So...I tried my 100% CO bar

Irishgem29 · Jun 29, 2015

Can someone help me understand this? I thought you could not sub water fully for aloe as the lye can not dissolve or attach to it properly? Anyone? Something I misunderstood?

biarine · Jun 29, 2015

I love coconut oil soap, but it didn't last very long, I put 3% cocoa butter and just 12% SF. I like the 12% compare to 20 SF and leave my skin soft but a little bit waxy after washing and gone when my hand dried, it suit my skin good and not drying at all.

not_ally · Jun 29, 2015

Irishgem, not sure if I understand your question, are you asking if you can do a full substitution of aloe for water for the liquid amount generally in cp, or with salt/brine bars?

If so: (1) full substitution in regular cp: yes, I do this all the time now after reading posts here, no problem in using aloe for the complete liquid amt, no problem with the lye; (2) no problem with brine bars either, I have subbed several times - I just put one in the oven, used my regular recipe, discounted the liquid amt a little bit (8.75 oz instead of 9.12 b/c that was all the aloe I had), heated the aloe and added 25% of that amt in salt, cooled the aloe/salt mix and then added the lye. It was a bit cloudy, so I did strain it, but it worked just fine (3) regular salt bar, don't know, have not subbed aloe for water in one of those.

ETA: I add aloe liquid (the watery kind) not aloe gel, I think that is an altogether different beast.

Irishgem29 said:
Can someone help me understand this? I thought you could not sub water fully for aloe as the lye can not dissolve or attach to it properly? Anyone? Something I misunderstood?

Irishgem29 · Jun 30, 2015

Thank you for the explanation not ally. Somewhere along my soaping road I believe I read that aloe as a full sub for water, in any soap I understood, can not be done. I can't tell you all the specifics only that I remember it having to do with the lye not being able to disolve because it can't attach with aloe, something like that and that's why you should not use more than 50%. I'm glad to know this is not the case. I love using aloe juice with my water.