question about soft water homes

[ankarette]

I like in a very hard water city and haven't thought much about that fact until recently.

This summer, I made a pound of coconut/olive oil soap for a friend of mine. She reported back to me that she had a hard time rinsing off the soap I made due to the soft water system she has installed in their home.

She would like more soap for Christmas, but only if I can find a way to make a soft water friendly soap.

Anybody know of a miracle additive or oil to use in the soap making process that would encourage the soft water to bond with the soap particles and rinse them off easier?

 

[honor435]

is it feeling slimy/smooth, that is the nice feel of homemade soap? I find if we run out of salt that my soap doesnt lather as much. You could do a higher cleansing bar with little to no superfat?

 

[ankarette]

Great idea! I'll try a recipe without the superfat added and see how that works.

 

[carebear]

oh no - you MUST have a level of superfat in your soap for safety's sake.

SAP numbers (the number that tells you how much lye is needed) are not really that precise. Oils acutally have SAP values that fall withing a RANGE of normal. The calculators pick some number in that range and use it in the lye calculations. So you NEED a little extra oil to be sure you use up all the lye. You might be fine with a 0%, or even have a little excess fat - but it may very well go the other direction and you could end up with a lye heavy soap. And each batch of oil could have a slightly different SAP.

So unless you are doing the chemistry on the exact oils in your batch, don't superfat below 1-2%. IMO 1% is an absolute minimum and I would not go there.

(note: I'm using superfat as tho it is the same as lye discount)

 

[honor435]

oops bad advice, i guess, use more coc or pk to make more cleansing? Just an idea, do you know how to use the soap calc? it is very helpful.

 

[vivcarm]

I live in a soft water area and have no problems rinsing my soap off and I superfat at 8%. Maybe it is the type of oils, Has your recipe got tallow or other really hard oils in it?

 

[vivcarm]

Just another thought, what is your lather like? She may be used to a lather that is completely different than yours. You maybe should ask her more about that to see if that's why. I would imagine that a bubblier lather would be easier to rinse off, than a creamy one. I prefer creamy myself but everyone is different.

 

[carebear]

yanno, I have really soft water here and I have no issues. I think it's really a matter of getting used to it.

 

[reallyrita]

I live with both! My home is on well water and it is extremely hard water even after all the filtering we do before it gets to us in the house. I use distilled water for soaping, of course. I superfat at 5 or 6 % with a balance of hard and soft oils. Probably lean toward the softer oils. Soap works fine, no issues. I have a cabin in another area where the water is very soft just naturally as it comes out of the faucets. I don't soap up here in my cabin but we always bring my soaps with us to use while we are here. They lather up a storm. It is really amazing. They rinse off just fine, no issues. The only thing I do notice is that we go through the bars alot quicker up here in the softer water. I have a creamy one that I use on my face and no problems rinsing that off either although I do spend an extra minute or two rinsing the suds off in the soft water shower. Just my experiences...I have the two extremes.

 

[kittywings]

I know that when I've gone to visit places with soft water, I FEEL like I can't rinse off but I've had it explained to me that the "squeaky clean" feeling is actually mineral (?) deposits left on your skin. The only thing confusing me in this situation is that she always has soft water.

MAYBE, her other soap leaves deposits on her and yours is actually rinsing clean. She should try scraping her skin after using your soap and see if there's anything there....

 

[BakingNana]

Soft water always feels to me like it doesn't rinse, even though I know it does. I was at a friend's home once and noticed it felt particularly weird, like it wasn't rinsing at all no matter how long I rinsed. Turned out she had too much salt going into her system. After she adjusted it, it was much better.

 

[SilverMaple]

We have hard water, my parents have soft water, my best friend has perfect well water.

I've noticed that soaps that work well in hard water work even better in soft and well water.

I think she's used to the 'squeaky clean' feeling of having all of the oils stripped out of her skin, and/or mineral deposits. If your soap is actually leaving a film on her skin, chances are she's oversalting the water. Might be worth checking on.