Liquid Laundry Soap Questions

[Kcryss]

I ran out of sodium hydroxide and will not get the new order in until Friday.

I bought some potassium hydroxide that I haven't used yet, so I can still make soap.

Will be making liquid laundry soap tonight with 100% CO, 0% SF, 3:1 ratio and 90% lye purity. This is based on several threads I found regarding liquid laundry soap.

What I'm not sure about is additives and didn't find in any of the threads: Do I still need to add citric acid and sodium gluconate to the water before adding the lye? Also, what about a preservative? Is the high pH enough to ward off any microbials after dilution? TIA for any help.

 

[Kcryss]

Nevermind, made the soap and used both CA and SG. Cooking it now. The transition to "hard" trace was really cool. Even though I expected it to happen after watching videos it was still somewhat surprising.

 

[Susie]

You should not need any preservatives as long as you do not add "food" for the yuckies to grow on during dilution. No sugar, honey, milk, etc. It's ok if you add them to the water before the lye, but once saponification is done, no more foods.

I am not at all sure why you thought you needed citric acid. Citric acid is intended to bring the pH down in a lye heavy soap. And since your's was intended to be 0%, and I presume you used a lye calculator, you had no need to use CA at all.

I have hard water, so I totally understand the need for a chelating agent. I use tetrasodium EDTA in all of my soaps.

 

[Kcryss]

You should not need any preservatives as long as you do not add "food" for the yuckies to grow on during dilution. No sugar, honey, milk, etc. It's ok if you add them to the water before the lye, but once saponification is done, no more foods.

Good to know. Thanks

I am not at all sure why you thought you needed citric acid. Citric acid is intended to bring the pH down in a lye heavy soap. And since your's was intended to be 0%, and I presume you used a lye calculator, you had no need to use CA at all.

I have hard water, so I totally understand the need for a chelating agent. I use tetrasodium EDTA in all of my soaps.

I use soap makers friend calc and it compensates for the CA. I started using CA for the chelating factor, not for pH. I just recently got my order in for Sodium Gluconate and the liquid soap was the first time I used it. Based on what I found last night, I only need one or the other. Sodium Gluconate and/or Citric Acid replaces EDTA.

These threads address both CA and SG for chelating:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/sodium-gluconate.69601/
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/citric-acid-as-a-chelator.56643/ (post #3)

 

[Susie]

It's fine, I just didn't get why you used it. And since I am not on here all the time any more (life just gets in the way), I wasn't sure what your soaping experience was. You haven't been a member that long, so I wrongfully assumed inexperience and ignorance. I apologize. Too many people read the old liquid soap books and follow instructions blindly.

 

[Kcryss]

It's fine, I just didn't get why you used it. And since I am not on here all the time any more (life just gets in the way), I wasn't sure what your soaping experience was. You haven't been a member that long, so I wrongfully assumed inexperience and ignorance. I apologize. Too many people read the old liquid soap books and follow instructions blindly.

LOL, I understand. I'm one who follows nothing blindly. Lots and lots of research.

We have very hard water in Colorado. The water supply for the the south end of the Denver area comes almost exclusively from the mountains, so lots and lots of minerals. I have 3 kids in the south end of the Denver area and their water supply is from a natural source coming down out of the hills. So I try to make my soaps with that in mind.

 

[Susie]

I live in DFW. My first experience in all of my 57 years dealing with hard water. I am not a fan.

 

[Kcryss]

I live in DFW. My first experience in all of my 57 years dealing with hard water. I am not a fan.

LOL, neither am I!
For the last 6 months I've had a water softener. First time in my life with soft water! It's amazing!

 

[Arimara]

Wow, you got Susie answering your thread. Lucky you (she knows her stuff).

 

[Kcryss]

I always feel lucky when people answer my questions. Especially those that have been around the forum for a long while. I really value all the experience here and the help/advice.

It's always very much appreciated!

 

[Susie]

Wow, you got Susie answering your thread. Lucky you (she knows her stuff).

I do exist. And I do read SMF occasionally. Last year, and what there has been of this year has been quite rough on me. 5 surgeries in 13 months has about wiped me out. Not to mention working full time and had 4 deaths in the family. Between the hospital and funeral homes, I haven't made soap for almost a year. Not a bar, not a liquid soap. I hope I have turned a corner now with my health, and hopefully get back to both participating here. In the meantime, though, I will keep lurking and participating as I am able until I get two feet back under me and can rejoin life.

