Does anyone have a good soap recipe for use with hard water? I have a friend with very hard water and she says that her skin feels shrink-wrapped after a shower. Is there a good soap recipe to help with that tight-skin feeling due to hard water?
Good CP soap recipe for hard water
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Have you tired adding chelators?https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/hard-water-soap.60325/
Thank you for the helpful link. I have never used chelators and know nothing about them. I have citric acid in the cupboard. I always use frozen goat milk cubes for my liquid. How do I add citric acid?
N
Never mind. I kept clicking links and found answers to my questions! Now nobody has to reinvent the wheel. Thank you so much!
Is your friend currently using hand made soap? If so, the tight skin feeling could be due to the fats as well as hard water. A soap with a lower percentage of coconut/palm kernel/babassu oil could also help.
She said she's using organic soap from Azure Standard and it's making her break out in spots! I am wanting to formulate a high lard/tallow soap for her and lower the coconut oil by quite a bit. I saw a recipe here with 40% tallow, 40% lard, 15% coconut and 5% castor oil that I think I'll try. And I'll add a chelator as well and see where it takes me. Thank you!
I think that looks like a good place to start. Hopefully it will work for your friend.
I ended up going with this recipe:
40% lard
40% goat tallow
10% coconut oil
7% castor oil
3% chicken fat
2% superfat
I adjusted the lye for the citric acid, and used goat milk cubes for the liquid. I thought having high lard and tallow would produce a very conditioning bar, but it came in just below the recommended conditioning range on the soapee calculator.
I added citric acid to the lye mixture, and orange & eucalyptus essential oil along with yellow kaolin clay. I realize that the extras may not have been a good idea for someone with skin troubles, but if she doesn't like it this way, I'll make another batch!
The batter came to trace very fast. I think goat tallow traces faster than beef tallow. Was hoping the lard would slow that down, but it didn't appear to do that at all. I'm pretty sure I had some false trace going on because it looked like thick trace after about two minutes of stirring only, no blending. I divided a little of the plain batter out and added the EOs mixed with the clay to the main batter. By then it was almost too stiff to stir with a spatula, but the more I stirred, the more fluid the batter became. I stirred it for several minutes before I poured it. By the time I put it into the mold, the main batter was fluid enough to pour and the plain batter was a little thicker. I left it on the counter and wrapped it up, hoping it would gel, but I don't think it did.
16 hours later the soap peeled from the mold beautifully, so I unmolded and cut it. While the soap looks nice and smooth, it kind of broke off and crumbled at the bottom when I cut it. I don't know if thats because of something in my recipe or if I cut it too soon (or too late). I don't have a nice soap cutter and just used a knife. Now comes the hard part, waiting 6 weeks for it to cure so my friend and I can try it!
Thank you for the helpful tips, everyone!
40% lard
40% goat tallow
10% coconut oil
7% castor oil
3% chicken fat
2% superfat
I adjusted the lye for the citric acid, and used goat milk cubes for the liquid. I thought having high lard and tallow would produce a very conditioning bar, but it came in just below the recommended conditioning range on the soapee calculator.
I added citric acid to the lye mixture, and orange & eucalyptus essential oil along with yellow kaolin clay. I realize that the extras may not have been a good idea for someone with skin troubles, but if she doesn't like it this way, I'll make another batch!
The batter came to trace very fast. I think goat tallow traces faster than beef tallow. Was hoping the lard would slow that down, but it didn't appear to do that at all. I'm pretty sure I had some false trace going on because it looked like thick trace after about two minutes of stirring only, no blending. I divided a little of the plain batter out and added the EOs mixed with the clay to the main batter. By then it was almost too stiff to stir with a spatula, but the more I stirred, the more fluid the batter became. I stirred it for several minutes before I poured it. By the time I put it into the mold, the main batter was fluid enough to pour and the plain batter was a little thicker. I left it on the counter and wrapped it up, hoping it would gel, but I don't think it did.
