Soapwort or Soapnuts

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Has anyone ever used a soapwort or soapnut tea in their soap recipe? If so how did the soap turn out?
 
I have soapnuts and save them for when I am out of laundry detergent.
 
I made soapnut-infused water and made some bars, based on Nframe's thread, to which she posted the link. I'm still waiting for a full cure to have a test run. I know my early tester bar is quite bubbly and feels very silky but I have to give it 6 weeks and compare to a non-soapnut bar of the same recipe of about the same age.
 
newbie said:
I made soapnut-infused water and made some bars, based on Nframe's thread, to which she posted the link. I'm still waiting for a full cure to have a test run. I know my early tester bar is quite bubbly and feels very silky but I have to give it 6 weeks and compare to a non-soapnut bar of the same recipe of about the same age.
Click to expand...

Please let us know the final verdict!
 
Let us know!

Yes, please let us know! I'm new and joined the forum looking for this exact thing. Thanks!
 
Okay, I tested a soapnut soap against one of my old soaps made with coconut milk. The soapnut soap is actually younger so at a slight disadvantage but it definitely out-performed the other. Each is made with my regular recipe but I used soapnut water for 60% of my water in the one. The other has about 40% of liquids as coconut milk.

The lathers felt different. The coco milk one had denser lather with finer bubbles and felt heftier but was less abundant. The soapnut one was lighter, fluffier, had bigger bubbles and felt accordingly less substantial but was without questions more abundant.

Pic 1 is the coco milk bar and pic 2 is the soapnut bar

IMG_9565.jpg


IMG_9567.jpg
 
Susie, I got mine off Amazon. I put a couple handfuls in water and brought it to a boil then simmered then for 101-5 minutes. My soapnut water is a darkish yellow-brown and looks pretty concentrated compared to some other infusions I've seen. I think I overdid it, but then I figure I can make my lye water and just add soapnut water to the oils. Once I added the lye to the soapnut infusion and it looked like caramel. I thought maybe it burned it somehow.
 
I've got TONS of soapwort I plan on making some soap with it this weekend, I'll make a comparison batch so it'll give a better idea of the effect. Careful planting this particular plant in your garden as it's VERY invasive, on the plus side it attracts butterflies and humming birds.
 
I have used soapwort in cp soap as an experiment once, it discoloured my basic recipe to tannish yellow and the soap heated up, but I used no insulation and got partial gel.
I have boiled a lot of dried soapwort (a lot meaning there was at least half as much herb as water)in distilled water for 10 minutes (it stinks), strained through a pantyhose (which instantly became a stinky pantyhose hehe) and then froze the liquid. I have replaced all lye water with frozen soapwort cubes just as we do with milk.
I was quite pleased with the results (seemed to boost bubbly lather which I prefer over creamy) and after curing the smell was totally gone.

English is not my mother tongue so I had to double-check in the dictionary if I the word 'pantyhose' illustrates well what I have used for straining to avoid hilarious mistakes :)
 
I live in the country. I have some areas of the yard that don't grow grass well. One of them is around my driveway and by the road. Using something like soapwort there would be a good thing if it got all invasive and covered the bare spots. :D
 
Thanks for sharing your results newbie.

Using coconut milk will effectively up your superfat and depress your lather so that is probably a partial explanation for your different results. Your soapwort soap looks super bubbly!
 
i just realized what this thing is. my mom uses soapnuts to wash her batik all the time, but i think it's already in liquid form. i must steal some to use for soaping!
 
What I would really love to do one day is make a liquid soap using soap nuts, soapwort, soap lily and soap tree root. Sadly you really can't find soaptree root anywhere for sale which means I would have to grow one myself and I haven't found soap lily anywhere either.
 
I just bought soapwort root powder in Candora soap store in London, Ontario....Anyone knows how to incorporate the powder into oils?
 
Isn't soapwort the same as Bouncing Bet?

Just answered my own question. Yes it is.
 
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