Is it possible to lower the Ph of cold process soap

[Bubbles Galore]

I'll be interested to hear the results of this experiment, I often use clays.

Me too Steve. I love clays in soap. Now I'm wondering about the different PH's in the different grades of clay. :wink:

 

[carebear]

Mr Y doesn't know squat about modern soapmaking LOL.

We don't "remove" lye - we react it and thus magic it into SOAP.

in the olden days (pioneer days) people salted out their soaps to help remove excess lye and to also harden their soaps.

 

[ewepootoo]

I'll be interested to hear the results of this experiment, I often use clays.

Me too Steve. I love clays in soap. Now I'm wondering about the different PH's in the different grades of clay. :wink:

When the clay is being processed the pH is varied up and down by adding Sodium Hydrosulfite, Sulfuric Acid or Sodium Hydroxide the end product will have a pH to suit its use. Kaolin is used in paint,ink,plastic insulation,rubber,toothpaste,paper,cosmetics,pharmaceuticals and it is the main clay in porcelain.The glossy finish on your magazine pages is a coating of Kaolin Clay and I read where it is slightly radioactive. Just enough to trip the sensors used to pick up nuclear weapons entering US government institutions, it takes a truck loaded with magazines to trip these sensors. Steve

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Thanks for that Steve. Interesting. I had no idea. :wink:

 

[ewepootoo]

I calibrated my tester and made up 2 small samples of the same pure Coconut Oil soap I made about 2 months ago, one of the samples was made up with 10% White Kaolin clay and is only a few days older than the one without the clay. I only made small samples of a few grams mixed with distilled water but they both came in with a pH of 9.8 and 9.9. Superfat was 5% on both, same tub of Coconut Oil.
Looks like the clay which has a pH of 7, has no effect on the finished product. Steve

 

[carebear]

adding something with a neutral pH won't impact the pH of the original - diluting doesn't change the pH.

 

[ewepootoo]

I have just been reading where you must dilute Sulfuric Acid with a pH below 1 with water at around 2000:1 to raise pH to somewhere near 3. Nasty stuff me thinks. Steve

 

[Absinthe]

Stupid internet, can't find anything I want to quote

I remember a recipe for soap that involved dropping a whole lemon (maybe more than one, can't remember) into a food processor then adding the result to the soap (I assume at trace) I think the point was for scent and texture but it would seem like there is a fair amount of acid in that and wondered why at the time it might even work at all. Perhaps the intended side effect was to lower the pH closer to 7 in that way.

The fact that you can use cured soap on aluminum stuff suggests to me that the lye itself is not still active and all locked up in the alkaline salt we call soap. I am certain there is some minimum and maximum dilution at which the pH becomes lower. In effect, super-fatting a soap dilutes the "soap" with fat. Other non-saponifiables in the fats would also contribute to this dilution.

So in effect the "soap" will be salt at its stable pH. However, your bar of soap (or bottle) is actually a mixture of "soap" and other things, including glycerine, left over non-sap things, fats that are not saponified and so on.

So what you hold in your hand and say "This is soap" is really a matrix of "soap" and other stuff, bound together by the soap.

I am not a chemist, nor do I play one on TV, but this is what I understand to be the case.

 

[ewepootoo]

Dove soap is meant to have a near neutral pH but that is probably HP which I know less about than CP if that is possible. I dont know anything about rebatching but if all the Lye has been gobbled up and then you add something acidic to it this should lower the pH.
I dont play a Chemist or even a Scientist on TV so best disregard any advice I may give unless it relates to repairing machinery. Steve

 

[artemis]

Dove soap is meant to have a near neutral pH but that is probably HP which I know less about than CP if that is possible. I dont know anything about rebatching but if all the Lye has been gobbled up and then you add something acidic to it this should lower the pH.
I dont play a Chemist or even a Scientist on TV so best disregard any advice I may give unless it relates to repairing machinery. Steve

You can find the ingredients of Dove soap online. It is not actually soap, but synthetic detergent.

HP OR CP, the pH issue is the same.

 

[Relle]

This thread is from 2009, 15 yrs ago, the quoted person hasn't been here in 13 hrs. Please check the thread you are replying to - the only person still here is IL

 

[artemis]

This thread is from 2009, 15 yrs ago, the quoted person hasn't been here in 13 hrs. Please check the thread you are replying to - the only person still here is IL

That's weird. It popped up when I clicked "new posts"!

 

[Relle]

That's weird. It popped up when I clicked "new posts"!

Someone replied and the post was deleted as there was no text. It still has the date on the thread above the avatar.