Help! I need soap for hard water

[scotsman]

As others have said, coconut oil lathers well in hard water. If I remember correctly I do believe it is one of the only soapmaking oils that will later well across the spectrum of all types of water, even salt water. I also have hard water and have developed a base recipe that I find lathers beautifully even in my hard water. I use a higher percentage of coconut oil than most would suggest as it can dry out the skin but my family and I have had no issues with it. If you find it to be too drying you could try reducing the coconut oil and increasing either the olive oil, lard, or both. Also, if you don't dig animal oils in your soaps you could always replace the lard with palm oil or even canola if you are going for cheap. If you go with canola I would take it down to about 30% and increase the olive oil. Again, this is a base recipe I use for home. If you sell your soaps currently, or plan to in the future I would decrease the CO so as not to dry anybody out, lol!

40% Lard(Manteca)
30% Coconut oil
25% Olive oil(any is fine...I use EVOO for my uncolored bars because I dig the natural yellowish-green color it imparts)
5% Castor oil(for bubbles, of course!)
5-7% superfat depending on what I'm using it for

In some batches I will also reduce the OO by 5% and add 5% of either cocoa butter, Shea butter, or red palm butter. Be mindful that red palm butter will color your soap a light yellow by the time it comes out of the mold. It is a wonderfully moisturizing oil. Anything above 7%, however, and you run the risk of staining your washcloths. I hope this helps. Sorry for the veritable novel but I'm on my third cup of coffee this morning and I'm a bit hyper at the moment.

 

[Seawolfe]

Silly question time. I know that some water softener systems use salt to help with hard water. And coconut oil soaps lather well in hard water.
So are salt bars & brine soaps good soaps for hard water?

 

[jblaney]

Irishlass - Sorry it took so long to respond. Life got in the way.

Thank you for responding with such detailed information. Holy math anxiety! I have printed it out and will see if my husband can assist with the calculations. I thought I could do it at first, and then you started talking about usage rates and my mind went blank. Math was not my best class in college and I'm only good at simple math, but I'm going to tackle it since i want to tell if it makes a difference. I have tried the citric acid, but I have not tried the soap yet.

 

[Saponista]

EDTA won't dissolve properly in water until it reaches the pH of 8. It is the basic lab skills test we give to new students working in the lab, a bit cruel I know but watching people try in vain for several hours to dissolve it when it's not going to go into solution can be quite amusing.

 

[sfnelson67]

Won't a bit of Borax work also?

 

[betsbird]

Thanks for posting 101's soaping tutorial, very informative.