Wooden floor White soap

[Heidi H]

I recon it’s a Scandinavian thing with lathering up our pine floors - I have already made a cleansing, just slightly superfatted lye/lard batch that cleans like a dream, but I want to add a whitening compound.
Titanium oxide perhaps?
Normally a white soap here in DK will be liquid, so I dont find any references to a bar soap anywhere, so have anyone in here tried to max whiten a soap bar, perhaps for the same purpose?

 

[Millie]

Is it to whiten your floors or just to have a white colored soap?

 

[Heidi H]

Yes to whiten them, or at least dampen the yellowness from the pine. When using White liquid soap they get this greyish lovely look

 

[Obsidian]

Any chance you have a bottle with the ingredients on it?
I'm thinking its a chemical in the soap that bleaches the wood more then a colorant in the soap sticking to the wood.

 

[Heidi H]

Found the ingredient list, it is titanium dioxide
https://pioti.unilever.com/PIOTI/DA/p4.asp?selectCountry=DK&language=DA&productid=3055614

 

[Millie]

I think if there was enough titanium dioxide in a bar soap to whiten the floor it would be a crumbly soap, but I really don't know. It is worth a try. Do you have access to potassium hydroxide for a liquid soap? Or, maybe you could just add the titanium dioxide to your washing water?

 

[Heidi H]

Yes I think I’ll give it go for a small batch, or perhaps try to dissolve 20% bar soap and add the pigment.
Even in the store bought liquid one, the pigment sets on the bottom and needs to be shaken.
But I also just found a KOH source, so will definately try a liquid version as well.

 

[Obsidian]

Thanks for the list. So the main ingredients are soy oil, coconut oil and TD.
I'd start with a liquid soap, maybe 50% soy, 50% coconut. After dilution, add how ever much TD needed to get the color you are familiar with in the commercial soap.

I'd not bother trying to dissolve a bar soap, it will turn into a thick stringy gel, no matter how much water you add.

 

[Arimara]

Thanks for the list. So the main ingredients are soy oil, coconut oil and TD.
I'd start with a liquid soap, maybe 50% soy, 50% coconut. After dilution, add how ever much TD needed to get the color you are familiar with in the commercial soap.

I'd not bother trying to dissolve a bar soap, it will turn into a thick stringy gel, no matter how much water you add.

What about the potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate? If they're buffering agents, they might be what is helping the color stick.

 

[moodymama]

Wood bleaches use lye to whiten.

 

[Heidi H]

Thanks - and yes thats right, I forgot a soapy solution once, pure gello

Might also incorporate linseed oil, it does superb things to wood, cant wait to try - Thanks for the inputs!