Why does bar soap make my skin feel terrible in comparison to liquid?

[GemstonePony]

Thx for the info regarding commercial soap. I have 1 question, when you mention "sodium palmate' sodium chocolate' Sodium tallowate & others how are these fats processed' to arrive at a new name?.

Good luck on your future soap making area. I know lumber has tippled in price' hopefully the price will come down soon its absolutely ridiculous.

That is what palm oil and tallow are called after they have been reacted with sodium hydroxide to make soap. So, some of those bars do contain actual soap.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

That is what palm oil and tallow are called after they have been reacted with sodium hydroxide to make soap. So, some of those bars do contain actual soap.

Thank you & I venture to guess it's the "Technical / Industry Name For Them" ?

 

[TheGecko]

I have 1 question, when you mention "sodium palmate' sodium chocolate' Sodium tallowate & others how are these fats processed' to arrive at a new name?.

Tallow + Sodium Hydroxide = Sodium Tallowate
Palm Oil + Sodium Hydroxide = Sodium Palmate
Coconut Oil + Sodium Hydroxide = Sodium Cocoate
Palm Kernel Oil + Sodium Hydroxide = Sodium Palm Kernelate

I'm thinking of just getting a couple of heavy duty tarps, doubling them, and stapling it to the walls and ceiling. Won't be as warm or cool as an insulated wall, but we'd still be able to do our thing until prices fall...hopefully next spring.

 

[TheGecko]

What about buying a small storage shed and putting it inside the garage?

Three things: 1) They aren't cheap...I'd need something in the $300-$500 range. 2) The shed would take up a LOT of room. I only have a single car garage and we'd still need to be able to store our 'stuff' in at least a third of it. We already have a custom built cabinet (holds hubby's hobby stuff in one half and kitchen stuff in the other), plus a shelving unit and upright freezer on one wall. The plan was to move the shelving unit to the new wall along with a second one and move his hobby (4-person dining) table where the shelf unit was. Then on the other wall, I have a 5' kitchen counter and cupboards sitting in a friend's barn. Wouldn't be able to do that. Plus we'd have to run extension cords for electric and light inside of the shed. 3)Then there is what to do with the shed. We have no property and I'd lose half the cost trying to sell it.

Not a bad idea though.

 

[AliOop]

Lesson from batch 2: Don't do your colors and start swirling and then remember you didn't add your FO yet.

A trick that I often share, and I first heard in one of the FB soaping groups, was to put your measured FO container into your mold. That doesn't help as much for ITPS soaps, but for something that will be layered into the mold, it's a life saver.

 

[AliOop]

Tallow + Sodium Hydroxide = Sodium Tallowate
Palm Oil + Sodium Hydroxide = Sodium Palmate
Coconut Oil + Sodium Hydroxide = Sodium Cocoate
Palm Kernel Oil + Sodium Hydroxide = Sodium Palm Kernelate

I'm thinking of just getting a couple of heavy duty tarps, doubling them, and stapling it to the walls and ceiling. Won't be as warm or cool as an insulated wall, but we'd still be able to do our thing until prices fall...hopefully next spring.

If there is any building or remodeling going on around you, it can be worth asking them if you can pick through their scrap pile. Sometimes they pull out whole walls and throw the 2x4s into the trash because it isn't worth their time to pull out the nails. In the past, my husband has gathered some very usable wood that way - not as perfect as what he'd buy if he were building for a customer, mind you, but sufficient for the small personal project he wanted to do.

 

[Arimara]

Is it normal for the bars to be tacky at 24 when you unmold and bevel? The feeling is like chocolate chips starting to melt in your hand. Had to use paper towel to rub down the potato peeler.

You have to learn how to deal with your environment as you get more into soaping. I know you guys got hit with plenty of rain and when you take into consideration the current temps in house and outdoors, that spells possible wonky soaping. I'd hate to think of how much more humid your area could get if you're closer to the coast.

 

[Zing]

Wow, aren't you a go-getter newbie! How many batches in how many days?!
I test after 3 weeks, cure for 6 and the longer the better.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

sodium chocolate

Don't wanna ride about typos, I know you meant “sodium cocoate”. But you must know: I have the supernatural gift to detect ANY mention of chocolate (INCI designator for “cocoa butter soap” is the awkward-sounding “sodium cocoa butterate”)

 

[Tara_H]

Don't wanna ride about typos, I know you meant “sodium cocoate”. But you must know: I have the supernatural gift to detect ANY mention of chocolate (INCI designator for “cocoa butter soap” is the awkward-sounding “sodium cocoa butterate”)

I was sitting back wondering how long it would take you to pick up on that one...

