Cold Process Liquid Soap

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Messages
9,929
Reaction score
9,837
Location
Texas
I saw someone asked for CP liquid soap recipes, and I know that many of us have posted our recipes spread throughout many threads. I am going to share my recipes and process, and hopefully others will also. Because my way is one way, not the "right" way, or the "only" way.

First, I use this lye calculator:

http://summerbeemeadow.com/content/advanced-calculator-solid-cream-or-liquid-soaps

EDIT- I now use this calculator, much more user friendly:

http://summerbeemeadow.com/sites/all/sbm_calc_input/calc_input_page_1.1.html

ETA, again: I now use soapee.com. It is so very much easier than SBM, and non of the extraneous, confusing things on the calculator!

because I get much better outcomes with it than any other for liquid soap. It looks complicated and confusing. It is not. Just leave blank anything you don't want to fool with like glycerin, alcohol, borax, etc. Use 0% superfat for dishes and clothes, and 1-3% for hand soap, shower gel, shampoo, etc. Then plug in your fats and what type of soap you are making, and you are good to go. They, unfortunately, do not give amounts in grams, but it is easy enough to convert using online conversion tools.

RUN EVERY RECIPE THROUGH A LYE CALCULATOR FOR YOURSELF. NO MATTER WHERE YOU GET IT. Sorry for the caps, but it can not be stressed enough. Typos happen.

My process is not complicated, so if you are looking for some super duper magical process, look elsewhere. I hate extra steps. HATE them. But, let's just take one recipe and go through it. I will go through using the lye calculator with the process to help anyone unaccustomed to this calculator.

First I type what kind of soap and date in the recipe name(I print each recipe, so this does help.)

Liquid Laundry Soap 11-3-14

Then I click "Liquid Soap KOH + NaOH* + Water + Alcohol" Don't get intimidated, you don't have to use all of that. Please note that if you don't type any numbers in for the KOH or NaOH, you get a default of 100% KOH, which is already pre-set for the 94% KOH that is available. So, you don't have to worry about that.

Ignore the alcohol and glycerin unless you intend to use them.

Superfatting-this is laundry soap, so I use 0%.

Then I weigh my pot and utensils, it is not necessary, but oh-so-nice to know when you go to dilute. Type those values into the calculator.

Pot-103.7 oz(I use a crock pot, so all my recipes are sized accordingly. You do not have to use a crock pot.)
Utensils-3.6 oz

Choose oils/fats

This is just a click the arrow and choose your oil section. Then type the amount you intend to use in ounces.

Coconut Oil, 76 degree- 24 oz
Soybean Oil- 8 oz


Other ingredients: I use 0.5 oz grated handmade bar soap to help speed trace, and 1 oz EO,so I type

Grated soap 0.5 oz
EO 1 oz

Then under that section it says, "Click here when done". You are done, so click there. :D

Now is when people freak out. So, bear with me and just hang in there. Highlight and print out the recipe part only(gives 1 sheet recipe rather than 4 sheets).

I want you to go grab a highlighter or something. You are going to highlight only the following.

Coconut oil 24.00 oz
Soybean oil 8 oz
Potassium Hydroxide 100%(proportion of recipe, NOT purity) 8.08 oz
Batch Water 24.25 oz
Initial Batch Weight 4lb 0.34 oz
Other Items:
Grated soap 0.50 oz
EO 1 oz

This is all you need to worry about. Ignore everything else.

Continued...

OK, so the process.

I weigh my coconut oil out into a safe container to make soap in.(I use my crock pot because it is larger than anything else I have that is safe to make soap in, and I make a lot of laundry soap at the time.)

I weigh my soybean oil out into something I can pour from, usually a Pyrex cup just for the spout. I DO NOT use Pyrex for anything that KOH or NaOH is going into!

I put on proper safety equipment(gloves, safety goggles, and long sleeved shirt), weigh out my water into a lye safe container, then weigh my KOH out. Add the KOH slowly to the water, stirring between each addition. I do this under the vent hood of the stove with the vent on high, and hold my head back to avoid breathing fumes. When the last of the KOH is in, looks totally clear, and it stops sizzling, I add the grated soap. Stick blend to mix well. If I forget at this point to add the soap, I add it to the CO.

