Distilled water?

[CoolSuds]

Hi fellow awesome soapers!
Do you use distilled water & why? I have well water (but have never had its content tested) & it works great on my cold process soap. I wonder if using distilled would make a difference in my soaps...:?:

 

[DeeAnna]

Many people use tap, filtered, spring, or drinking water for their soap and have no problems. You're going to see many folks chime in here with this kind of answer to your question.

If your water has trace minerals in it, however, especially metals such as copper or iron, you may see spots of DOS (rancidity) forming as the fats in your soap react with these metals and with oxygen in the air. Tap, filtered, spring, and bottled water all contain minerals that either come naturally from the water source or are added after purification to improve the taste -- there's nothing done to this water to remove trace minerals.

Most or all of the minerals in water can be removed by distillation, reverse osmosis (RO) treatment, and deionization. Water that has been treated with these processes tastes "flat" because the mineral levels are so low. This water is valuable for chemical processes where trace minerals may cause undesirable chemical reactions (including DOS).

Rain water is essentially distilled water, although it can contain dust, dissolved acids, and bacteria collected in its travels through the atmosphere. Water collected from dehumidifiers is also essentially distilled, but it too can contain dust, bacteria, etc. unless the collection system is kept scrupulously clean.

I will add that if you make liquid soap (soap made with KOH as the lye) you will probably want to use distilled water to make and dilute the soap. The minerals in tap water will cause the diluted soap to be cloudy. More: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=52456

 

[Seawolfe]

I used to use tap water until I tried distilled water in my liquid soap - HUGE difference in clarity and lather. So now I use it in my CP soap as well, and my lather does seem nicer.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I have hard water and now make my shaving soaps particularly with distilled water. It does help.

For bar soap, I don't mind so much if I forget the distilled and just go for tap water

 

[snappyllama]

I've got very hard well water too (howdy neighbor!) and exclusively use distilled water. I made a single batch with my well water, and it didn't lather as well.

 

[shunt2011]

Distilled Water only. Only because that's how I learned to make it.

 

[dibbles]

I have filtered and softened well water. I only use distilled water for making soap. However my neighbor, who taught me how to make CP, uses tap water with no issues. I just feel like I have enough that can go wrong without adding an unknown element to the mix.

 

[gemsupthepoley]

I keep meaning to get some distilled water but I'm too tight to spend the money I'll give it a try some day.

I also have still to have a go at liquid soap and it appears that I'll have to use it then.

 

[Jstar]

I use whatever liquid that strikes my fancy I used to do the distilled route, but not so much anymore..maybe its where we live, but my well water works just fine..loads of large fluffy and creamy lather

 

[Ellacho]

Yup. I use distilled water for all my soap making including liquid soap.

 

[CoolSuds]

Thanks everyone! I will try distilled in my next batch & see if there is a difference.