How to Make My Soap Last Longer in Hard Water

[Possum_Magic]

Hi,

I have been making the same CP soap recipe for the last couple of years. I LOVE this recipe.

Previously, we lived in Australia and our water source was the rain, stored in a water tank. A CP bar lasted a long time and had the perfect amount of lather, cleansing and moisturizing qualities.

We are now living in Southern California where we live on HARD town water. My soap bars don't last long at all. :cry:

Do you have any tips for me to make my bar last longer? How can I change my recipe?

Anyone used stearic acid? Is the soap still "natural" and OK for sensitive skin if you add this?

Recipe:

460g Olive Oil
600g Rice Bran Oil
440g Coconut Oil
570mls Water (In Australia I used rain water, but now I use distilled)
230g Caustic Soda

I aso scent with essential oils and natural colorants if I am feeling creative.

TIA
Possum Magic

 

[Obsidian]

I would add 25%-30% palm or lard, it will make a harder longer lasting bar and creamy lather.

 

[Pepsi Girl]

Well, this way you get to make more soap

If you are buying your home you might consider a water softening system. They are nice!

 

[DeeAnna]

Your recipe is weak in stearic and palmitic acids and rather heavy on oleic acid, based on your goal of a longer lived bar. For a basic bath bar, I'd switch some of the olive or RBO for palm or lard, like Obsidian is suggesting. Other options might be cocoa butter or tallow. The olive and RBO are kind of doubling up on the olive oil theme -- some people even use RBO as a substitute for olive, so you could certainly reduce the % of these two fats in your recipe.

Stearic acid is useful, but it can be troublesome to soap with based on its high melt point and its ability to react with lye so quickly that you can end up with "soap on a stick" within seconds. I really think a nice bath bar can be had by reformulating with basic fats instead. If you do this math on the soap calc numbers:

Hardness - Cleansing = Long lived

...the number you get from this is an indication of how long lived the bar will be, based on the fats you're using. Your current "long life" number is about 19. I normally shoot for 25 to 30 for this characteristic. I believe my soaps are a nice balance between good lather and decently long life.

 

[Possum_Magic]

I would add 25%-30% palm or lard, it will make a harder longer lasting bar and creamy lather.

Thanks for your input Obsidian.

So, do I add an extra 25%-30% of original batch size? Or make the batch 25%-30% palm or lard?

I am not comfortable using lard? Can you tell the difference? (I am not vegetarian, just an icky factor for me.)

Also, not comfortable using Palm Oil because of the deforestation factor in Indonesia and Malaysia... the orangutans etc. Can anyone recommend a USA supplier of sustainable Palm Oil?

OR is there an oil that performs almost as well as palm oil?

TIA
Possum Magic.

 

[Possum_Magic]

Well, this way you get to make more soap

If you are buying your home you might consider and water softening system. They are nice!

Good idea, but we are renters. Will eventually return to the rainwater tank in Australia.

 

[Obsidian]

I would replace some of the rice bran with the lard or palm. Personally I like lard better. Its cheap, easy to find and makes a wonderful gentle creamy soap, not icky at all. Palm make a good soap too but it always accelerates trace for me and I dislike having to order it offline.
I believe Bramble berry palm is sustainable.

 

[Seawolfe]

I satisfactorily recreated a recipe that used palm, and I didn't want to use lard in it here's how I did it: On soap calc, design an imaginary recipe that has the hardness like DeAnna suggested, using palm in the ingredients. Write down the profile numbers, paying special attention to the hardness. Then delete the palm and replace with some cocoa butter and shea, and fiddle with the amounts of each oil or butter, aiming for the same profile you had with the palm or lard. It won't be exactly the same, but you can get close.

I originally felt the same as you about lard until I found some cheap in a grocer that carries it (look for a Big Saver near you in so Cal) and made some just to try. I am now in love with lard soap. It's really a lovely gentle soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

Most commercially available stearic acid is made from palm oil, so if palm is an issue and you do decide to use stearic in your soap, you'll have to hunt for stearic made from fats acceptable to you.

 

[cmzaha]

Thanks for your input Obsidian.

So, do I add an extra 25%-30% of original batch size? Or make the batch 25%-30% palm or lard?

I am not comfortable using lard? Can you tell the difference? (I am not vegetarian, just an icky factor for me.)

Also, not comfortable using Palm Oil because of the deforestation factor in Indonesia and Malaysia... the orangutans etc. Can anyone recommend a USA supplier of sustainable Palm Oil?

OR is there an oil that performs almost as well as palm oil?

TIA
Possum Magic.

Cibaria soap supply in Riverside, CA carries sustainable palm. You can purchase as small as 7 lbs from them. Actually lard makes beautiful soap. Anytime I test use one of my soap and mention to my hubby that it is wonderful he tells me it must have lard, becuase every soap I dearly love has lard. I make so many different soaps I do not always know what is in the sample soap I take to use when going to the restroom, so when I return to my booth I check the ingredients. Yep, always a soap with lard. I happen to use lard and palm in many soaps, with enough coconut or pko to keep it soluble

 

[Possum_Magic]

THanks, I was not aware of this!

Most commercially available stearic acid is made from palm oil, so if palm is an issue and you do decide to use stearic in your soap, you'll have to hunt for stearic made from fats acceptable to you.

 

[Susie]

I am going to add to the "try lard" group. I adore soaps with lard. I like them more than soaps with goat's milk or coconut milk, or any other oils.

I don't have a local source of tallow, so I am not saying anything against tallow, just can't see having it shipped across country for soap when lard is available right here from local pig farmers. The closest butcher that processes cattle is about an hour away, and only provides raw fats, not finished tallow.

 

[LunaSkye]

I have no idea what makes lard so icky to you, but you could substitute it for beef tallow. I personally haven't tried it yet, but I know that some soapers have substituted lard with tallow. You can find it online with some suppliers.

Another alternative is using butters like cocoa butter or mango butter. They have nice results, but they can be expensive depending on where you are.

 

[Possum_Magic]

I have no idea what makes lard so icky to you, but you could substitute it for beef tallow. I personally haven't tried it yet, but I know that some soapers have substituted lard with tallow. You can find it online with some suppliers.

Another alternative is using butters like cocoa butter or mango butter. They have nice results, but they can be expensive depending on where you are.

I have no good/sensible reason to be against lard or tallow... It's just a psychological thing. I eat meat. My husband and I do our best to buy organic/sustainable etc (which is easy in SoCal...and also back home in Oz). I'll give lard or tallow a go, it'll just take some time, lol. It is actually the first time someone had suggested I use an animal based product in my soap. It just hasn't crossed my mind to use it. I don't know anyone else, in person, who makes their own soaps and lotions, so I have to teach myself... and get tips from you guys now.

 

[AustinStraight]

If it makes you feel any better, Dove, Ivory, and Irish Spring bar soaps are all made with tallow. I'm sure more commercial soaps are, too, just look for sodium tallowate on the ingredient list.