Put on an oven mitt, and pour that steaming hot lye water mixture over the solid CO. Nope, I don't even melt my CO. Stick blend until it is all melted. Add the soybean oil and stick blend to trace using 20-30 second bursts with equal time hand stirring between to save the stick blender motor. If I am truly in a hurry, I use 2 stick blenders, and alternate them rather than hand stirring.

You will see several stages, you may even see flying bubbles. Bottom line is when you get stiff paste consistency(think Elmer's paste from when you were a child.), stop stick blending. I pull out the stick blender, and scrape it off. Throw a beach towel that is doubled(I only use it because it is the perfect size). You can use a blanket or a couple of bath towels. Whatever works for you and holds in heat is fine. Just be sure it is washable, as it may get soapy. I take this time to wash, dry, and put away the stick blender and other equipment I will not need from this point onward. Takes about 10-15 minutes. Write down on your recipe the stages this went through and how much time each step takes. This keeps you from having "second batch jitters" when you are sure you have gone wrong. (Is this just me?)

I then zap test. Yep, no cooking, no waiting hours or weeks, just 10-15 minutes. I have yet to be zapped after making 9 batches of various soaps using this technique. So, if you like, and are in a hurry, dilute now. However, I am not promising clear soap if you dilute now. It will clear up eventually, even if diluted, if you use 0% superfat and properly weighed and made the soap. But it may not be clear right away. I have some of this laundry soap that was white when first diluted(pulls jar out of cabinet) a couple of weeks ago, and it is clear now. But it was VERY not clear when first diluted. So, don't come complaining to me if it is cloudy, OK?

Now, if I am going to store this as paste, I will let it sit a few days in the pot to cool and finish doing all saponifying before dividing into Ziploc bags. I do this BECAUSE I store in Ziploc bags, and I am not sure how safe they are with potential unsaponified KOH. I label those bags and stick them in the fridge or cabinet. They don't need to be cool, but I can't lose them if they are in the fridge. I am going to get some place to store them out of the fridge one of these days....

But, pretty much, this is cold process. No heat, other than what the KOH/water reaction brings.

If you know how to dilute, you can stop reading here. And thank you for your patience in reading a very long tutorial.

To dilute:

I am not going to tell you how much water to use, because you need to learn your oils and recipes for yourself. Good rule of thumb for me is to begin with half my paste weight in water. If you are diluting the whole batch at once, this is where knowing your pot and utensil weights come in handy.

Once I add half the paste weight(in this case about 32 oz) in water, I then add heat, and break up the soap paste to increase surface area. I only add heat to speed dilution, not to complete saponification. This will not be enough water, but it is where you begin. I then add about 4 oz of water at the time until I get down to one or two small lumps of soap paste. I then add about a tablespoon of water until I am down to one small soap lump. I then stop, as this will melt while the soap is cooling enough to handle it. Write down how much water this took, so you know for the next batch.(saves a lot of time) If you are adding EO/FOs, add them while the soap is warm, but cool enough you can stick a bare finger in there safely. My rule of thumb on EO amount is 0.5 oz PPO for non-irritating EOs. I use my citrus EOs because unlike bar soaps, they stick well in liquid soaps. Other people have different EO rates. This is my way, not the "right" way or "only" way.

I then pour this into my laundry soap container that has a dispenser and use 1/4-1/2 cup per load depending on how dirty and how much laundry I have. I use white vinegar in a Downy ball to help bring the pH down in the rinse cycle. Just put enough to get to the line on the Downy ball.

I really hope others post their recipes and methods so folks don't think I am the "expert". I am not. I am just lazy enough and impatient enough to want the easiest way I can find.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for posting this, Susie, that is very generous of you to share your recipe and technique.
 
Other CP liquid soap recipes

Here are a few of my other CP liquid soap recipes, I am not giving KOH or water amounts for the laundry/dish soaps because I want folks to go use the lye calculator.

Dish or Laundry Soap

0% superfat
Coconut oil, 76 degree- 100%(I use 16 oz)
If you are making dish soap, you might like to add
Castor oil- 1oz
and
Sugar- 1 tablespoon
EO- 0.5 oz
I also add 0.5 oz grated bar(handmade) soap or an equal amount of liquid soap paste that is undiluted to speed trace.

But, you won't want to add castor and sugar if you have an HE washer. Too many bubbles.

