KOH Bar Soap

[IngridK]

Hi all,

A couple of weeks ago a friend (professional chemist) were discussing the possibility of bar soap using KOH and the additional possibility of a full cook to gel as you would for liquid soap but adding hardeners (sodium lactate or salt) to get something that might cure hard... even if it took a year.

Has anyone ever tried this approach and what happened.

TIA
Ingrid

 

[DeeAnna]

Table salt (sodium chloride) or sodium lactate will convert part of the potassium soap into sodium soap. Yes, that will make it harder ... because the soap isn't entirely potassium soap any more. So you need to decide -- do you want an all-potassium soap or a mixed sodium-potassium soap? A mixed sodium-potassium soap may be harder than an all-potassium soap, but the amount of hardening depends on the amount of sodium soap in the mixture. You can let an all-potassium soap dry and it will get firmer, but it will never get as hard as a sodium soap.

 

[earlene]

Hi all,

A couple of weeks ago a friend (professional chemist) were discussing the possibility of bar soap using KOH and the additional possibility of a full cook to gel as you would for liquid soap but adding hardeners (sodium lactate or salt) to get something that might cure hard... even if it took a year.

Has anyone ever tried this approach and what happened.

TIA
Ingrid

Perhaps you'd enjoy this video:



I set it to start at the point where she talks about adding salt to soap to make it bar soap, but you can rewind to the beginning if interested. (Courtesy of artemis in this thread.)

 

[KristaY]

Thanks for that history lesson earlene! Not only was the process fascinating but it certainly gave me more appreciation for my HE washer and dryer!

 

[Richard Perrine]

Ingrid,

Take a look at this thread on hard soap with KOH:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/making-hard-soap-with-potassium-hydroxide-koh.71629/

Good luck.