Turning CP soap into LS

[Spice]

I was running out of sprayer bottles when I was cleaning, it seems I go through more sprayer bottles then anyone I know. I take my soap scraps and put them in water, and then I pour into the bottles. Well today I didn't have regular bottles, but I found (I can't even believe this happen to me) a bottle from costco that uses some kind of foam cleaner; but I didn't make the connection that the spay part was a former. When I started spraying it; it sprayed out foam soap from my CP soap. I was actually shocked. I couldn't believe that foam was coming out of that bottle.

So my question is, can I make LS to use as a foam soap with lye rather the koh? Is koh purpose is to make LS only? The foam was foam soap. Has anyone tried this?

 

[Susie]

You need to use KOH to make liquid soap. NaOH soap makes a snotty consistency gel when mixed with water. Not at all suitable for foaming/spraying.

Lye is not necessarily only NaOH. KOH is also a type of lye.

 

[Arimara]

You're pretty much stuck with the necessity of KOH if you want a liquid soap. It might be a tad more expensive but you'd be glad to have it around in the end. You'd be less likely to waste any more sprayers, you won't have snotty soap clogging up your nozzle, and making a liquid soap is almost as easy as making a CP soap but you still would do well with HP soaping experience. Lastly, you can use the soap scraps to kick start trace in a slow moving soap or a liquid soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

I agree with the others. An NaOH soap dissolved in water will create foam, at least at first, but it could eventually set up solid in the bottle or plug the foamer mechanism. A real liquid soap (made with KOH) is a better choice.

I want to add that "lye" is a generic word for any alkali that can be used to make soap. That means "lye" could be KOH (or other alkali) just as easily as it could be NaOH. So many people only make bar (NaOH) soap, and it's easy for those soap makers to assume "lye" means only NaOH, but that's not correct. You'll hear liquid soap makers talk about "lye" too -- but they mean KOH.

Sometimes the type of lye being talked about is clear from the context of the discussion, but sometimes it's not. When there's any doubt, it's always best to say the name of the alkali, not just the word "lye".

It gets confusing, doesn't it?

 

[Spice]

I agree with the others. An NaOH soap dissolved in water will create foam, at least at first, but it could eventually set up solid in the bottle or plug the foamer mechanism. A real liquid soap (made with KOH) is a better choice.

I want to add that "lye" is a generic word for any alkali that can be used to make soap. That means "lye" could be KOH (or other alkali) just as easily as it could be NaOH. So many people only make bar (NaOH) soap, and it's easy for those soap makers to assume "lye" means only NaOH, but that's not correct. You'll hear liquid soap makers talk about "lye" too -- but they mean KOH.

Sometimes the type of lye being talked about is clear from the context of the discussion, but sometimes it's not. When there's any doubt, it's always best to say the name of the alkali, not just the word "lye".

It gets confusing, doesn't it?

Thanks for the feedback all. I like to do things the wrong way so many times. As a child I was told not to do things because it was bad. I would say, "Why is it bad?" "Because I said so." Not an answer, so I spend many a days with a red butt. Things don't change much. I got my answers and knowing what to expect will help me to have happy people around me and more return customers.

That's interesting about the "lye" vs "KOH", it does get confusing DeeAna, since Im just starting to make LS, it helps to understand what I'm working with. My first batch of LS I used a colorant (indigo blue); didn't like it. I won't throw it out, it's still good, just not good enough for customers.

 

[Arimara]

The best colorant I've found for liquid soap is anything that disperses in water very well like food coloring. The liquid you use to make your lye also plays a part in your paste's color. I used coffee and stout beer on two different occasions and both with make a nice dark brown soap in the end (the coffee soap was a fantastic kitchen soap but the piggy smell came through thanks to lard being used). But some of the charm of liquid soap lies in the ability to use those notorious EO's and FOs that you otherwise waste in a bar soap.