 

[linne1gi]

Why does commercial bar soap feel different than Dr Squatch? Why did the artisan GMS feel the same as the commercial soap? Because a lot of commercial soaps aren't really 'soap', they are detergents; might as well shower with Tide or Cascade. Not all artisan soap makers produce a good bar of soap.

These are the ingredients of "Cool Fresh Aloe": Saponified Oils of (Olive, Sustainable Palm, Coconut), Aloe Fragrance, Shea Butter, Kaolin Clay, Sea Salt, Colorant.

There are the ingredients of some popular commercial soaps:

Gold Dial - Benzalkonium Chloride 0.10% (antibacterial); Soap [Sodium Tallowate* · Sodium Palmate* · Sodium Cocoate* · Sodium Palm Kernelate*] · Aqua (Water, Eau) · Coconut Acid* · Palm Acid* · Palm Kernel Acid* · Tallow Acid* · Glycerin · PEG-6 Methyl Ether · Sodium Chloride · Parfum (Fragrance) · Tetrasodium Etidronate · Pentasodium Pentetate · CI 19140 (Yellow 5) · CI 45350 (Yellow 8) · CI 14700 (Red 4) · Coumarin · Butylphenyl Methylpropional · Linalool · Benzyl Alcohol · Eugenol · Hexyl Cinnamal · Citronellol

* - May contain some of these ingredients

Irish Spring - Sodium Tallowate and/or et/ou Sodium Palmate, Sodium Cocoate and/or et/ou Sodium Palm Kernelate, Water/Eau, Glycerin, Hydrogenated Tallow Acid, Coconut Acid, Fragrance/Parfum, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance, Pentasodium Pentetate, Titanium Dioxide, Green 8, Green 3

Ivory - Water/Eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance/Parfum, Glycol Distearate, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone

Jergen's - Sodium Palmate And/Or Sodium Tallowate, Water, Sodium Palm Kernelate And/Or Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Tallow Acid, Coconut Acid, Tetrasodium Edta, Sodium Hydroxide.

Why do you have better luck commercial body washes and liquid soaps than bar soap? Probably because they are liquid detergents with added ingredients. To be honest, I've never made Liquid Soap, but I know that the artisan variety is made is KOH instead of NaOH, it is made with the same kind of ingredients as True Soap, you have to cook the ingredients like with HP, it needs to saponify to a paste and then it is liquified with water and glycerin. And I think you might need a preservative.

I'm almost 60 and for the majority of my life I have suffered from dry skin. Face Moisturizer, Body Lotion, Hand Lotion...I'd go through bottles of that stuff every month. I haven't used body lotion since my first bar went into the bathroom two years ago. I still use a face moisturizer, but a bottle with last me three months and it's light and oil free. And I still use hand lotion, but I'm also a diabetic and I need it when I'm out and about use 'public' soap.

Dirty Dishes - I wipe everything with damp microfiber towels and set in sink. I then spray everything with some 'orange' cleaner I got from the local "Dollar" store and let them sit while I wiping down my soap cart (rolling kitchen island) with the cleaner and towels and general tidying up. I then rinse everything and either hand wash them or put them in the dishwasher. I then rinse the towels in the dish water and let them dry. They then get tossed in the washer. Another option is just to put them in a tub and let the batter turn into soap and then you only need water to 'wash' them.

Reading through some of your other posts...ye local "Dollar" store has been my best friend, along with Amazon. All of my mixing bowls/cups come from the $$$ Store along with spatulas, whisks, measuring spoons, wax and parchment papers, dish pans for larger batches, storage containers for salts, beeswax, butters, TD, Kaolin Clay, etc. May I recommend a pastry cutter to help you clean off your molds?

When I first started out everything fit in a rectangle laundry basket, then it was two. Instead of buy a third to lug around, I bought a nice rolling kitchen island and a shelf above it for colorants and scents. Everything fit perfectly in it and it was lovely. Hubby even bought me a shelfing unit in the garage and commercial size trays so I would quit using the cookie sheets and washer/dryer for curing. Then I bought wall hanging 'pantry' and it's where I store all my packaged soaps and scents (the colorants took over the shelf).

The Plan was to convert part of the garage over to soap making area for me and a hobby station for hubby. Then of course...things went quite a bit by the wayside when the pandemic struck. I've always been a bit of a stocker, but went into mama bear mode and cleared three of the five shelves in the garage for an extended pantry. Our four-person office became a two-person office as the boss and I started working from home. All the extra work and the stress left little room for soap making. Which worked out since the garbage company wasn't willing to deliver anything but a construction dumpster and wanted a grand to do it. Uh...no. So we were going to do it this year, but the price of lumber is just outrageous. It would be cheaper for me to rent a small storage unit for a year, than it would be to put up a single insulted wall in the garage.

