Soaping 101 liquid soapmaking video?

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hmm....seems like no one likes the cleaning ability of 100% CO for dishes and hates it on the hands.
so maybe i will try 50% CO and the rest in OO and sunflower or something like that
and if i dont like its cleaning ability, i will try adding a little washing soda and/or borax to see if that improves its cleaning ability.
 
hmm....seems like no one likes the cleaning ability of 100% CO for dishes and hates it on the hands.
so maybe i will try 50% CO and the rest in OO and sunflower or something like that
and if i dont like its cleaning ability, i will try adding a little washing soda and/or borax to see if that improves its cleaning ability.


Good morning jnl
Be watchful on what you add to your liquid soap, certain items have duel purposes. For an example, adding Borax to your liquid soap is more of a ph adjuster, and if you use to much Borax, all that hard work to create your liquid soap will go to waste as you may end up bringing the ph way to low and "breaking" your soap. Meaning, your soap can get down to a point, someplace around a ph of 7% or lower, and turn your soap into an unusable solution, and not soap any longer. Plus, you didn’t want to use castor oil to make your LS, but instead are willing to put an ingredient in your LS that would be worse than castor oil. Not saying that Borax is bad, but it isn’t the trade of you are looking for. There is Lots of controversy going around Borax. Reasons for it, reasons against it. Just do a bit more research before using it, and if you do use Borax, use it the RIGHT way, mixing it first with water to make a solution, then adding it about 1 teaspoon at a time to your LS. but usually this is for bringing the PH down, not for adding cleansing ability to your LS. if you use coconut oil, you should already have a great LS. I don’t have all the answers for you, but it seems like you may want to do a bit more overall research before doing a batch of LS in the first place. Maybe I miss understood how you worded things, but it seemed as if you want to add the KOH Right into your pot of oils WITH The water and or Glycerin. If I mis read, my apologies. You need to make sure your Koh is clear as a bell mixed with the water OR the Glycerin, before adding to the pot of oils.
You will not get electrocuted, as there is no electricity in the soap, but it is akin to touching your tongue to a 9 volt battery as in the feeling of a very quick uncomfortable tingle/zap that is unmistakable. LS That has no zap, will feel pleasant on the tongue, a touch of sweetness, and no uncomfortable tingly zap when applied to the tongue. For me, I use the Glycerin Method to make my LS, and I also do my dishes with it. If you want to fill a sink up with soapy water, and then place your dishes into this water and proceed to do dishes, this is not really that kind of LS. This soap works better if placed directly on a sponge, and you squeeze it a few times to get up some bubbles, then scrub the dishes with the sponge, you will get beautiful nice clean dishes. Yes, the higher the superfat you do, the higher the chance of having certain feel to your dishes, not greasy, but a small film. Lower or zero superfat helps with that. Saying this, I prefer STILL a 3% superfat cause I don’t want my hands stripped. I DO use castor oil, olive oil, and coconut and for me, I am OK with the feel of my dishes. but if I were to fill a sink full of water and suds, this would NOT work for a 3% superfat, the bubbles would all pop soon enough and yes, you do get a film on top of the water and the dishes. That’s why I add it directly to a sponge. For the most part I end up with clean beautiful dishes.
Try making it both ways to SEE for yourself the difference, the soap will not be wasted as you can use it for so many applications. It would be educational for you to do zero percent superfat coconut soap, and do a 3% superfat for you to see the difference. In any case, research and extra time given to understand what you are doing will only be helpful in the long run. You don’t need many frustrating soaping days of "jumping into the deep end" times and having failures, this will only frustrate you. Taking a bit of extra time is GOOD so that you have a better understanding of what you are doing and the WHY behind adding new ingredients or exchanging out certain ones and replacing with other ones. Being informed before you start will only help you in the long run. Please ask ALL or any questions so that we can full help you before you begin. We WANT you to have a success here for sure! I am glad that you have the bug and are so eager to start Liquid Soap Making. Just take a step back to really understand why you are replacing or adding ingredients before you do it. IT WOULD be super frustrating to you to make a LS Only to have it fail from adding to much Borax or other items. Have a GREAT DAY!!!
 
This may have been answered somewhere and I missed it, but what does the sodium lactate do for liquid soap?
 
It helps the paste not be so hard. That way you can use less water to dilute and end up with a thicker product. I am not good at this yet, but I am learning from IrishLass.
 
I investigated a number of soap recipe calculators to see what purity levels they were using for KOH and NaOH. Since SMF is horrible at presenting tables, I've put the information in a PDF file. I have attached the results to my Post #323 where I discuss this topic in more detail.