Hand Washing Soap

I usually put into a foamer pump, so it is really diluted for that.
Superfat 3%
Coconut oil, 76 degree- 5 oz
Olive oil, pomace- 10 oz
Castor oil- 1 oz

Sugar- 1 tablespoon
Water- 5.2 oz
KOH- 3.44 oz(round down to 3.4oz if your scale only does tenths of ounces)
Glycerine- 5.2 oz

I dissolve my KOH into the water. Dissolve completely, add glycerin and sugar. Then add HOT lye mixture to coconut oil, stick blend til melted, add the liquid oils, and stick blend/hand stir to trace.

Note: I do NOT enter the amount of glycerin into the lye calculator. I just take the total batch water amount and divide in half. I will round these amounts to something my scale will handle. So, 10.31 oz water becomes 5.2 oz water, and 5.2 oz glycerin.

In this case, the glycerin is what you use to speed trace rather than the grated soap or liquid soap paste.

Hope this helps!
 
Last edited:
Thank you Susie for being so generous with your time (writing this tutorial) and with sharing your recipes! :clap:
 
Thanks so much for sharing this! I've been too intimidated thus far to try my hand at a liquid soap. You've helped demystify it for me!
 
The recipe on The Sage blog is going to be pretty drying to the skin because it has 75% coconut and palm kernel oils. Oy, that's a lot of lauric and myristic acid in there, so don't expect this to be a nice soap for washing skin. As they imply in the blog, it's going to be better suited for dishwashing.

I heartily recommend Irish Lass / 3bees recipe as a lovely LS that lathers well and is mild to the skin, crystal clear, and easy to make. If you want, follow the method in the Sage blog to make it. See: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?p=428988 and start reading at Post 8. I used a CP method to make this soap -- see the same thread, Post 76.

edit: I don't mean this to take away from Susie's contribution. I've filed her tutorial away for future fun! :) Thank you, Susie!
 
Last edited:
I wanted this thread so everyone afraid to make LS could see it is really simple, and be able to get more than just my recipes. I am thrilled you linked back to the other thread, because I want everyone to get through that thread, also. But folks needed to be able to search "Cold Process Liquid Soap" and come up with a thread that helps them get the answers they want.

I just did not want to keep posting replies in my own thread, as I know "bumping" threads is frowned upon.
 
I read several facebook groups for liquid soapers and one of the comments occasionally made on those groups is people don't like to make liquid soap for dishwashing and general cleaning because it's a lot of work to end up with a soap that will be used up fast. I think this point of view comes from folks who cook and hover over their liquid soap paste for a very long time and then take even more time to "neutralize" the soap, even if the pH is fine. I've followed the no-stress methods explained by soapers such as Irish Lass, Suzie, and Grayceworks, so it's really no big deal to make liquid soap ... unless one wants to make it a big deal. :lol:
 
Thank you both for all the information! I was particularly happy with DeeAnna's post #76 because it's truly CP - no external heat applied, yay! There is still a lot to learn and read, and purchase before trying (metal stick blender, since I only have a plastic one). It's also interesting to learn about different soap calculators among other things. I've only been using the one at https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html so far...

I'm somewhat confused with the glycerin. Is it a required ingredient in CP LS or can this recipe be done with water alone? I've read in another thread that glycerin speeds up saponification process but otherwise has no effect on the finished product. I have not worked with glycerin before.

One more question: has anybody tried tallow in liquid soap? For some reason I like using tallow in my bar soap and I'm curious if there is place for it in liquid soap as well. I will certainly try posted recipes for LS first, before starting my own experiments, but I'm curious...

Thank you once more for sharing! This is great.

I've just remembered there was one more question I had about liquid soap: I'm mainly interested in making liquid soap for laundry (laundry to landscape greywater reuse - don't want sodium around my plants). I would like to be able to use the soap in a washing machine (front loaded). Would the two recipes (Susie's and DeeAnna's) work in a washing machine? Would they foam too much? I understand I'll need to add a bit of vinegar to the last rinse, to get the suds out.

Also, my earlier comment about glycerin, I'm guessing that the grated hard soap in Susie's recipe serves the same purpose. Is that right or is it simply too late at night and I should go to bed instead of reading all the threads right now and trying to make sense out of CP LS...? :yawn:

Thank you again for sharing. Much appreciated. It is great to have such wonderful resource and not stumble in the dark.
 
