Paris Transparent Shave Soap

[Zany_in_CO]

I get such a kick out of old time recipes! Found this one in my Transparents File while looking for something else. It's from an old book on soapmaking ... A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture of Soap and Candles... that's available in FREE Ebook form. Thought I'd post the recipe here for those into making transparent soap and anyone else that may find it interesting.

Here's a link to the source of the recipe:
https://books.google.com/books?id=0KIIAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA519#v=onepage&q&f=false

PARIS TRANSPARENT SHAVING SOAP

Saponify:

20 lbs Castor Oil
10 lbs Coconut Oil
52-54 lbs potash lye of 20°B

Boil until the mass is short, thick, and clear. Cool to 167°F. Add:
6 lbs Glycerin (Crutch through then add
3 lbs 90-92% alcohol

Should the soap lose transparency, add water until it is again clear and transparent.

Fragrance (for 100 lbs)
51 oz lavender
3.75 oz cumin
1 oz cassia
1 oz bergamot

 

[Meena]

Potash lye is the KOH, right? So this is a transparent liquid soap, or ?? This also seems to be an HP recipe?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Potash lye is the KOH, right?

Um, not exactly, Meena. See if this helps...
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/sodium-hydroxide-vs-potassium-hydroxide-517051

So this is a transparent liquid soap, or ?? This also seems to be an HP recipe?

This is a hard transparent soap, not liquid. Keep in mind, this is an old timey soap recipe. The nomenclature "CP" or "HP" came in vogue fairly recently when all us crazies decided we wanted to make soap in our kitchens! So it doesn't really apply, to my mind at least.

 

[Meena]

Um, not exactly, Meena. See if this helps...
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/sodium-hydroxide-vs-potassium-hydroxide-517051

This is a hard transparent soap, not liquid. Keep in mind, this is an old timey soap recipe. The nomenclature "CP" or "HP" came in vogue fairly recently when all us crazies decided we wanted to make soap in our kitchens! So it doesn't really apply, to my mind at least.

I'm confused by your "not exactly" because, in the article you linked, she says:
"or potassium hydroxide (KOH), also known as potash."

So if this recipe called for potash, which is KOH, how would this make a hard soap?

Maybe it's me trying to do too many things at one time this morning... like think, worry, read, plan, and look for stuff to fix something I've needed to fix for 2 weeks and have to do today because i go back to work tomorrow...

 

[DeeAnna]

Potash is the common name for potassium carbonate, K2CO3.
Caustic potash is the common name for potassium hydroxide, KOH.

That said, I'm sure there are inexperienced people who incorrectly think "potash" is the same thing as KOH (caustic potash). If so, they'd be wiser to use the chemical formula (KOH) or correct chemical name (potassium hydroxide) and totally eliminate the confusion.

If you suspect a person is using "potash" when they really mean KOH, you're going to have to figure it out from the context or ask the author. In this case, the author of the recipe that Zany provided is long dead, so we have to figure it out from the context of the book.

edit: In 1888, the soap making industry was still largely using potassium carbonate (potash) from mined sources or from plant ashes to make soap. In some instances the soap makers converted the potash into caustic potash (KOH) using slaked lime, but that wasn't a consistent practice for all soap makers, at least according to the author.

So when the author says "potash" I suspect he really does mean potash (potassium carbonate) and not caustic potash. I haven't read the whole book recently, and I think you'd have to read the chapters where recipes are given in order to confirm this, but the author does make a clear distinction between the two in the chapter where he discusses the various lyes that can be used for soap making (chapter starts on pg 177). end edit

The same pattern applies to the sodium alkalis -- Soda is sodium carbonate, Na2CO3, and caustic soda is sodium hydroxide, NaOH.

 

[Meena]

OMG! Thank you for this. In the 3 weeks of all my soapy reading, I had not stumbled upon this priceless information! I'm certain that Kevin Dunn book is going to be Full of wonderful technical information such as this.

I hope many people will see this and file it in their brain for times when they are not using a 'modern' recipe.

 

[DeeAnna]

Glad I could help, @Meena. I should also point out that the soap was not made with a hot process or cold process method, although you certainly could adapt the recipe to use HP or CP. The author was writing about soap made with a "boiled" process. This process uses more water than you use for CP or HP and requires hours of slow stirring. The soap is finished differently as well because the extra water needed for the boiled method has to be removed before the soap can be put into molds.

 

[cmzaha]

I admit I have not opened up my Kevin Dunn's book in a couple of years but if I remember his book is based on current experiments not necessarily old soapmaking methods.

I also have a few old soapmaking manufacturing booklets and it does take a bit of thinking to figure out just what was used. Reminds me of measurements in old cookbooks

 

[Zany_in_CO]

@DeeAnna

Since I'm thinking about using NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide) to try this transparent recipe with the intention of making a hard soap, the following excellent explanation is also very helpful:

Source: Question about potassium carbonate.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/question-about-potassium-carbonate.63960/

Post #6

There are some older recipes for making household soap that claim the soap is made without "lye" (with "lye" in this case meaning sodium hydroxide). What they're doing is reacting sodium carbonate (washing soda) with lime to make the sodium hydroxide solution. It's possible that this is what your neighbor's grandmother did.

 

[Clarice]

I followed the link for the book - thank you @Zany_in_CO - what a hoot!

All recipes start with "200 pounds of ......."

I howled! I may actually search through the book for nuggets - the "contents" outline is helpful.

Elderflower! All I hear is Monty Python!