16 hours later the soap peeled from the mold beautifully, so I unmolded and cut it. While the soap looks nice and smooth, it kind of broke off and crumbled at the bottom when I cut it. I don't know if thats because of something in my recipe or if I cut it too soon (or too late). I don't have a nice soap cutter and just used a knife. Now comes the hard part, waiting 6 weeks for it to cure so my friend and I can try it!
Thank you for the helpful tips, everyone!
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Your soap looks great! From what you described (batter getting thick fast, and then fluid again), you did have false trace. That (along with hand-stirring) can contribute to having some crumbly areas where the batter wasn't fully emulsified. That's where several one-second bursts with a stickblender can really help. You should stir until you don't see any oily separation around the edge of the bowl, or on the back of a spoon that has been dipped in the batter.
I also wanted to share that you should dissolve the citric acid in the water before you add the lye, or it usually won't dissolve very well. You can also separate out some of the water for dissolving the CA separately, before adding that back into the lye solution or the oils (your preference).
Oh, and as long as the soap is zap-free (usually within a day or two of unmolding), you can start testing it. In fact, it can be fun to see how it changes over time during the cure. It normally gets milder and more bubbly.
I also wanted to share that you should dissolve the citric acid in the water before you add the lye, or it usually won't dissolve very well. You can also separate out some of the water for dissolving the CA separately, before adding that back into the lye solution or the oils (your preference).
Oh, and as long as the soap is zap-free (usually within a day or two of unmolding), you can start testing it. In fact, it can be fun to see how it changes over time during the cure. It normally gets milder and more bubbly.
Thank you! So the resulting soap should still be good?Your soap looks great! From what you described (batter getting thick fast, and then fluid again), you did have false trace. That (along with hand-stirring) can contribute to having some crumbly areas where the batter wasn't fully emulsified. That's where several one-second bursts with a stickblender can really help. You should stir until you don't see any oily separation around the edge of the bowl, or on the back of a spoon that has been dipped in the batter.
I also wanted to share that you should dissolve the citric acid in the water before you add the lye, or it usually won't dissolve very well. You can also separate out some of the water for dissolving the CA separately, before adding that back into the lye solution or the oils (your preference).
Oh, and as long as the soap is zap-free (usually within a day or two of unmolding), you can start testing it. In fact, it can be fun to see how it changes over time during the cure. It normally gets milder and more bubbly.
I added the citric acid after mixing the lye, following advice I found on the forum, because I used frozen goat milk instead of water. The lye mixture did stay "chunkier" than normal no matter how long I stirred it, so I strained it before I added it to the oils. I wonder if it would work to dissolve the acid in the milk before freezing it?
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IMO it woud be better to deduct a little of the milk, and replace it with water to dissolve the citric acid.
It. Is. Amazing.Your soap looks great! From what you described (batter getting thick fast, and then fluid again), you did have false trace. That (along with hand-stirring) can contribute to having some crumbly areas where the batter wasn't fully emulsified. That's where several one-second bursts with a stickblender can really help. You should stir until you don't see any oily separation around the edge of the bowl, or on the back of a spoon that has been dipped in the batter.
I also wanted to share that you should dissolve the citric acid in the water before you add the lye, or it usually won't dissolve very well. You can also separate out some of the water for dissolving the CA separately, before adding that back into the lye solution or the oils (your preference).
Oh, and as long as the soap is zap-free (usually within a day or two of unmolding), you can start testing it. In fact, it can be fun to see how it changes over time during the cure. It normally gets milder and more bubbly.
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Justwrite80
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Question but why is this an issue at all? Aren't you supposed to be using distilled water as your water source when making soap?? Newbie here so forgive me in advance if this is a silly wuestion
Nevermind I misread the question sorry!!
Not a silly question at all! You are absolutely right, distilled water IN the soap, but unfortunately, some of us only have hard water to use the soap with. Misreading a question is a legitimate mistake, we've all done it! Well, at least I have. Multiple times.
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It is not a necessity to use distilled water. I use tap water and don't have any problems.
I used to have soft water and routinely used tap water to make soap. It all worked perfectly. Now, though, I have very hard water. And I can barely bathe in it, much less soap with it. So, I soap with distilled water and 0.5% tetrasodium EDTA.
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