Xylitol (rather than Sorbitol) in soapmaking (for bubbles) - NOT tooth soapmaking

[Orla]

Dear all,
In France, Xylitol seems to be the thing and has more or less ousted Sorbitol - so Xylitol is easy to find but Sorbitol less so. The consensus seems to be that Xylitol is better for combatting mouth bacteria than Sorbitol. So, my question is: has anyone used it in regular soapmaking instead of Sorbitol?!! It's made from sugar from Birch trees as I understand it. Seeing as Sorbitol has such a good reputation among soapmakers, I was wondering if anyone has tested Xylitol with a view to the same end: increasing bubbles. I just bought a kilo in crystal form, so I will be able to test myself. However, I try to curb my experimenting impulses as far as possible as I take quite a few knocks with all the nonsense I get up to, and I think increasing my ratio of success to failure might be good for me...
PS I see loads of Xylitol stuff on the tooth soap threads, but I cannot find any on this bubbles issue...

 

[AliOop]

I'll be interested to hear if anyone has tried this. I do have both on hand.

 

[earlene]

I did use xylitol it for tooth soap when I was doing that. But not for any other soap. I only have tablets (tiny ones); not the powder, so I had to crush them to add them to the tooth soap. I have them for mouth care, which is why I have the tablets.

How did it effect the soap? I added it for taste enhancement and wasn't even considering bubbles, so I can't say how it affected the soap overall as compared to a normal bar of soap that one uses on the body. This was only used in place of toothpaste. I don't use them anymore because I got kind of lazy about it and didn't really find they were any better than toothpaste.

 

[Orla]

Hi Earlene, it seems that the answer to my question "has anybody tried it?" might be a resounding "NO"!! I haven't tried yet either, and my recipe takes ages to cure, so I'll have to report back in a couple of months!!!

 

[SeaSuds]

I haven't tried it but I know it's very toxic for dogs!

 

[runnerchicki]

I have not tried Xylitol for soap - but I use sorbitol in every batch now because it is the BOMB for boosting bubbles.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

I don't keep xylitol on hand because I have dogs and it's deadly for dogs. Even just licking it can cause them to seize and die so I don't risk it.

 

[lisa101]

Hi. Yes I tried it last year. It gave a nice lather. It was a lighter lather and a closer texture than with sorbitol but I wasn’t impressed with the effect it gave as far as a bubble booster. It didn’t give the big bubbles and I’ve since reverted back to sorbitol.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

Has anyone used Ethyritol?

 

[Orla]

Hi. Yes I tried it last year. It gave a nice lather. It was a lighter lather and a closer texture than with sorbitol but I wasn’t impressed with the effect it gave as far as a bubble booster. It didn’t give the big bubbles and I’ve since reverted back to sorbitol.

Ha! Thanks Lisa. I just tried it on a batch the day before you posted that message! And very late in the day discovered that sorbitol is a laxative!!! problem solved - I got some in a pharmacy! So if I make a soap relatively soon, I should be able to compare the two in a couple of months time!

 

[Jwmelick]

I have a similar question, does it discolor high temperature hot process transparent recipes? I also was unable to find sorbitol at the health food store but they did carry xylitol and erythritol. The bag of xylitol said something on the back about being heat stable so i went with that. Honestly i dont even know why i bought it as my plan is use red palm oil, pine rosin and sandalwood oil, maybe a little labdanum to produce aomethibg similiar to pears or the nuetrogena facial bar so why not just use regular sugar right. Well anyways eventually i wanted to make some crystal clear coconut/castor oil soap so thats what i wanted the sorbitol for and will probably just end up buying some sorbitol online. However in the interest of sharing information i made an account here to post the results of how it performs because thats how i eneded up here, searching the internet for information regarding xylitol in transparent soap recipes

 

[Orla]

Jwmelick, I was interested in Sorbitol not for transparency but because it increases bubbles. I actually went quite down far into a scientific rabbit hole to understand whether or not Xylitol would be a substitute/rival. I'm too busy to go into it, but the molecular composition of Xylitol means that it does not have the same properties that make Sorbitol enhance bubbliness, particularly in soaps that are designed to be as unaggressive on skin as possible. Sorry, a bit cryptic. But I SHOULD NOT be here!!!

 

[DianaMoon]

Honest question meaning I'm not trying to offend people. Is there any scientific proof that sorbitol works better than plain old white sugar in increasing lather? Or is this one of those, "I feel it" things? Because I'm not keen on buying another specialty item just for soaping.

 

[AliOop]

I also prefer to use what I have and not pay more for additional items taking up more room in my soap cabinets. So I resisted sorbitol for a long time, until I received some in a destash from another member. It made a blatantly obvious increase in the amount of lather. It's now standard in all my soaps, and it is no more expensive than sugar when ordered in bulk from Amazon.

 

[DianaMoon]

blatantly obvious

OK, I'm sold! I've heard you can get it in the laxative department at a drug store.

 

[Trinbago27]

I am new to sorbitol use and so far I too see a huge impact on bubbles. The question I have is is there a difference in the syrup versus the solid granules? If I use the granules is dissolving in distilled water ok?

 

[AliOop]

I dissolve mine powdered sorbitol in slightly warmed distilled water, along with my sodium citrate. I'm not positive, but I believe the premade solution has to be refrigerated to avoid spoiling.

 

[KiwiMoose]

OK, I'm sold! I've heard you can get it in the laxative department at a drug store.

Haha - also helpful if you have any ..er... other problems.

 

[DianaMoon]

Haha - also helpful if you have any ..er... other problems.

I wonder if there is or will ever be such a thing as edible soap?

 

[KiwiMoose]

I wonder if there is or will ever be such a thing as edible soap?

Mum always did threaten to 'wash my mouth out' if I said naughty things