Borax soap

[Zing]

Peeps, with many thanks to @earlene , I made blacksmith borax soap -- but used my 'go to' basic soap recipe. I LOVE THE CLEANING POWER especially after gardening -- dirt & grime just disappear. However, the bars are so brittle. After a few uses, the bar cracks in half. The halves quickly then just break apart. I'd love your feedback on this. I'd love some feedback and suggestions. Thank you!

 

[earlene]

How does it differ from your normal recipe? Does the normal recipe crack at all ever? Is it ever brittle?

Which ingredients are added? Just the borax, or anything else that makes it different from your normal recipe?

Just trying to determine what is causing the brittleness, if it is not normally brittle.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

the bars are so brittle.

When I was developing ZNSC, I played around with the water to lye ratio until l got the right amount of hardness but still easy to lather up.
1.5:1 was TOO hard;
2:1 wasn't hard enough;
1.7:1 proved to be, as Baby Bear would say, just right.

With the amount of dry ingredients in that recipe, I wouldn't hesitate to use 38% water as % of oils in the batch.

 

[Zing]

How does it differ from your normal recipe? Does the normal recipe crack at all ever? Is it ever brittle?

Which ingredients are added? Just the borax, or anything else that makes it different from your normal recipe?

Just trying to determine what is causing the brittleness, if it is not normally brittle.

My basic recipe is not brittle, if anything it's a tad on the soft side.

In the pic above I forgot the 48 g sodium lactate, I routinely use 3% of oil weight.

The main difference to my basic recipe is the borax, fresh coffee grounds, poppy seeds, and shredded loofah.

I really like the cleaning action! It's saving me several minutes of scrubbing my hands!

 

[DeeAnna]

Borax is a salt. Sodium lactate is a salt. That pinch of sea salt is ... another salt. Maybe think about KISS (Keep It Simple, Soaper!) and try using just one salt to see how that goes?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Maybe think about KISS (Keep It Simple, Soaper!) and try using just one salt to see how that goes?

 

[Zing]

Borax is a salt. Sodium lactate is a salt. That pinch of sea salt is ... another salt. Maybe think about KISS (Keep It Simple, Soaper!) and try using just one salt to see how that goes?

I always love it when you weigh in but this is such a duh moment. Where's the blushing emoji?!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

 

[Trinidad Kelly]

Peeps, with many thanks to @earlene , I made blacksmith borax soap -- but used my 'go to' basic soap recipe. I LOVE THE CLEANING POWER especially after gardening -- dirt & grime just disappear. However, the bars are so brittle. After a few uses, the bar cracks in half. The halves quickly then just break apart. I'd love your feedback on this. I'd love some feedback and suggestions. Thank you!

What's your suggested usage rate of borax ppo in cold process soap please?

 

[DeeAnna]

What's your suggested usage rate of borax ppo in cold process soap please?

The information you seek is in the photo in Post 1 of this thread. The entire recipe is there.

 

[Trinidad Kelly]

The information you seek is in the photo in Post 1 of this thread. The entire recipe is there.

thank you, let me scroll back