Liquid Soap Recipe - newbie question

[lynnstep]

Hi everyone...Ive been making CP for more then a year now.. and is now slowly moving into liquid soapmaking....
BUT... what percentages of water should I add in the pot when mixing ingredients?

I dont know when/if one should add more water during the cooking process - i am afraid of burning the paste...
but know that the end result (paste) should be diluted at about 1/1 repending on how thick you want your final soap...
Am I correct with the above...

And can you please assist in % water:lye to use for HP Liquid soap paste making.

I also read that sunflower oil makes for a nice liquid soap...is that true?

all advice will be highly appreciated

 

[Yooper]

You're doing the liquid soap in a crock pot? I don't add extra water, just the usual amount, same as with cold process (or hot process) bar soap.

You won't burn the paste. And the dilution is never 1:1, at least that I know of. Sometimes, it's 30% soap to try to get the paste to dilute (olive oil soaps especially). Homemade liquid soap can be very thin, that's why some people will do the glycerin method (using glycerin instead of water) or use a thickener.

I always use 2:1 water:lye or rarely 2.5:1 for some cold process soaps that set up really fast.

I've never used sunflower oil, so I can't answer that question.

 

[lynnstep]

Thanks Yooper for answering !!! Yes, doing in crock pot... *aha moment* - the recipes Ive been using use a whole lot of water in the beginning.... up to 80-120% water...so dilution water is very little..... but yours makes now much more sense... Ive been punching numbers into all kinds of liquid soap calculators and never getting the correct water amounts.... lol.. silly me!!
Another question: If one uses glycerin... do you do a complete replacement for the startup water with it. or only partial.. i read that lye have a problem diluting into glycerin..so 50/50 i guess? And do you also uses some glycerin in the final dilution?

 

[Yooper]

When I make my paste, I just make it the same way I do cold process soap. Then, when it gets to the vaseline looking stage, I zap test it. If it's done, then I'm all set. I usually will dilute a little at a time, if it's a new recipe, and measure the amounts so I know next time how much water to add.
I've only done the glycerin method once or twice- it's uses glyercin to dissolve the lye on the stop (it gets REALLY hot!), and then proceed and then use water in the dilution.

 

[lynnstep]

Thanks Yooper - will try the glycerin replacement,.. and if I find a magic sunflower recipe will share and btw... Ive been lucky..have never been zapped yet..so... hehehe.. so far so good!

 

[Nellie]

Hi everyone, has anyone made a soap out of glycerine and avocado oil?

 

[Yooper]

I’ve only done glycerine soap a couple of times, and I never used avocado oil in it.

 

[smcarroll2020]

Hi. Usually you want 35% soap by weight, 65% water to start with, and then explore dilution ranges after getting a few recipes tried out.

Dilution isn't the best way to thicken a liquid soap. dual lye is an option (NaOH/KOH mix), learning about salt and the salt curve is another. after it has cooled, you might also want to consider guar gum or other thickener. I think there a few other thickening methods, but can't remember them off the top of my head.

 

[smcarroll2020]

Just one other thought. I really hate the liquid soap paste method. If you do too, I'd encourage to look at low temperature (160-170 f) or high temperature (205-215F) methods. these are advanced technique. I'd recommend suffering through several paste method batches to get confident, and then maybe move on to pasteless methods - that's when liquid soap making becomes fun.