I have 20 bars in my bathroom so I can test , is there an easier way?

[ShaunaD]

I’m reading as much as I can about testing to know the soap I make is safe. I’m not selling but I love giving it to friends and colleagues and hope one day to sell extra bars.., so then I can make more. I tried PH strips, was feeling confident about results then read it’s inaccurate . I’ve only given bars to people once I’ve used one from the batch on myself. I have sensitive skin so I thought if I liked it then it was fine to give away. Now I’ve read all about zap testing and questioning if it’s a zap or a bitter taste. Is the zap REALLY obvious? I have a rosehip oil bar that I wasn’t questioning if it was lye heavy as looks perfect but it tasted a bit strong/bitter, didn’t hurt but unpleasant. I’ve only zap tested at 6 weeks cured. I watched the video from
Kevin Dunn from an
Older thread here. Very interesting but to do his alkaline test I’ll need to buy those scales, beakers and find those supplies and now wondering if that is really what people are doing . How are people here testing alkalinity? Do I really need to zap test a 24 hour bar to learn what it feels like? And he said you have to get inside the bar to know if it’s ok through it. So In the meantime I am running out of space in my bathroom from all the different bars I’ve tried on myself! Getting harder to hide my addiction

 

[amd]

You'll know it's a zap, there will be no question. For comparison, stick your tongue to the end connections of a 9V battery. It's that sensation. Also... just so you realize, I am not telling you to actually stick your tongue on the battery. It's a huge assumption on my part that at some point in your childhood you were dared to do it and remember the feeling. The point I'm making is that if you zap test and question if it's a zap or just a bitter taste, the answer is that it's a bitter taste.

 

[violets2217]

My shower looks the same... about 4 different bars of soap at the moment and now some solid shampoo and conditioner bars! No plastic bottles though! I've been trying to figure out how to make my little window sill into the perfect big soap dish! Good luck! I've always just did the zap test, not really tried anything else.

 

[IrishLass]

Hi Shauna! Like amd said, zap really is an obvious, unmistakable thing. If you aren't sure whether your soap zapped you or not, it most likely didn't. Zap from unreacted lye in soap feels like a painful sting......much like sticking a drop of hot sauce on the tip of your tongue, or as amd said, sticking your tongue to a 9 volt battery.... the small ones, not the huge ones. When we were kids, my siblings and I use to do the battery trick.

If you really want to know what it feels like, do the zap test on an un-gelled soap as soon as you unmold it. Gelled soaps are not likely to zap much if at all (at least my own gelled soaps don't zap), but un-gelled soaps will definitely zap (at least mine do).

As far as alkilinity goes, all soap is alkaline. The pH of lye-based soap (safe-to-use/no un-reacted lye in it) can range anywhere between 8.5 and 12.4 (yes- 12.4), so for me the zap test is a more useful test than a pH test as far as detecting unreacted lye.


IrishLass

 

[ShaunaD]

Thank you for the responses. I feel I had a sheltered childhood and never put my tongue on a battery
So if I’m zap testing a cured bar, do I need to cut it so I test the inside?
watching the Kevin Dunn YouTube clip was educational but I can see room for error there too... like if your scale batteries are running low so just want find the safest way