Laundry soap comes to the rescue!

[Zany_in_CO]

Well last night I had a pile of dishes to wash and just a drop of Dawn left. Shoot! Instead of making a trip to the store, I decided to try that bar of laundry soap instead. Well... it worked perfectly. It's a -1 SF so it didn't leave any oily residue on my dishes. Everything was squeaky clean and the lather and bubbles were great.

Brilliant! I love hearing stories like this!

As a long-time LS'er I have a few comments:

Maybe explaining in ratios/percentages would help?

Good question, toxikon!
DILUTION: As a general rule of thumb, use 2-3 X the weight of oils (not paste) for the amount of water wt. for dilution. It varies with the oils used. This results in thin soap -- that's just the nature of the beast. LOL You can then thicken with a variety of thickeners if you want, but I like it just as it is.

EXAMPLE: Here's what I do... Weigh the finished paste, then calculate the amount of water needed. For !00% Coconut oil, 40% soap wt. to 60% water wt. works well vs the other extreme of 100% Olive oil where one would use 15%-20% soap wt to 85% - 80% water weight. Olive Oil needs more water to get past the film that forms on top during dilution -- no worries -- it lathers up amazingly well at that ratio.

NOTE: Since I use 50% Coconut or PKO and 50% liquid oils in most recipes, the dilution rate I like is 40% soap to 60% water. BUT it's strictly a matter of preference. Some like Susie & Carolyn prefer a higher concentration of soap, and that's their choice. It takes longer to rinse off hands, body, hair, clothes, appliances, etc. and a lot of actual soap gets wasted. JMHO.

I am not clear on the 3:1 water ratio, what would I put into soapcalc for the lye concentration to get that ratio?

Ditto as mentioned above, #3 on SoapCalc >>> click water /lye ratio button and type in 3:1 -- that works most of the time, especially if you HP. However, it may take up to 45 minutes to trace. For CP, I use a 2:1 ratio to speed up trace which happens in 12 -15 minutes. I then cover it and wait 2 weeks before diluting it. During that time it turns a beautiful clear amber paste, fully cured and ready to dilute.

 

[DanielCoffey]

When you have made a batch of the CO/KOH paste soap, how do you tend to store your unused soap? Do you let it air dry at all or keep it covered?

I have made a small batch (500g total weight) and am loving it so far as a replacement for washing up liquid but since it is soft enough to squash with a thumb I suspect you could actually get it to conform to any container you wanted to keep it in. I need the container for a very small batch of hard soap and so thought I would ask what you did with the spare paste you all make.

 

[DeeAnna]

I smoosh my soap paste into a canning jar and put a lid on it. Others put their paste in a zipper-lock bag. Some store their paste in the fridge. I store mine in a closed cupboard at room temperature.

I don't let the soap paste dry out, but if I did, it would gradually firm into a waxy clay-like consistency. There's nothing wrong with doing that if you want that consistency for some reason, but it would make diluting the soap more time consuming.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I don't store my paste. I dilute it all at once and pour it into a re-purposed laundry soap jug. I use it at a rate of 1 tablespoon soap to 1 gallon of water. My washing machine holds 6 gallons max. so for the largest load, I use 6 tablespoons or 3 fl oz or 90 mls. I add white vinegar to the rinse cycle to remove all residual soap scum.

 

[Susie]

I store my paste in a Ziploc bag in the fridge. Not that it requires refrigeration, but I can't tell you all the places I have lost bags of soap (when I moved I found lots of soap). If I store it in the fridge, I don't lose it.

 

[biarine]

I make my own dish soap too because mostly of supermarket dish soap it makes my hand itching because of my dermatitis. Even I make my liquid laundry soap because I am very sensitive in laundry detergent except bold detergent.

 

[biarine]

I store my paste in a Ziploc bag in the fridge. Not that it requires refrigeration, but I can't tell you all the places I have lost bags of soap (when I moved I found lots of soap). If I store it in the fridge, I don't lose it.

Same here Susie I found 2 bar of Castile soap in my shoe box where I put my cured soap 4 years ago. I think the age of my bar is around 3.5 years old

 

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks for the ideas. I think I will transfer it to a wide necked jar (something I can get a big spoon into) and keep it as a paste. Then I can use the container I made it in as an improvised soap mould for a batch of high-lard CP soap.

I am finding the paste very useful as a washing up and surface cleaner. I don't need it for laundry yet as I was given a year's free supply of liquid when we bought the new Miele washing machine recently.

 

[anshika154]

Well, last night I had a pile of dishes to wash and just a drop of Dawn left. Shoot! Instead of making a trip to the store, I decided to try that bar of laundry soap instead.

Well... it worked perfectly. It's a -1 SF so it didn't leave any oily residue on my dishes. Everything was squeaky clean and the lather and bubbles were great.

I guess next on my recipe list is a liquid dish soap!

Well, doesn't it leaves any white marks on utensils?? Because I have as well done this but it leaves a white thin layer of dust...

 

[biarine]

Well, doesn't it leaves any white marks on utensils?? Because I have as well done this but it leaves a white thin layer of dust...

I use bar and liquid soap for years now, I never have any problem. But last time I am not able to do soaping because we have a new kittens. So I use Ecover and make our glass cloudy and leave some white spot after it dry.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Well, doesn't it leaves any white marks on utensils?? Because I have as well done this but it leaves a white thin layer of dust...

When hand-washing dishes, mine seems to be perfectly clean but I do have a "sink and a half" so everything gets a cold water rinse before being put on the draining board. I use the paste from a small bowl onto a sponge rather than mixing up a liquid batch.

I do see that the main washing bowl water goes cloudy as the soap builds up in it as I go through the dishes but that is a fair cue to change the water I suspect.

So far I would have to say that with 0% SF, the dishes are clean and grease or mark free.