using the metric system. Therefore, I switched to all metric when making soap. It has saved me a huge amount of time and headaches.

Another thing I have gotten into the habit of doing is making either 500 gram test batches (which is roughly a pound) or making 1000 gram standard batches (roughly two pounds). I can get four bars out of the first and seven out of the second. Since I always used the same chelant (sodium citrate) at the same rate (2.6%) I knew that I was going to need either 13 grams for a small batch or 26 grams for a bigger batch.

I have since switched to EDTA, but the principle is nearly the same. When using EDTA, you only use .5% and you use the batch weight (water, NaOH and oils) to figure out how much to use. So, my small batches use 4 grams of EDTA and my large batches use 8 grams of EDTA.

By consistently making the same sized batches, it takes the guess work out of how much chelant to add to the mix. By using the metric system in my soaping, it makes everything much easier and far more accurate than using the imperial system. And lastly, by weighing everything, including salt, sugar, and colorants (which most people use volume for) it is much easier for me to make a recipe exactly like the one that so-and-so liked so much. But, hey, that's just me. You need to do what is best and most comfortable for you. I hope this helps a little bit. At least with figuring out how much chelant to use.

Sorry this is so long. Y'all can fill my PM box with "shut up!" messages. I won't mind. I'm going to clean the kitchen and finally make the soap I've been yapping about all day.

Late to the party! This is a wonderful post! I live in a hard water area and this will help a lot. Thanks!!