Liquid soap with NaOH???

[FGOriold]

DeeAnna - not that this is related to liquid soap, but if you are wet felting over bar soap, you really do not need any additional soap. I just allow the soap from the bar come through and it works wonderfully.

 

[DeeAnna]

Yes, I agree, Faith. I wasn't being too clear -- I meant that I'd use the olive oil soap gel for other wet felted projects. I don't use any extra soap when wet felting over a bar of soap either.

I just did three more felted bars last night -- that's all I have patience for at one sitting. I am finding that "practice makes better", as a friend says. I had mounds of lather on my hands from the bar itself as I felted the wool. I thought the lather actually slowed down the felting a bit, but a gentle rinse every so often solved that problem well enough.

 

[FGOriold]

Got it DeeAnna - yes excellent use of the olive oil soap gel you have. I love felting soap, it is a great way to utilize bars that just don't look the way you wanted them to and you can do some amazing designs needle felting them afterwards. I call it giving those bars a "makeover" or a new life since they are still awesome bars of soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

Update on the "liquid soap" I made on 4/6/2015:

It's been over a month now since I grated a bar of my "superlye" olive-oil soap and diluted it to a thick pourable consistency with distilled water. About 10 days after making, it had turned into an unattractive lumpy gel. As of today, the lumpiness is gone and the texture is again smooth, but the diluted soap is no longer pourable. It has become a soft gel that holds its shape when I gently shake a bit out of its container into my hand. When I work the gel with my fingers, the soap forms long snotty strings as I pull my fingers away from the mass of soap in my palm. The lather has actually improved a bit in the past month -- the soap now forms a barely acceptable layer of thin creamy suds when I wash my hands with it.

My verdict as a bath and hand soap: Still unacceptable. I'm ending this experiment.

One interesting observation from this experiment: Many new soapers think curing is pretty much about evaporating excess water, and the faster they can get the water evaporated, the better. Although I agree that evaporating excess water is part of curing a bar soap, I'm even more convinced after this little experiment that evaporation is not the ONLY aspect of curing. This NaOH soap went through distinct changes in physical structure and lathering ability over the past month, even though it was diluted into a liquid-y product and stored in a container that prevents evaporation.

 

[PattiJ]

Liquid Soap with NaOH

The recipe that I saw had 1 oz. of alcohol ( vodka) added at dilution and then was cooked for another half hour to allow the soap to clarify. Did anyone use alcohol at dilution? Wouldn't that help in liquefying the soap?

 

[Susie]

Alcohol is used as a clarifying agent to help settle unwanted solids so that you can get perfectly clear soap. Not so much for dilution.

 

[liquidsoaplady]

I use a combination of 75% KOH and 25% NaOH, gives the liquid soap a better lasing foam, and if you add some potassium carbonate (pearl ash), it adds to the detergency, foaming capabilities and clarity of the soap. Makes a great foaming bubble bath..........let me know if you would like more information and I can walk you through the steps.
Thanks!
Lisa

 

[Susie]

Here's the link to the thread Liquidsoaplady was kind enough to post her recipe and process on:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?p=518331#post518331

 

[DeeAnna]

Absolutely THE LAST update on the "liquid soap" I made on 4/6/2015:

I said I was quitting, but here I am again giving yet another report a month later. After writing up my last installment of this saga, I left the last few tablespoons of LS in its pump bottle and pretty much forgot about it. I was cleaning up the shower a few days ago, and I thought I'd better get rid of the bottle and the remains of the soap. I picked up the bottle, absentmindedly gave it a shake, and was surprised to see the formerly thick soap is now as thin as water. Go figure.....

Okay, this is it. I threw the stuff away. No more. I give up. Finis......!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Sounds like a good idea!

 

[penelopejane]

Yes, it is exciting!!

However, my trying to explain how exciting it is to people has resulted in 3 sets of glazed eyes and 2 vague pats on the hand with 3 people wandering away while I was stirring soap...

It is great to have people who understand and can be excited with me!!!

Oh I know this feeling so well and I've only been soaping for a few weeks! [emoji2]

 

[Arimara]

This thread ought to be stickied. It has a wealth of information that can save soaping newbies time and heartache. It surely crossed my mind to make liquid soap and I would have tried to use NaOH.

 

[Susie]

If you think this thread is full of wonderful info, read this one:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114

 

[DawninWA]

Absolutely THE LAST update on the "liquid soap" I made on 4/6/2015:

I said I was quitting, but here I am again giving yet another report a month later. After writing up my last installment of this saga, I left the last few tablespoons of LS in its pump bottle and pretty much forgot about it. I was cleaning up the shower a few days ago, and I thought I'd better get rid of the bottle and the remains of the soap. I picked up the bottle, absentmindedly gave it a shake, and was surprised to see the formerly thick soap is now as thin as water. Go figure.....

Okay, this is it. I threw the stuff away. No more. I give up. Finis......!

I still wonder what the difference was between your soap and mine. Mine is still consistently nice liquid soap with appropriate suds. It lasts forever and doesn't get weird. What you got seems to be what happens when I try and liquefy soap with palm oil or lard.

I recently made more with soap from another batch, and it was still perfect. But it was the same recipe as before.

Oh, well, probably something in the water or the air, soap is finicky .

 

[Arimara]

If you think this thread is full of wonderful info, read this one:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114

What can I say? I like to read people's studies. Many of the best lessons come from mistakes and trial-and-error, be it our own or others.

 

[DeeAnna]

Dawn -- It's great your LS is working well for you. I can't argue with your success!

Unfortunately, the failures people are having with this method far outnumber their successes. And when a person does have a successful batch, then next batch may be a failure. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the results.

 

[Wildcraft_Garden]

This thread ought to be stickied. It has a wealth of information that can save soaping newbies time and heartache. It surely crossed my mind to make liquid soap and I would have tried to use NaOH.

So true! I found it super helpful. Thanks everyone.

 

[linne1gi]

I wonder about mold and bacteria growing with that much water added and no preservative. Also I second the no Pyrex. Even the older Borosilicate Pyrex will eventually break/shatter with continued lye use. The lye etches the glass. Use stainless or #2/#5 plastic.

 

[DeeAnna]

Good points, Linne. In this 3-year-old thread, however, we were discussing whether a person might be able to use NaOH soap to make a stable liquid soap. The overall consensus is that it's not a good method. In the intervening years, I have to say my opinion on this matter hasn't changed.

Discussing equipment and preservative safety would be better done in a new thread with that as the subject line. You'll get more responses and more interest that way rather than burying your comments in this discussion.

Please start a new thread and get folks talking about this!