 

[Kcryss]

I do exist. And I do read SMF occasionally. Last year, and what there has been of this year has been quite rough on me. 5 surgeries in 13 months has about wiped me out. Not to mention working full time and had 4 deaths in the family. Between the hospital and funeral homes, I haven't made soap for almost a year. Not a bar, not a liquid soap. I hope I have turned a corner now with my health, and hopefully get back to both participating here. In the meantime, though, I will keep lurking and participating as I am able until I get two feet back under me and can rejoin life.

OMG, sounds like you've had a terrible year. I'm so sorry to hear about all the issues you've had! I hope things are looking up for you this year.

 

[Arimara]

I do exist. And I do read SMF occasionally. Last year, and what there has been of this year has been quite rough on me. 5 surgeries in 13 months has about wiped me out. Not to mention working full time and had 4 deaths in the family. Between the hospital and funeral homes, I haven't made soap for almost a year. Not a bar, not a liquid soap. I hope I have turned a corner now with my health, and hopefully get back to both participating here. In the meantime, though, I will keep lurking and participating as I am able until I get two feet back under me and can rejoin life.

I'm with @Kcryss there. It's things like this that remind me to try not to complain about my own life changes. I haven't had to have surgery as of yet, only one person died in my family, and while my speech, reading and writing skills are affected, I can still do all three in varying degrees. I hope you're on the mend. I've been wondering what happened to you and it's good you're still around.

 

[dibbles]

I do exist. And I do read SMF occasionally. Last year, and what there has been of this year has been quite rough on me. 5 surgeries in 13 months has about wiped me out. Not to mention working full time and had 4 deaths in the family. Between the hospital and funeral homes, I haven't made soap for almost a year. Not a bar, not a liquid soap. I hope I have turned a corner now with my health, and hopefully get back to both participating here. In the meantime, though, I will keep lurking and participating as I am able until I get two feet back under me and can rejoin life.

Sorry to hear you’ve had such a hard year. I’ve missed seeing you here. In the meantime, let me know if you need soap. I’m pretty sure I have an extra bar or two around here somewhere

 

[Kiti Williams]

I do exist. And I do read SMF occasionally. Last year, and what there has been of this year has been quite rough on me. 5 surgeries in 13 months has about wiped me out. Not to mention working full time and had 4 deaths in the family. Between the hospital and funeral homes, I haven't made soap for almost a year. Not a bar, not a liquid soap. I hope I have turned a corner now with my health, and hopefully get back to both participating here. In the meantime, though, I will keep lurking and participating as I am able until I get two feet back under me and can rejoin life.

I will keep you in my prayers!

 

[Susie]

Thank you all! Fortunately, I had just made a lot of soap with the intention of shipping it out to extended family. It has gone to keeping my immediate family clean. The only think I am low on (and had to buy) was liquid hand soap. I am going by Big Lots today, though, and buying CO to make some this weekend.

I think/hope most of the health issues are under control. The only issue I still have is an ankle that has now had two failed surgeries. I have learned to make liquid soap while sitting on a bar stool, though, so the possibility is there.

 

[Kcryss]

Oh no, surgery is bad enough, but failed surgeries sounds horrible. I assume there will be more to come until they succeed? Praying for a successful surgery for you and a speedy recovery.

 

[Susie]

I don't know what is to come. I have recently decided that the last surgery didn't work. I have another appt with the orthopaedist in April. I will discuss options then. I told him that the last one didn't work, and he didn't believe me until he cut me open again. I completely lost use of the two tendons they operated on to fix it the first time. So, they had to "borrow" the tendon for the big toe and try to repair it again while using cadaver bone to try to put the ankle bone back together. However, the pain is right back where it started, which is how I know that it didn't work out. They can't do an MRI after the first surgery, because all they see is inflammation and scar tissue.

 

[Kcryss]

I don't know what is to come. I have recently decided that the last surgery didn't work. I have another appt with the orthopaedist in April. I will discuss options then. I told him that the last one didn't work, and he didn't believe me until he cut me open again. I completely lost use of the two tendons they operated on to fix it the first time. So, they had to "borrow" the tendon for the big toe and try to repair it again while using cadaver bone to try to put the ankle bone back together. However, the pain is right back where it started, which is how I know that it didn't work out. They can't do an MRI after the first surgery, because all they see is inflammation and scar tissue.

OMG, that sounds horrible! I hope they can get it right soon!

 

[Susie]

Me, too.

Sorry to have hijacked this thread. Please return to discussing laundry soap!