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Old 10-10-2008, 05:13 PM   #1
Carol
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Default Liquid soap

Liquid soap recipes will be handy if you want a mild everyday soap in your bathroom or kitchen. Liquid laundry soaps have also been gaining popularity. Making organic liquid soap will ensure your skin and hands the best and most nourishing effect possible.

Liquid soap recipes are usually more complicated than regular soap bars. Beginners may find it more difficult to make them because the entire soap making process can be different. Making natural liquid soap can take a good amount of patience as well. However, if you follow the instructions carefully, you'll realize that it is not all that hard.

The main advantage of liquid soap is that it can be used right away after formulation. It does not need to be hardened or cured.

The main difference between solid soaps and liquid body soap is its actual central ingredient. When you make liquid soap, you use potassium hydroxide as lye (not sodium hydroxide) with water, oils and additives. Potassium hydroxide never solidify and stay liquid.

The main method for making homemade liquid soap is called the hot process. Here are the steps for making your own liquid soap:

First, you will need to make your liquid hand soap base. To make the liquid soap base, you simply pour water onto a container or a double boiler pot then add potassium hydroxide. Set this mixture aside as it boils. Take extreme care as the mixture can get extremely hot. Insulate the bottom of the pot for safety.

Take your oil in another container. Heat this oil mixture until it matches the same temperature as the water mixture. When the temperatures are comparable, mix the two for about two minutes then allow to sit for 5 minutes.

The next few steps you will follow is just the same as the cold process of making soap. The difference lies on how long you need to hold the entire trace process. For liquid soap making, you need to blend the liquid soap base very well beyond trace.

To do this, you need to do the blend-allow to sit process mentioned previously for about three cycles. Once the base is completely smooth, it is just about ready to be used. You can add fragrance and essential oils depending on your preference.

You will know when it's time to stop when the consistency is just enough when droplets stay on the surface for a second once dropped.

You can make your own antibacterial liquid hand soap by adding in oils or herbal essences with anti-bacterial properties such as tea tree. Liquid glycerin soap has also gained popularity as they are relatively easier to make than other liquid soap bases. Make sure you keep wax additives below 2% and oil additives at 3% for best consistency.
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Old 10-10-2008, 05:28 PM   #2
whitecrow
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Default Re: Liquid soap

Quote:
Originally Posted by Carol View Post
Liquid soap recipes will be handy if you want a mild everyday soap in your bathroom or kitchen.
This is good information, but it's not enough. I've been a soapmaker for years, so let me shed a little light on the subject.

First of all, I can never fathom why people prefer liquid soaps. They must contain preservatives and often emulsifiers which at the least are not natural and can harm the environment. There are very, very few all-natural liguid soaps out there. Bronner's is the only one I can think of although Alba, Aubrey, Kiss My Face, Jason, Burt's Bees and many others make "somewhat" natural liquid soaps.

In addition to the liquid itself, there is the matter of the packaging. What do you do with it when it's empty? What did you add to the waste stream simply to take the package out of ITS package?

Second, potassium hydroxide is a form of lye, the more common form being sodium hydroxide. These are caustic and poisonous. You must ALWAYS add lye to water - NEVER pour water into lye!!! No exceptions ever! When lye is added to water, the temperature rises rapidly. I pour lye into water that is just short of frozen solid...the temp goes from 32º to over 160º in about five seconds flat. If you pour the water over the lye, it will instantly flash into steam and you will have a wet explosion in your face that can cost you your vision. Do as ya oughtta! Pour the lye into the watta!

And third, while it is true that you mix your oils and simply add the lye solution (mixed with water, tea, milk, or juice), it is important to realize that to make soap, the AMOUNT of lye relative to the EXACT weight of EACH separate oil must be accurately determined. The very first step to making soap is to sit down with a pencil, paper and a calculator. Too much lye or too little will ruin the soap.

Soapmaking is fun and not difficult. I have created a nice little side income with handmade, herbal, all-natural soaps. But unlike baking a cake, it is as much science as it is art.
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