Aloe Vera Gel in place of water?

[MrasaliBleu]

Hello!

For about the past year I've been using George's 100% Aloe Vera (fractionally distilled liquid) instead of water. It is completely clear and is the same consistency as water, but I feel it creates a superior bar than plain water. Here is my dilemma: I just ran out and when I tried to buy it from the store I've always purchased it from they no longer carry the George's brand. They have replaced it with 'Fruit of the Earth 99.8% pure aloe Vera gel'. The other ingredients are preservatives, citric acid and sodium benzoate. It specifically says the sodium benzoate is 1/10 of 1%.

Does anyone have any experience using this brand? I'm actually making a goat milk soap today but I add tussah silk so I need to use a bit of liquid to dissolve the silk in, as it won't dissolve in my milk slush. Also, any idea what effect sodium benzoate or citric acid will have on soap? I will probably play it safe and use plain water today, but I've already purchased a gallon container of this aloe gel and I'm really hoping I can use it! Thanks in advance for any input or suggestions!

Ami

 

[hmlove1218]

I use it all the time with no problem. Same brand and all. I'm not sure about sodium benzoate, but citric acid is sometimes used in soaps to cut down on soap scum build up. The sodium Hydroxide and citric acid combine to form sodium citrate.

Too much citric acid can raise your superfat and cause your soap to not set up correctly, but the tiny bit that is in tha aloe juice isn't enough to interfere.

 

[osso]

I have used it also, with good results.

 

[MrasaliBleu]

Thanks so much for the reply! I went ahead and made a 1lb batch. So far so good, but we'll see for sure when I cut into it