Teach Soap

Hi all. So I have been making cp for about 5 years now and I am going to attempt liquid soap. It's kinda scary. I have been reading and watching and learning what I can about the process and I think I have the basics down. I have read several posts on here about superfatting at 3% in order to omit the nuetralization process. I plan on doing that. I also have learned that you make the paste in the crockpot and it takes a really long time and you have to have lots of patience. I have that so I am good there. My question is this, I have seen a couple of times (if my memory serves me correctly and these days that's a crap shoot) that you need to preserve liquid soap. Is that correct? I haven't read that lately and it is not shown on any videos. If it is correct then I need to order a water soluble preservative and I would need recommendations on which one is the best. Any help (tips and tricks) would be appreciated. I only ordered 2 pounds of potassium hydroxide so I don't plan on making a huge batch. Only a small one to begin with. What would be the smallest batch you would make? TIA.

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Haven

It's a good idea to preserve your liquid soap since you are adding water. I would use Liquid Germall Plus, since it's water soluble. I would make 1 lb. of paste and dilute after cooking. Get some phenophtalein drops to check the liquid soap after cooking, but before diluting. If the drop turns pink, you need to cook it more. If it stays clear, you are done.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thank you.

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Haven

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I have never used a preservative in any of my liquid soaps - I have stored undiluted paste in a container in the fridge for months - no problems - made up soap is in a container in the bottom of the cupboard - no problems even stored for months and months.
Just make sure you use a pure water when diluting and you shouldnt have any nasties in the soap - I use demineralised water that is used in car batteries and irons and it works fine and is fairly cheap and easy to find.
The only time I have heard of liquid soap going off is when someone tried to add a milk product as part of the dilution and of course it went rank after a week or so.
As for superfatting I do a minus 8 superfat and have not had to neutralise and have a pH of about 9 for my soaps. I use them on hands and hair and they are lovely to use.

You can always use the recipes from Anne-Marie's eBook on Liquid Soapaking:

Thanks for the advice. I downloaded the e-book and just read through it. I think I may get the courage to make some this week. I don't sell and don't plan to anywhere in the near future so it is just for me and my family. Just need to gather up my patience!

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Haven

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

I think this is going to be the case around here too.

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Haven

Commercially, liquid soap and bar soap sales are about equal, right? So each has half the soap market.

Today's the day. Wish me luck. I'm glad I read that KoH will make a strange sound when mixed with water cause I would have freaked out! It was so weird!!

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Haven

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

After 3 hours of cook time, the paste looks translucent. It is still the consistency of snot though. Is that normal? It looks like the paste in all of the videos I have watched. I did test it and it is not clear once diluted. So it is still cooking. I assume that is normal but I could be wrong. Any advice? Could the not clear be a result of my recipe? Here it is

20% Avocado oil
40% Coconut Oil
5% Jojoba oil
35% Olive oil

3% superfat
453.6 g total oil
172.4 g water
92.8 g KoH

Any things that just jump out at you that I might have done wrong? I did stir and stir and stir for half an hour until it became like taffy, then started the cook time. Thank you for any and all suggestions or advice, or criticisms.....

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Haven

Could it possibly be because I have a large amount of unsaponifiables? I am just so confused. I turned off the heat and now it is a big chunk of dried soap paste. When I dilute, there is a ton of lather and it feels good on the skin. I don't know what I did wrong but it just never seemed to get to the right place. I guess I may have to call this one a failed batch and start over with maybe a 100% coconut oil to get the feel of the different stages. I cooked this one from 10:15 am till 7:15 pm by the way.

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Haven