Just want to point out @TheGecko, liquid soap doesn't always have to be hot processed. I actually cold process my liquid soap and have been doing so for years. It's called CPLS - cold processed liquid soap. It's a lot easier than cooking the liquid soap, at least in my opinion. I don't use this for showers however, just for hand soap at the sink - mostly to appease my husband who kept on bemoaning that after I started making soap, there was no more liquid soap at the sink. Now, he appears to be happy to use my bar soap, figures.
And I agree, I used to use at lot (a real lot) of lotion after every bath or shower - going through a least a bottle every 2 weeks. Since I started making my own soap (2013, so about 8 years) I almost never use lotion any more. My skin is seldom dry, except in the winter (I live in South Florida) and I make an in-shower lotion bar (and lots of lotions also) which pretty much does the trick.

I also use either paper towels or thin tea toweling I bought at the Dollar Store to wipe out all my bowls, etc. Try to not let any oils/butters or batter down your drain @AxtFarm or you will definitely be in for some plumbing woes!

 

[AxtFarm]

Wow, aren't you a go-getter newbie! How many batches in how many days?!
I test after 3 weeks, cure for 6 and the longer the better.

3 in 3 days and now back to normal work lol. I will play with salt next then move to milk... unless I change my mind lol

 

[AxtFarm]

I got my stamper in today. Tried too stamp soap I made friday, but it barely indented it and I hit it too hard with the mallet trying to get it to indent and cracked the soap.

I tried soap I made Saturday that I unmolded yesterday and it stamped, but the outside edges stamped well, but the middle of the image didn't stamp as deep. I tested different force, hit amounts, pushing the mold from top to bottom and side to side. I cracked a few, ended up with a few that the words bore down too hard on one side, and some that half the imagine looked good and the other half was too shallow. I guess that will take some practice.

 

[AxtFarm]

Just unmolded batch 3 that was made Sunday night (85% OO, 10% CO, 5% CO) and stamped them. None of the stamps came out perfect, but not terrible I suppose.

 

[Zing]

Just unmolded batch 3 that was made Sunday night (85% OO, 10% CO, 5% CO) and stamped them. None of the stamps came out perfect, but not terrible I suppose.

You are on a roll! Great color combination, great swirl, and charming stamp.

 

[TheGecko]

Just want to point out @TheGecko, liquid soap doesn't always have to be hot processed. I actually cold process my liquid soap and have been doing so for years. It's called CPLS - cold processed liquid soap. It's a lot easier than cooking the liquid soap, at least in my opinion. I don't use this for showers however, just for hand soap at the sink - mostly to appease my husband who kept on bemoaning that after I started making soap, there was no more liquid soap at the sink. Now, he appears to be happy to use my bar soap, figures.

Thank you. As I said, I've made so I was relying on what I had run across. I too have a hubby who misses the liquid soap so knowing there is a cold process to make it, may have me exploring that option down the road.

 

[AliOop]

Thank you. As I said, I've made so I was relying on what I had run across. I too have a hubby who misses the liquid soap so knowing there is a cold process to make it, may have me exploring that option down the road.

Don't want to jijack the thread, but I must say that after learning about CPLS from @linne1gi I now love making LS. I used to dread the HPLS cooking process, which I found very stressful.

 

[AAShillito]

If there is any building or remodeling going on around you, it can be worth asking them if you can pick through their scrap pile. Sometimes they pull out whole walls and throw the 2x4s into the trash because it isn't worth their time to pull out the nails. In the past, my husband has gathered some very usable wood that way - not as perfect as what he'd buy if he were building for a customer, mind you, but sufficient for the small personal project he wanted to do.

That's how my father in law got new to him kitchen cabinets

 

[AAShillito]

3 in 3 days and now back to normal work lol. I will play with salt next then move to milk... unless I change my mind lol

I saw the post earlier about all the washing - I bought this on amazon and it's saved my sanity. It's great for the Amazon 42 oz loaf molds and great in general bc its easy to hold and pour from. I plunk it on my scale and measure my oils right into it.

 

[AAShillito]

You have to learn how to deal with your environment as you get more into soaping. I know you guys got hit with plenty of rain and when you take into consideration the current temps in house and outdoors, that spells possible wonky soaping. I'd hate to think of how much more humid your area could get if you're closer to the coast.

Wonky soaping also happens when it's a 100 degrees plus outside. ( Parker, AZ). I'm buying a new big fan for the kitchen when we get back from vacation.