Little bit more mushy soap

[Soap1337]

Do your homemade soap bars get a little bit more mushy' than store bought soaps as they sit and are used on your sink ledge?

What are some ingredients you can use/add to help keep soap bars harder and not so mushy on your sink ledge as you use them???

Thankssssssssssssss

(I hope these aren't too dumb of questions) :?

 

[Guest]

You can try using a soap dish... commerical soap get soft-like mushy too over time..

try a dish so it can dry out :wink:

 

[Soap1337]

I have another question... (well it turned into three )

If you use milk in soap, do you have to put in a preservative like T-50 vitamin E oil or GFS oil?


...or will the lye process take care of it?


..and what about if you put in some sort of puree fruit or whatever like pumpkin?


Thanksss


(Oh yeah I'm new, bought 2 months now trying home CP soaps) hey everyoneeeeeeee!

Tommy

 

[Tabitha]

Yes, I do find homemade soaps get mushier quicker than store bought. Good drainage is key. There is no real reason to submurge your soap in water either. If you just run your soap over your wet rag or sponge rather than dunk it under it last longer too. make sure you are not storing your bar like in a shower caddy that gets sprayed the whole time your shower is running either.

There are recipes for harder bars of soap, but someone esle would need to point you in that direction.

 

[Guest]

I have another question... (well it turned into three )

If you use milk in soap, do you have to put in a preservative like T-50 vitamin E oil or GFS oil?


...or will the lye process take care of it?


..and what about if you put in some sort of puree fruit or whatever like pumpkin?


Thanksss


(Oh yeah I'm new, bought 2 months now trying home CP soaps) hey everyoneeeeeeee!

Tommy

Yeah it can get mushy when left in water. I love to think outside the box.... and when it came to a soap dish i got a little creative. Oh now promise you will hold your laughing to a hushed roar. But I use a razor that uses those cartriages and they are plastic. Well instead of tossing them out, I use them to keep my soap out of any water out of the dish or ledge. They have holes in them so they drain the water way. But it works very well to keep my soap up and dry.


I don't use a presersative in my cp or hp soaps. And if you used Vit E or GFS oil to use as a presersative you would have to add so much it would be toxic. If you make a product that needs to be presersatived, do buy an actual presersative that is made for that type of product.


I do use milk in my soaps. Both goats milk and i also like to use heavy whipping cream as well. PM me and i'll give you my tips on using milk in soaps!!! There is an easier way of doing it than freezing your milk first.

I've never used puree in my soaps but I have used tomato juice.

But if your a beginner i would suggest starting with a basic soap recipe.

PM me and i will help you with an easy way of doing it. That makes wonderful soap, as well.

The oils you use can make a huge difference to get a harder bar of soap. They are not all created equal. And you can also add about 1 tbs steric acid to every pound of oils to make a harder bar of soap as well.

Good Luck soaping is a whole lot of fun, i made two batches of HP (hot process) soap yesterday.

One reason why i like the hot process is that i can be used pretty much right away because you speed up the chemical reaction. And you don't need to wait weeks for it to cure.

~kris

 

[soapbuddy]

Just an FYI; T-50 vitamin E oil or GFS oil are not preservatives, they are anti-oxidants.

Irena

 

[Guest]

It's scary to see many handmade products where the seller states they use these as 'presersatives'.

I don't remember the exact link that I found this, but i saved this link to use on my web site to inform people of these things.

preservative myths
------------------------------------

myth: grapefruit seed extract (gse) is an all natural preservative -- there are rumors over the web that grapefruit seed extract works as a natural preservative. this is not true. there was a study done on the preservative qualities of gse. this study found that it had been contaminated with triclosan and other chemical preservatives. the study also took a handmade grapefruit seed extract that was not tainted with other chemicals. this sample showed zero preservative qualities.

myth: essential oils will work as preservatives -- while it is true that some essential oils exhibit antibacterial and anti-fungal qualities, the quantity needed to effectively preserve a product would put the essential oils at unsafe levels. it is best to save the essential oils for fragrance purposes only.

myth: potassium sorbate is an all-natural preservative -- while potassium sorbate can effectively preserve against mold and yeast, it is not useful for protecting the product from bacteria. it is also not effective at all in products with a ph over 6, which most lotions are. while potassium sorbate is found in nature, any available today would have been synthetically made so it is not all-natural. it is also believed to cause contact dermatitis.

unfortunately there are no all-natural preservatives. in order to produce a product that is free of bacteria, mold and yeast and a product that is safe for your customers it is necessary to use a chemical preservative.

 

[Leah]

I have another question... (well it turned into three )

If you use milk in soap, do you have to put in a preservative like T-50 vitamin E oil or GFS oil?


...or will the lye process take care of it?


..and what about if you put in some sort of puree fruit or whatever like pumpkin?


Thanksss

So would the pumpkin rot if used in soapmaking?

Leah


(Oh yeah I'm new, bought 2 months now trying home CP soaps) hey everyoneeeeeeee!

Tommy

 

[Leah]

Just an FYI; T-50 vitamin E oil or GFS oil are not preservatives, they are anti-oxidants.

Irena

Do you use a preservative in your goat milk soap??

Thanks,
Leah

 

[Guest]

I do not use a preservative in my goats milk soap.

Because we don't have any local goats (that I know of) to get fresh goats milk, nor do any of the local grocery stores within a 200 mile radius have it fresh, I do buy the concentrated goats milk.

But I really like using the concentrated (found in the grocery store with the condensed milk, evaporated milk, and powdered milk) because then I don't add water to the goats milk.

Instead I use the liquid in my recipe, divide by two, and use 1/2 of it was water and mix my lye in with that. And then the other half of the liquid is the concentrated goats milk to which I add to my oils. This way I don't have to worry about freezing my milk or wondering if i'll burn it with the heat from the lye.

Works great and never had a problem.


But don't stop with just goats milk. I personally love to make all sorts of dairy soaps, they are just awesome.......


.

 

[Soap1337]

Thanks for the info guys!

Tommy