Liquid soap vs shower gel

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Traumabrew

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2017
Messages
132
Reaction score
114
Ok

Stupid question. Is body wash/shower gel just thickened LS? I know the commercial stuff is surfactant based. I made a batch of LS the other day and after dilution I have about 150 oz dilute soap. I want to portion out the soap and make 50oz of LS with lavender EO, another 50 oz with a caderwood, patchouli sandalwood LS for guys and the other 50 oz I wanted to turn into a body wash by adding Crothik to make it thicker. I also planned to add 3-5% SF in the body wash using PS 80.
 
I think the term came up in the same was as "cleansing bar" - as it wasn't actually soap anymore, they had to call it something else. Now that term is well known and when you think of a liquid product for cleaning yourself in the shower, you think of shower gel or body wash before liquid soap.

I think that a normal liquid soap, properly diluted so it's not too thin, would work well in the shower
 
I keep a pump bottle of unscented LS in my shower, I love it! I just pump a dollop onto my loofah and it bubbles up very nicely. I didn't use any thickeners with it, I just carefully diluted it to a honey consistency.
 
Tip -- Test your fragrances on a sample of your soap first to see what happens. Some fragrances will thicken LS, some will thin the soap, and some won't cause much change. I found lavender EO will thicken my LS.
 
Exactly, this is actually excellent question!! You are right , all the materials that has ability to clean are active surface , so they are surfactants even our soaps are the basic and ancestors of our modern surfactants. Only differences that moleculer types that are much more milder than soap , that’s why Shower gels or body washes made up with mild surfactants. But koh or Naoh soaps much better for the skin ..
 
Back
Top