Liquid soap from bar soap...and it doesn't feel like snot.

[agriffin]

I was bored tonite and instead of doing stuff I needed (make bar soap, make swap soap, clean) to do I felt like playing around. I was reading some old soap manuals and most of them say to make liquid soap by disolving bar soap in glycerin and alcohol. Some of ya'll probably know to do this...it was news to me. We all know that boiling soap in water gives you snot.

So here's what I did:

11 oz shredded 100% Lard soap
3 oz alcohol (everclear)
5 oz glycerin
.5 oz sugar disolved in 5 oz boiling water
2 g borax disolved in 5 oz water

I'm just going to walk you through how I got the above numbers and my reasons for doing this and that.

I started by putting 6 oz soap, 3 oz everclear and 3 oz glycerin in a pan and brought to a boil. It quickly disolved the soap. I added the .5 oz of sugar disolved in 5 oz of boiling water. It seamed really runny so I added 5 more oz of soap shreds and 2 more oz of glycerin. It was getting really congealy-ish so I thought a little borax would help. I disolved 2 g of borax in 5 oz of water, added it and it thickened up.

It also started to turn from clear to milky again...and the skin was white and wouldn't disolve back into the soap. So I kinda thought it was messed up and I would just throw it out. I let it sit about 4 hours, came back to it and it was clear. Yay! Here's what it looks like.

Clearer after sitting for about an hour...

So here are my thoughts...especially if you want to try it yourself.

This soap didn't have much of a superfat because it is laundry soap. I think I did a 2-3% superfat. If your soap has more of a superfat...it might come out more cloudy? I'm not sure.

Also as with liquid soap...the best oils to try this with are probably olive, coconut, castor, sunflower, safflower...etc.

What about making a soap with a low superfat and adding some sulfated castor oil to superfat (just thinking out loud)?

Anywho...just wanted to share. I'll update tomorrow if I wake up to something wonky tomorrow morning.

**Please use safety when working with everclear or strong alcohol** I bet you could do this in the crockpot also.

ETA: Boil in a pan with a tight lid so the alcohol doesn't immediately escape. I boiled it with the lid off after everything was disolved to boil the alcohol out.

 

[BakingNana]

Woohoo! Thanks for posting this. I've always wondered if that would work. Can't wait to hear if it stays nice and clear. Too cool!! 8)

How long would the shelf life be? I have some liquid soap here that I've had for 3 years or more with nothing in it to preserve it, and it's fine. Wouldn't this stuff be OK, too? Just wondering.

 

[agriffin]

You know what...no idea. But I am wondering what the pH is so I'm going to go check that.

ETA: the PH is 8.7 so that's good.

To be honest with you...this is probably something I would not sell because of the everclear. But it is super easy to make in small batches.

I would think it would be similar to regular liquid soap by KOH it would not need preservative.

Shelf life would be dependent on your oils used.

You could add a preservative or some anti-oxidants to help out if you wanted.

 

[cwarren]

Agriifin - I need to ask .. when you say Glycerin .. is that vegetable glycerin ...
I see different ways Gylcerine, vegetable glycerine, is it liquid or solid

 

[agriffin]

Agriifin - I need to ask .. when you say Glycerin .. is that vegetable glycerin ...

Yes

 

[pixybratt]

This may be a little crazy to ask but... It would still be ok for the skin right because the alcohol would bur off in cooking it?

 

[agriffin]

This may be a little crazy to ask but... It would still be ok for the skin right because the alcohol would bur off in cooking it?

Yes it would be okay after burning off most of the alcohol.

You use alcohol to make some liquid soap and transparent soap (Failor methods).

It's liquid vegetable glycerine.

 

[tespring]

This is great! I bought a bottle of ever clear a while back to try and make clear soap but after reading how to do it, I was very hesitant because of the alcohol fumes and the potential for starting a fire. Great Job and thank you for sharing!!!

 

[pixybratt]

oh this is super thanks! I have an allergy to those powdered laundry soaps you buy so this is just what I needed.

 

[agriffin]

This is great! I bought a bottle of ever clear a while back to try and make clear soap but after reading how to do it, I was very hesitant because of the alcohol fumes and the potential for starting a fire. Great Job and thank you for sharing!!!

That's why I would do it in a crockpot..especially if you have a gas stove.

 

[Hazel]

Thanks for posting! This sounds easy enough for me to try.

 

[soapbuddy]

Looks good! There is a recipe floating on the net somewhere on how to make solid glycerin soap with alcohol and sugar. This looks similar.

 

[agriffin]

Hmm...I'll have to try that. Without adding the extra water...just the glycerin and alcohol and see what it comes out as.

 

[Laurie]

By Everclear do you mean vodka or is this something you buy at the drugstore? I've got all the other ingred. but just not sure about that one.

Thanks for sharing your experiment. I've got 100% CO soap with a 0% superfat that has been curing forever. I have only made one batch of the powdered laundry soap with it.

Thanks! Laurie

 

[Bubbles Galore]

That is very interesting. Sadly, I don't have any over-proof grain alcohol. Thanks for sharing. :wink:

 

[agriffin]

Everclear is 90 proof alcohol. So you could probably use 90 proof ethyl. I'm not sure if isopropyl will work or not.

 

[Bigmoose]

Isopropyl will work. You just have to contend with the smell that comes with using it.

Bruce

 

[krissy]

so how does it look today??

 

[agriffin]

It's about the same. No separation or anything. It's a bit congealy-ish on top- the white bubbles are sticky. I would probably need to add more water. It feels great though.

I really want to try it with better base oils.

 

[dubnica]

How do you do it agriffin? Everything you touch turns to gold....
Great post. Thanks for sharing.