how do I thicken castile soap?!

[cardinal78]

I have gotten rid of all of my old chemical-filled body washes and have switched over to pure castile soap for bathing (and almost all other household uses). Is there anyway to thicken liquid castile soap? I generally buy Dr. Bronner's (or whatever kind is the cheapest at the time).

Thanks for your help!!!!

 

[IanT]

what do you mean by thicken it?? you mean like a harder bar or heavier bar? kind of confused on the question but it might just be me?!?

 

[Guest]

I think it's a liquid Castile soap... If so I doubt there's any simple way to thicken it. You know, like the kind made with KOH instead of NaOH.

 

[Sholdy]

If it's already made, it's hard to thicken.

If you're just making it, you can use the 'jell' method or else simply boil it down, adding glycerin and borax. Makes it thicker, but it still isn't as thick as commercial soaps, usually.

I've found that using a foaming pump works great with thin homemade soaps - they mix air with the soap in the pump, and you get dollops of foam in your hand!

I got my foaming dispensers on ebay - they're rather hard to find.

 

[IanT]

maybe add some cornstarch to it?? that should thicken it up real nice if its a liquid soap?

 

[Becky]

I can't remember where I saw it, but I remember someone suggesting crothix to thicken liquid castille. I haven't tried it tho...

 

[cdwinsby]

What about Carrageenan (Irish moss powder)? It's used as a thickener in lotions and gels. Why not in liquid soap?

Here's a quote from Wikipedia - "Carrageenans are large, highly flexible molecules which curl forming helical structures. This gives them the ability to form a variety of different gels at room temperature. They are widely used in the food and other industries as thickening and stabilizing agents. A particular advantage is that they are pseudoplastic — they thin under shear stress and recover their viscosity once the stress is removed. This means that they are easy to pump but stiffen again afterwards."

You just mix with a liquid....no heating or anything.

 

[Guest]

Hey, don't throw away your old body washes. Make them into laundry detergent. (recipe on my blog)