How important is distilled water?

[jcandleattic]

I live in Brooklyn (Park Slope), and I don't belong to Brooklyn CP Soapmakers. Care to share their info.?

When I make my yearly trek to NYC Park Slope is where I usually stay! I love it there.

 

[Moonshea Botanicals]

LOL I just got the yearly water report for my town. It's official, my tap water is good enough to use for soaping. I knew I had soft, well water, but I wanted to know exactly what was in the water.

 

[SoapPapaw]

I live in Arkansas and Dollar General or Family dollar has bottled Arkansas Spring water bottled from natural springs in the Ouachita Mountains. A gallon jug is $1.

So I will be trying this.

 

[tkine]

I started using my well water, ran through a filtering water pitcher for my soap. So far, so good. I was tired of running out of water, & having to wait to get more before making soap.

 

[CaraCara]

I could probably make salt soap with our well water so the RO system is wonderful.

 

[lsg]

Our water is pretty hard here, so I use distilled water. I have used rainwater before and it works very well.

 

[ghia61]

I have a couple rain barrels (which, today, thanks to Andrea, are overflowing). Haven't had any problems using it.

 

[three_little_fishes]

I use distilled, but in NC I used tap. Pensacola isn't exactly known for it's great water though. Worst in the country in several studies. :/

 

[cursivearts]

I'm in NC and our water is pretty good, but I run it through the purifier anyway. I have considered collecting rainwater. We certainly get enough of it here.

 

[DeeAnna]

Even though tap or bottled water tastes and looks wonderful and is perfectly safe to drink, it may not be the best choice for a chemistry experiment, which is what saponification is. The fewer unknown variables in a chemistry reaction, the fewer chances for unexpected results.

For one, dissolved metals in water can trigger DOS in your soap that might not otherwise occur. The metals act as a catalyst for the oxidation reaction that causes rancidity in free oil.

For another, dissolved calcium and magnesium compete with the sodium in the lye to react with the fats. Calcium and magnesium soaps are insoluble in water (aka soap scum). These insoluble soaps can affect the sudsing ability and "feel" of your soap.

If you haven't had problems, no problem. If you are having unusual issues with your soap, however, don't ignore the possibility that your tap water might be a contributing factor. Switching to distilled water might be helpful. Or use rainwater if you don't want to buy distilled. If our grandmothers went to the extra step of using rainwater for their soap, they probably had a good reason.

 

[siobhan1011]

I use the distilled water that comes from my dehumidifier

 

[nebetmiw]

Distilled water is not needed. You can use filter water or regular tap water. Knowing if it is hard or soft might help out. But just go ahead make soap see how it turns out. Most tap water these days are so filter that they will not effect soap making at all. If the clorine worries you let water sit overnight and it will be alot less if not all gone by next day.

 

[thinkativeone]

When it rains I try to collect it for our container garden. Can anyone explain to me how rainwater is safe for soapmaking? If I remember correctly some not-so-great stuff can be in rainwater as well. But I would be interested in trying this - just would love more info!

 

[Soapman Ryan]

When it rains I try to collect it for our container garden. Can anyone explain to me how rainwater is safe for soapmaking? If I remember correctly some not-so-great stuff can be in rainwater as well. But I would be interested in trying this - just would love more info!

I would like more info on rainwater too, sounds interesting.

 

[meeplesoap]

I wish we had rain! Our annual precipitation is 2.95 inches... that's in a whole year! I think I'd be making a single bar of soap if I waited for rainwater (though that does sound amazing!)

I use a filtering system, which is not distilled but better than tap. If I use straight tap water, my lye water can be cloudy and murky (so gross.)

 

[jcandleattic]

Distilled water is not needed. You can use filter water or regular tap water. Knowing if it is hard or soft might help out. But just go ahead make soap see how it turns out. Most tap water these days are so filter that they will not effect soap making at all. If the clorine worries you let water sit overnight and it will be alot less if not all gone by next day.

I think that depends on where you live. Our tap water is most definitely not pure enough for soaping.
Tap water can have many impurities/minerals in them that are good (even great) for consumption but will make your soap go wonky.
Our tap water has calcium, fluoride, copper and other metal & minerals in them. All of which are perfectly within the safe ranges for consumption, but all of which do really funky bad things when trying to make soap.

It's just easier and better (unless you know exactly what is in your tap water) to just use distilled. Especially when first starting out.