Apple Cider Vinegar Soap

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My question would be, if the vinegar mixes with the lye and forms sodium acetate, which acts like sodium lactate, then would the results be the same by just using sodium lactate? I always use sodium lactate in my soaps and I’m curious if using acv in place of water would add more conditioning qualities, or if it would just be redundant and actually make the bar brittle by using both. I’ve been making soap for a few years but really just starting to dig into the chemistry of it. It’s very addictive!
 
I do not use SL but soap with vinegar at 50% in almost all my soaps, and I would guess you would end up with a very brittle soap and least, to begin with. Remember you have to add the extra lye to create the sodium acetate or you just up your superfat. Soaping with vinegar just fits my formulas well, allowing me to un-mold in hours not days freeing up my molds. I will mention I use Distilled Vinegar since it cost less than ACV.
 
I do not use SL but soap with vinegar at 50% in almost all my soaps, and I would guess you would end up with a very brittle soap and least, to begin with. Remember you have to add the extra lye to create the sodium acetate or you just up your superfat. Soaping with vinegar just fits my formulas well, allowing me to un-mold in hours not days freeing up my molds. I will mention I use Distilled Vinegar since it cost less than ACV.
My guess is it would be overkill to use both. Using SL allows me to unmold most of my soaps within 6-8 hours. I also use cpop for a lot of my soaps which helps. My curiosity surrounding vinegar is thinking it would add conditioning benefits, but now I’m thinking maybe not. We live in a very dry, desert climate, high altitude and everyone has VERY hard water so I’m always looking for ways to keep a very hard bar while also being super conditioning. I’ve been playing a lot with my recipes, increasing the different fatty acids and different levels of SF, while decreasing cleansing #’s. I also add kaolin clay to most of my recipes.
 
I know at least one person has run into serious problems when she decided to use both vinegar and citric acid, both of which form salts when they react with lye. Salts in soap can be beneficial up to a point, but past that point, salts can turn the soap softer and/or rubbery. And salts definitely cut lather.

Recently it seems like many soapers are wanting to solve perceived or real problems by using more than one salt and/or acid in their soap without knowing whether just ONE salt or acid gives them the results they want. Or even no salt or acid. I'll be glad when this trend dies down a bit. My advice is to pick just one, use it in moderation, and see what you think.
 
I know at least one person has run into serious problems when she decided to use both vinegar and citric acid, both of which form salts when they react with lye. Salts in soap can be beneficial up to a point, but past that point, salts can turn the soap softer and/or rubbery. And salts definitely cut lather.

Recently it seems like many soapers are wanting to solve perceived or real problems by using more than one salt and/or acid in their soap without knowing whether just ONE salt or acid gives them the results they want. Or even no salt or acid. I'll be glad when this trend dies down a bit. My advice is to pick just one, use it in moderation, and see what you think.
Thanks Deeanna. I always enjoy your knowledge and input. I’ve been trying to “fine tune” my recipes and compare results with some of these things. I usually have 4-5 bars at a time in the shower comparing different properties!😂
 
Hey, i think I know who you are talking about. Is this on Etsy?
To be honest, I love ACV soaps...better than GMS IMO. And if this person was selling "vagina soap"--it could be just called vagina soap for SEO purposes. Check to see if they have disclaimers. Because if they do have disclaimers, the FDA usually won't get onto them about medical claims. Have you looked at the soaps on Etsy? Medical claims galore!
And I just have to point out (as a physician), that you should never put soap in your vagina. Perhaps they mean soap designed for your vulva which is the outside but the vagina which is inside your body is not supposed to be soaped. Unless you have an infection, it requires nothing to clean it.
 
Yes, you can use vinegar to make soap. Just add the extra lye it wants to react with. This is essentially the same as adding citric acid to soap. If you don't add the extra lye, it raises the superfat enough that it could reduce lather and increase the soap's softness.

There are a lot of myths about vinegar. Vinegar does NOT reduce the pH of lye soap much if at all. Using vinegar to make a soap for washing hair does NOT eliminate the need to rinse the hair afterward with a separate vinegar or citric acid rinse.

Use regular commercial vinegar for up to 100% of the water in soap. Regular commercial vinegar is 5% acetic acid, so about 1 fluid ounce (2 tablespoons, 1 ounce by weight, or 28 grams) of commercial vinegar contains 1.5 g acetic acid.

1 oz (28 g) of commercial 5% vinegar neutralizes 1 g NaOH. 1 oz (28 g) of commercial 5% vinegar neutralizes 1.4 g KOH. For every 1 ounce (28 g) of commercial vinegar in your recipe, add the appropriate extra weight of lye needed to react with the vinegar. If you do not add extra lye, the vinegar, like any other acid, will increase the superfat in your soap.

Suppose I use commercial vinegar (5% acetic acid) for all of the water phase in my favorite soap recipe. The reaction between acetic acid and sodium hydroxide would end up increasing the superfat in this recipe from the usual 5% to a substantial 12%.
Does acv also act as a chelator in soap like citric acid? Mostly asking about soap scum issue.. I have hard water so it’s a must my soap! without the CA my tub it coated in soap scum film after one use! Super crazy! It would be cool if I could use them interchangeably or maybe together?
 
The last time I bought beer was for a recipe the I got from the Jamie Oliver show. I almost chopped my finger off. Wild exaggeration; however, I DID slice a good bit of the tip of my finger off and had to go to the hospital because it wouldn't stop bleeding. I swore it was God's way of punishing me for breaking his commandment. I'll never cook with alcohol again!

I did that too only I was rushing through making philly cheesesteaks. Probably was being punished for having the temerity of making PCS outside of the city of Philly, so it wasn't authentic. LOL Isn't it annoying when ER visits interrupt important stuff like soaping and eating? :)

Hope
 

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