Laundry Soap

[sephera]

Hi

I have been trying to make liquid soap detergent from hard soap flakes. The problem is the blended liquid soap will not readily dissolve in cold hard water.

Also soap flakes won't dissolve in cold water directly.

 

[Susie]

I had never heard of soap flakes, so I had to Google them. Is this what you are talking about?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SV0A3E/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

If so, the ingredient list reads like this:

Ingredients
Sodium palmate, sodium palm kernalate or sodium cocoate, water, EDTA sodium salt less than 0.5%.

The "sodium" part of the palmeate and the palm kernalate means that it is made with NaOH. That means you are not ever going to get a good liquid from that. It will set up and become snotty.

If you want good liquid soap, you can make some easily with KOH using recipes in the Liquid and Cream Soap forum. It does not take long, and it will never become snotty.

 

[DeeAnna]

If the soap doesn't dissolve in cold water and you're determined to use this type of product, you should switch to dissolving the soap in warm/hot water before use. There's no magic additive or techniquie I know of to get this type of "liquid soap" or soap flakes to instantly dissolve, especially in cold water.

If you don't want that hassle, then I'd follow Susie's advice to make a true liquid soap. Another alternative is to make a dry laundry soap mix that is a fine powder, not flakes.

 

[Arimara]

These ladies said it all. Just be sure to use coconut oil and/or lard with a 0 or a -1 superfat to be safe. You do NOT want any bit of oils in that soap, especially if you use a dryer.

 

[earlene]

Is the issue the hardness of your water? If that is the case, you need to add a water softening agent to the liquid soap mixture that you are making. Or you can add it separately, but I'd just add it to the product you are making.