Aloe Vera gel - Feedback welcome

[Dneto]

Hi !
So, I'm new at this soap making thing. I was trying to do a soap using Aloe Vera gel directly extracted from the plant. I read that I could do a 50water/50aloe gel. Does it mean that in a recipe with for exemple 100g of water I could do a 50 g of water and 50 g of Aloe Vera gel right ? If so, how do I incorporate the gel in the batch, should I put it in the water before I add the lys or should I mix the lye with the 50g of water and then add the gel after the lye water and oils are mixed ?
Sorry if my English isn't good.
Best regards from Portugal

 

[amd]

You are understanding it correctly for 50/50. There's a number of ways you could do add the gel.
1. Combine water and gel, add lye.
2. As you said, dissolve lye in water, add to oils, add gel after mixing. Just make sure you have enough water to dissolve the lye. Lye requires an equal amount of water/liquid in order to dissolve. e.g. you would not want to use 55g lye in 50g water.
3. You could also add the gel to your oils before adding the water/lye.

#3 is how I do it.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

I use 100% aloe from the leaves and i just make a puree from them and dissolve my lye in there. They turn yellowy but its fine.

 

[DeeAnna]

Carolyn @cmzaha uses fresh aloe in her soaps. Here are some threads where she and other people share tips about how to do this --

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/using-fresh-aloe-vera.54525/
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/alovera-in-soap-making-has-anyone-tried.45532/
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/aloe-in-soap.44624/

 

[Dneto]

You are understanding it correctly for 50/50. There's a number of ways you could do add the gel.
1. Combine water and gel, add lye.
2. As you said, dissolve lye in water, add to oils, add gel after mixing. Just make sure you have enough water to dissolve the lye. Lye requires an equal amount of water/liquid in order to dissolve. e.g. you would not want to use 55g lye in 50g water.
3. You could also add the gel to your oils before adding the water/lye.

#3 is how I do it.

Thanks ! So u use this 50/50 method or another ? Like 60%water/40% aloe gel... Cause I'm afraid of using just half of the liquid that I should to dissolve the NaOH

 

[steffamarie]

As long as you use at least the same amount of water by weight as you use lye (that's what it takes to dissolve the lye) you are free to add more or less water to the lye solution as you see fit

 

[amd]

Thanks ! So u use this 50/50 method or another ? Like 60%water/40% aloe gel... Cause I'm afraid of using just half of the liquid that I should to dissolve the NaOH

I use masterbatched lye, so my lye solution is 1:1 and I add AV gel or juice as the remaining 2 parts.

Before I masterbatched I did AV juice at 100%, and I did gel at 1 part. I soap at 3:1 ratio so my lye and water/juice was 2x lye weight and the gel was 1x lye weight. This is just how I did it, you will find in soapmaking there are lots of ways to skin a cat but some basic rules that must be followed (such as how much liquid is needed to dissolve lye). If you're really worried about not getting the lye dissolved, I would put the water + gel in your pitcher and add the lye.

 

[Magic7M]

I am still considering masterbatching my lye and I make soap with aloe gel often. I grow my own so after scraping the gel out of the leaves I liquidise the pulp so that there are no lumps. I have used it as full water content and also mixed it with cucumber juice, using it half and half. It does discolour a little but I find freezing the aloe first (as with Goats Milk) keeps it cooler when mixing in with the lye then it does not discolour all that much. Makes a lovely soap.

 

[KimT2au]

This is just how I did it, you will find in soapmaking there are lots of ways to skin a cat but some basic rules that must be followed (such as how much liquid is needed to dissolve lye).

Lol @amd I hope the OP understands the phrase about skinning a cat. I am a member of various greyhound Facebook groups (surprise, surprise) and someone for whom English was a 2nd language posted about some behavioural issue or other. In my response I said that it sounded like the dog's nose was out of joint, meaning, of course, that the dog was annoyed or upset about something and was making it's displeasure known. Apparently the idiom was not familiar to the OP who was then most concerned about his dog's nose, although he assured me it looked perfectly normal, and was going to take it to his vet who was highly experienced in greyhounds. I then had to eat humble pie (so as to speak) and explain what the expression meant.

 

[Dawni]

No help regarding aloe vera.... But the above story made me laugh

English, as a first or second language, isn't the issue most times.. It's the "slang" or colloquial phrases people use that differs from city to city, country to country, etc... I find it fascinating and I Google them when I come across them hehe

The dog's nose one is new for me ^^

 

[amd]

Indeed - I work for an international company so I "speak" with people all over the world on a daily basis. My main team is local to me in the US, but I also have a second team in Germany (none of which are actually German though) and a third team in China. I have had team members message me back asking for further clarification because I told them to "fudge" the drawing (for example) but it did not translate for them, so when I catch myself using an idiom or slang word I do Google it before hitting the send button. If it doesn't google, then I will put a definition in paranthesis. In the case of fudge, it was a good time for all of us.

 

[KimT2au]

Oops, I appeared to have hijacked this tread. I apologise @Dneto .