OK, glycerin is only used to speed trace, and change the "feel" of the liquid soap. It is completely optional. But, I am impatient and lazy, and hate standing there stick blending for half an hour or more. I am not even sure CP would work for liquid soap unless you use something to speed trace. I use the half ounce of grated handmade bar soap to speed trace in my laundry soap and dish soap. It works.

Yes, I use my liquid laundry soap for my top loader(but HE) washing machine. It does not make excess bubbles. It should be the same for a front loader as both use about the same amount of water now. I do not add castor oil or sugar to my laundry soap just to keep the excess bubbles down. We add vinegar to the rinse water to bring the pH in the clothes down to help keep the clothes in better shape, not for bubble control. There are no bubbles left by the rinse cycle.

I do not use tallow as I have no local source for pure tallow like I do lard. I have used lard for liquid hand soap. It makes a good quality(if not appearance) hand soap. It makes cloudy liquid soap that would be lovely if it would stay looking that way. Alas, the cloudiness settles out over time. Tallow will probably lend the same results. I do not use lard for laundry soap any longer. I have a super sensitive nose that can smell the lardy scent after pulling it out of the dryer. I have to even avoid using bar soap with lard in it to speed trace.

I am going to let DeeAnna, or some other sciencey type person answer for sure, but I do not think the sodium is left in soap after saponification is complete. Even if it is, I use my liquid soap(NaOH/KOH 1:1) mixed with water for aphid control on my plants with no adverse effects whatsoever. Works like a charm. So I doubt there is enough sodium to bother plants when used for watering.
 
Last edited:
Each molecule of soap will contain a sodium atom if the soap made with NaOH or a potassium atom if made with KOH. The amount of sodium or potassium coming from the household use of soap is small, especially when you consider that any soap in grey water is highly diluted from all the non-soapy water that a household generates. If you treat your household water with a water softener, there very likely will be more sodium in the grey water from the water softener than from soap. This trace sodium is not going to harm plants nor the soil.
 
This is a really great thread -- thanks Susie! I have not made LS yet, in part b/c some of the recipes I had looked at seemed like a hassle, but this really boils it down to simple ingredients and a simple process. I finally do have KOH, so after reading this, I'm setting a goal of making dish soap before New Year's Eve. Wohoo! I'm gonna do it!
 
It is really simple. I promise. It is no more complicated than making CP bar soaps. Just learn a new lye calculator and off you go. There is probably some way to know the amount of water to add to soapcalc.net's lye calculator to get the same results, but I don't ever trust myself with math.
 
Each molecule of soap will contain a sodium atom if the soap made with NaOH or a potassium atom if made with KOH. The amount of sodium or potassium coming from the household use of soap is small, especially when you consider that any soap in grey water is highly diluted from all the non-soapy water that a household generates. If you treat your household water with a water softener, there very likely will be more sodium in the grey water from the water softener than from soap. This trace sodium is not going to harm plants nor the soil.

NaOH soap could be a problem in laundry to landscape system if the output is always going to the same place, e.g. a few trees, AND they grow in a heavy clay soil (which is what I have). Over time, sodium can accumulate and cause problems for plants. Specifically with little rain fall...

I would not use softener - thank you for this additional information!
 
Tonight I am going to meet my goal of making dish soap before the year's end. An Old Year's Resolution, so to speak ;) My store bought bottle is almost gone. Susie, thanks for helping me set this goal, and to achieve it.

Unless someone see flaws, my dish soap will have 75% CO, 21.5% OO, 3.5% castor, plus 0.5 oz ppo each of sugar (added to lye sol'n), grated cp soap (added to lye sol'n), and a citrus EO (added right after dilution).

The process looks so straight forward, I have just one question: What do you find works best to break up the soap paste during dilution? A whisk or spoon? It would help to know now what I am going to use so I can plug that weight in to the calculator.

Once I add half the paste weight(in this case about 32 oz) in water, I then add heat, and break up the soap paste to increase surface area.

Thanks again for all the great info. I am excited to finally open the KOH that I bought several months ago!
 
That is pretty much the dish soap recipe I use Caribou, with my SF at 0.5 %. I must confess that I still use soap calc for my LS and my paste is HARD, and needs a stainless spoon to break the chunks. As I understand it, the calc Susie uses for LS uses more water and your paste won't be so hard, so you might be able to use a whisk. Poke at the paste and see:)

Weigh with both would be my suggestion. The spoon is nice for scraping bits off the side.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top