How do you know that PH in soap is good and its safe to use

[ezeriuke]

I am wondering if I should buy PH 1-14 testers to test my soap ? How do you guys know that the soap is ready and safe for use in CP? HP? I saw that some people are touching it with tongue in hot process to see if its battery like, I am really not into that what do you do?

 

[dagmar88]

PH strips are not accurate at all. The only way to know your soap isn't lye heavy is to d the zap test (wet your finger, rub it on the soap and touch with the tip of your tongue).
When you've checked checked double checked your recipe and you've let the batch sit for 2 days or so the chances of getting zapped are really small.

 

[IrishLass]

What Dagmar said.

The pH of good (meaning not lye heavy), fully cured CP or HP soap will always fall somewhere between 9 to 10.5, based on tests using accurately calibrated pH meters (not strips). If it's much higher than that, it's considered to be lye heavy.

The strips are good for testing certain things, but they are known for being notoriously unreliable on bar soap. I have some really good strips from one of my suppliers that test from 1 -14 and they are right on the money with certain things, but with my CP soap the strips tell me that my soap tops out at 7, which is in the realm of impossibility with lye based soaps, being that their nature is to always fall on the alkaline side of the chart at 9 and beyond.

If you really want to know the precise pH of your soap, I would invest in a good pH meter that can be calibrated (they are expensive), but knowing the precise pH of your soap is really not necessary at all when you have a safe, reliable, free, instant lye heavy test right at the tip of your own tongue. As long as the soap doesn't zap you, it's perfectly safe for use.

IrishLass

 

[Overthemoon]

I totally agree with dagmar and irishlass. The taste test zap test is the most accurate. And really, even if you get zapped, it doesn't hurt, it just feels weird.

 

[carebear]

agree

further, a slightly lye heavy soap can still have a "reasonable" pH.

 

[ezeriuke]

Ok, I did the zap test and I didn't get zapped. I don't know what I was so worried about. The soap came out great

Thank you for the encouragements