Wool Soap

[Raevyn]

Great thanks

 

[earlene]

Raevyn, I think you are better off using liquid soap for wool anyway, so IMO you ordered the right lye. To use bar soap on wool, you wouldn't want to add friction unless you plan to felt your wool. Garments that are felted in the wash no longer fit properly.

 

[Nao]

In my country olive oil soap is THE thing for everything you don't want to stripp everything off of. So with that in mind I'm thinking 90% olive oil and 10% castor as you probably want some bubbles even if it isn't the bubbles who cleans. And since olive oil soap doesn't strip the lanolin from your wool, no need to add extra lanolin to the mix.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

In my country olive oil soap is THE thing for everything you don't want to stripp everything off of. So with that in mind I'm thinking 90% olive oil and 10% castor as you probably want some bubbles even if it isn't the bubbles who cleans. And since olive oil soap doesn't strip the lanolin from your wool, no need to add extra lanolin to the mix.

You might want to hold off on the castor. It doesn't really bubble much on its own. It's reputation for bubbles is because it stabilizes bubbles created by other soaps.

 

[DeeAnna]

...And since olive oil soap doesn't strip the lanolin from your wool, no need to add extra lanolin to the mix.

Soap, whether made from coconut oil or olive, emulsifies fats so they can mix with water and be washed away. While olive oil soap may be less strongly cleansing than coconut oil soap, it is still soap and it will remove at least some of the lanolin in the fiber. I'm sure a person would need to lanolize a wool item after several washes to maintain the lanolin content in the fiber.

The reason why I know this -- I use olive oil soap when I wet-felt items, such as purses and slippers. Any fats in the wool fiber at the start of felting are pretty much gone by the time I'm done with a piece.

 

[Nao]

You might want to hold off on the castor. It doesn't really bubble much on its own. It's reputation for bubbles is because it stabilizes bubbles created by other soaps.

Oh. Why is that? I mean, I wrote that with the 95% olive/NaOH and 5% KoH/castor soaps that workers so well in mind and can't see any reason it wouldn't work in this case.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Oh. Why is that? I mean, I wrote that with the 95% olive/NaOH and 5% KoH/castor soaps that workers so well in mind and can't see any reason it wouldn't work in this case.

Firstly, all bets are off when you do the dual-lye soaps - at least when comparing them to single-lye soaps. That is, I don't think you can reliably compare how an oil behaves with the 95/5% mix to how it behaves with a 100% mix.

Second, 5% castor is great, I think, but more is usually not better. Not necessary at best to perhaps worse.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Late to the party here. I stick with detergents for washing my wools ... whether it is raw wool for prepping for spinning or washing finished garments (fiber artist for 16 years). The pH of bar soaps is too alkaline and can damage the wool. Borax is another additive that can damage wool.

A little detergent goes a long way for finished garments. A long soak is much kinder to the garment and unless it is really, really soiled, the garmet will give up the dirt very easily with a soak.

 

[Raevyn]

So my potassium hydroxide finally showed up.... Only took forever and now my vacation is over but owell.

Can I make liquid body soap with coconut milk? Instead of water? I have some sitting around and I'd like to use it if I can.

 

[BattleGnome]

You can use whatever liquid you want when making your pastebut I’d stick to plain water for dilution (in case of spoilage). If you want to start a new thread for body wash we can help point you in the right direction. This thread has gone on long enough that people who aren’t interested in wool washes probably aren’t following but they may have something to say about body wash that would help you

 

[Zany_in_CO]

You can use whatever liquid you want when making your pastebut I’d stick to plain water for dilution (in case of spoilage). If you want to start a new thread for body wash we can help point you in the right direction. This thread has gone on long enough that people who aren’t interested in wool washes probably aren’t following but they may have something to say about body wash that would help you