The executive summary of what I found is that all of the recipe calcs are set to about 100% purity for NaOH. This is building in a hidden superfat, since most NaOH that soapers use is not 100% pure.

Most of the calcs are set for 100% KOH purity as well, with three exceptions: SoapCalc (90% or 100%), Brambleberry (95%), and Summer Bee Meadow (94%).

My suggestion for making liquid soap is to check the purity of the KOH you are using and choose the calc that is based on the KOH purity closest to what you're actually using. By choosing the "wrong" calc for your KOH, you could end up with liquid soap that is lye heavy or fat heavy --

Example 1: You use Soapcalc set at 90%, set the superfat at 3%, and use 95% pure KOH. Your soap could have about 2% too much lye (lye heavy).

Example 2: You use a calc set for 100% KOH purity, set the superfat at 3%, and use 95% pure KOH. Your soap could have an actual superfat of 8%. This excess fat may make the liquid soap cloudy and may even separate from the soap after dilution.
 
OK, I realised I completely forgot to thank IrishLass for great recipe. So thank you for sharing your recipe and advice! And others in this thread!
I made LS some time in January, went away and we just started using it and it's lovely.

Here are few photos, they are not great as they are taken with my phone, but first one is showing it in a bottle of commercial soap (brand's been scribbled over, I wasn't sure if it can show).
Anyway, it comes out nice, creamy and bubbly and I am very happy with how it turned out on the first try. It's fragranced with BB white tea & ginger and I've added a bit of PS80.

As I've said, I made it a while ago, so I can't really remember the ratio of water to soap, but I think it was way more water to soap. :D
It's so that it's able to work in that "foamy" dispenser in the photo. If used in one of those normal ones, I think soap could be a bit more thicker. I was just adding water until it started foaming nicely lol.
I made only 500gr batch but I think we'll be set for a quite a few months with the amount of LS I got.

20150317_134715.jpg


20150317_134748.jpg
 
Wow! That looks so pretty. But why my LS never turns so clear? :mad: It always turns dark amber color. I tried everything, but never got clear soap like you all. It foams well,feels nice,but never clear and thick.:(
 
I'm not sure, I followed the original recipe. Maybe your SF is higher or KOH has less purity?

Oh, I have to report this. I've spilled at least 300ml of it. :problem:
Made up a batch to put into dispenser and was about to put the rest onto the shelf, when disaster struck. Jar slipped in my hands, and while catching it, my thumb popped the lid open and there goes my soap. All over the wall, behind the shelf, all over my tax folders, vacuum cleaner, etc (I store my soap in my storage room, that's way is so much stuff in there).
Well, after at least 30 minutes of cleaning up (husband helped as well) I can say, floor's probably never been cleaner. However, we couldn't move the shelves, there could be some soap stuck underneath, but this will do.
Now I have an excuse to make some more, hey...
 
Speaking from experience, you will be cleaning soap for weeks from there. Every time you think you have rooted out the last bit, you find more. That is why my soap is now stored on the bottom shelf of a cabinet. Less to clean up.
 
I have the feeling I will lol.
:)
This was husband's idea since we have a small child though. It was childproof but not idiotproof (me).
 
Oh, small children and cleaning supplies down low don't mix! But, the great news about liquid soap is that you can store your paste undiluted, then dilute as needed. And it won't spill everywhere when you put it up high. My youngest is 18, so I forget about small children.
 
You said "It's very easy to make and it results in the most gorgeous, clear-as-a-bell liquid soap with wonderful, bubbly lather. And by using a dilution rate of 1 part paste to .75 (or 75%) water, it dilutes out to a sumptuous consistancy that's beautifully thick and honey-like, but not too thick to clog my pump bottle."

My question is can I start the glycerin and KOH in a crockpot (turned off), then heat it that way? I don't have an exhaust fan above my stove. I could plug the crockpot in outside during that part.

What a wonderful tutorial!

Terry
 
Or you can dissolve the KOH in room temp water equal to the weight of KOH. The lye will dissolve easily in water ... no heating required. When the KOH is dissolved in the water, then add enough glycerin to bring the water plus glycerin to the correct total weight. Proceed from there per the tutorial.
 
I did not cook the soap.. i mixed oils and glycerin+lye mixture till tiny bubbles started flying.. checked next morning,it was amber colored very thick paste(spoon bend while taking paste out). Then i poured boiling distilled water over it..and then put on stove on very low after every 20-30 mins,when water temperature was going little down..it diluted completely after long hours, but was not too thick, nor clear.
 

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