I feel silly posting this... Liquid Soap question

[kittywings]

I just made my third batch of liquid soap using KOH, the previous two were crystal clear til I added the borax solution and then they were cloudy which doesn't really bother me, but I know clear is THE thing.

I know how KOH recipes are formulated to have 10-12% excess lye but it doesn't really work out to be that much excess (it's been a while since I did all my research and I guess I'm being lazy by not looking at my stuff again before posting)... but that's the whole reason behind the neutralizer. I'm trying to remember where I heard about the whole excess lye thing and I'm wondering... does the KOH calc on soap calc take that into account? I'm assuming it does.

Anyway, I'm rambling, basically I've used soapcalc on the KOH setting to formulate my recipes, the first 2 times I did 0% superfat but this time I did 1% to try and avoid doing a neutralizer so it'll stay clear. I know carebear said something about using another calculator (bee something?) and just works it out so she doesn't use a neutralizer... that's what I was going for here.

I guess part of my question too is... how would I know if it does need to be neutralized? If I've used it and my skin feels fine, does that mean its ok, or should I ph test it?

.... or should I stop asking random, barely cohesive questions and look at my own research? :?

Oh, one more random thing... my first two soaps are totally different colors! I'm pretty sure I used very similar recipes aside from FO and one is amber/brown and one is a creamy yellow color (because they're both cloudy... the amber one looks kind of gross to me now, but the yellow one looks like a commercial pearlized shampoo/liquid soap).

 

[carebear]

I find the instructions for liquid soap making absurdly complex and vague at the same time!

I use the summer bee meadow KOH calculator because it is supposed to be more precise and you don't need then to use all that excess lye (apparently the excess isn't necessarily excess in reality because KOH contains a lot of water so that's taken into account? I dunno). and my soap often comes out clear with a 2% lye discount. Tho sometimes not.

I have added borax, still, cuz it's a good thickener, and it didn't get cloudy.

Did you make sure that your borax was fully dissolved? It doesnt' go into solution easily.

 

[kittywings]

I'm pretty sure the borax was fully dissolved, as I dissolve it a lot to use for my hair. I guess I could add it in tiny bits... I guess I'm mostly curious to know how I would know if it's still lye heavy.
It doesn't zap at all, but I don't know if that pertains to KOH anyway.

 

[Bigmoose]

I do my liquid soaps at + 2% for the KOH as well. I have a few different types but all I make are clear ones. The oils you use will have a big affect on if your soap is clear or not. I use a small amount of borax as well. I cook mine on the stove top till it is clear then I add it to the soap. PH testing is a good idea. Paper strips may not be acurate. You can use a phenolphthalein solution to test your soap with. It will not tell you the ph but it will tell you if it is neutral or not.

Happy liquid soaping.

Bruce

 

[carebear]

you use borax in your hair?

 

[CafeRacer]

you use borax in your hair?

I was pretty surprised to hear that people use Borax for shampoo as well! Kitty, correct me if I'm wrong here, but is it usually just Borax and water or do you add citric acid as well?

 

[gekko62]

Hi KW.
Im about to do my 4th batch. Ive got Failors book & oh boy,complex and vague sums it up nicely.There is loads of good info but its all over the place and you need a maths hat too.
Anyway,according to Ms Failor,if you use too much borax it'll cause cloudiness. Exactly how much is too much Ive no idea! She gives different amounts for neutralising and thickening,and that's based on about a neg 14SF(so says soapcalc). But perhaps that could be whats happening? Mine are coming out OK but I really want to cut that lye amt back,just seems silly to use so much extra & then have to neutralise it.And adding EO's makes it cloudy anyhow so what's the point kwim?