Why Apple Cider Vinegar

[cmzaha]

With all the talk about adding vinegar to your recipe I have just one simple question. Does it harden the soap.

It hardens the soap basically the same as SL does so you can un-mold it sooner. When I was selling I was making a lot of soap and wanted to free up my molds as quickly as possible. I also feel it helped lather a bit and possibly boosted my chelators because, apparently, vinegar lends some chelating factor to soap. I could usually un-mold my soaps in 8 hrs, which would depend on your recipe. My recipes were hard to begin with.

 

[Cannon1227]

I will say I have been using distilled vinegar in the soap for a few years now from 50-100%. I use low CO and low superfat dual lye in my soaps which are either a tallow/lard based or high palm-based soap depending on vegan or non-vegan. My soaps lather well and I find the feel very creamy and lather nice and so did my very large customer base. In fact, many asked what I changed when I did change to my current formulas. As several told me, my soaps were always great but they went to fantastic. I never noticed any brittleness in my soaps even at 100% vinegar. I wonder if the dual lye makes a difference.

Hi I’m new to soaping and find this thread very interesting... what do you mean by dual lye?

 

[gsc]

How is the vinegar listed on the label? I would think people would not like the fact they are using "vinegar" to wash their body with. Does the vinegar still smell in the finished soap?

 

[cmzaha]

How is the vinegar listed on the label? I would think people would not like the fact they are using "vinegar" to wash their body with. Does the vinegar still smell in the finished soap?

No, the vinegar does not smell in the finished soap. I have literally sold thousands of bars of soap with vinegar no one has questioned or complained about the vinegar in my soap. It is listed on my label properly by the percentage of ingredients, so it is one of the first ingredients on my list, depending on if I use 50 or 100% water replacement.

As for the dual lye, I use 5% KOH and 95% NaOH in my soaps. With my soap being high in palmitic acidI find the little bit of KOH helps kick up the lather by making my soap slightly more soluble. DeeAnna has an article here about it. There are some links to discussions about using dual lye.
Dual lye recipe | Soapy Stuff

 

[earlene]

The vinegar is altered by the lye. Sodium Acetate is created, which hardens the soap. In my experience, with my highly sensitive nose, I do not smell vinegar in my finished soap. I use white distilled vinegar, however, not ACV.

How to label the soap is based on your requirements in your geographical location. In the US, it may be 'what goes into the pot', in which case it would be 'vinegar', or 'what comes out of the pot', which would be water (because vinegar contains water) and sodium acetate. I cannot speak for other areas around the globe.

 

[gsc]

So I'm in the US. I would not put vinegar on the label? Can vinegar be added without doing the dual lye?

 

[cmzaha]

So I'm in the US. I would not put vinegar on the label? Can vinegar be added without doing the dual lye?

Yes, you would still put vinegar on the label if you label what goes in the pot. If you label what comes out of the pot you would label it as sodium acetate. I always label what goes in the pot because I find it much easier. Vinegar has nothing to do with using dual lye, it is just my choice.

 

[ghoshsmita]

I will say I have been using distilled vinegar in the soap for a few years now from 50-100%. I use low CO and low superfat dual lye in my soaps which are either a tallow/lard based or high palm-based soap depending on vegan or non-vegan. My soaps lather well and I find the feel very creamy and lather nice and so did my very large customer base. In fact, many asked what I changed when I did change to my current formulas. As several told me, my soaps were always great but they went to fantastic. I never noticed any brittleness in my soaps even at 100% vinegar. I wonder if the dual lye makes a difference.

Doesn't dual lye make the soap melt faster? I have only used dual lye in my shampoo bars as I thought that using it in my reg bars would make it melt faster.

 

[ghoshsmita]

Doesn't dual lye make the soap melt faster? I have only used dual lye in my shampoo bars as I thought that using it in my reg bars would make it melt faster.

By melt I meant 'dissolve'

 

[DeeAnna]

If you add enough KOH, yes, the soap will be softer and more soluble, so it will not last as long. But we're only adding a little bit. I do not notice any obvious difference in the lifetime of my "dual lye" bars versus the same soap with just NaOH.