Liquid Castille

[MagiaDellaLuna]

Sunkawakan, thank you so much for all the advice.

I must admit that I am dying to try this. Certainly a lot easier than making regular liquid soap..............and I have been meaning to make a new batch of shampoo, so I think I will do that before going on to the special order for my customer.

If I were to make a Castille bar, how long would I have to let it cure to avoid any slimy effect in the diluted (with pectin) liquid soap ?

 

[Vintageliving]

MDL, I'll test the shampoo I made yesterday and post a report. I used soap which I made Oct. 1 and unmolded Oct. 5.

Might be tomorrow before I test and report.

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

MDL, I'll test the shampoo I made yesterday and post a report. I used soap which I made Oct. 1 and unmolded Oct. 5.

Might be tomorrow before I test and report.

Thanks, Vintageliving. That will be great. I have so little spare time for soaping that any time saving advice is greatly appreciated.

ETA...I managed to get some Pectin, so hopefully I can try this out tonight. I will be using remnants of a Milk/Silk/Honey bar (powdered milk). Very exciting

 

[Vintageliving]

I tried the shampoo. It cleans very nicely. It seemed a bit too "strong", so I am going to dilute mine as I like a thinner shampoo to get through my hair to the scalp. I will also test adding a bit of glycerin, as I like the feel of glycerine in shampoo. I also think that having jojoba oil in the shampoo would be nice.

It does thicken up several "shades" after cooling.

Will report back after I test my additives. That'll be a few days from now.

I also plan to try this method for dishwashing liquid, and laundry soap.

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

Hi Vintageliving

Thanks for the feedback. I am soooo inspired now that I will definitely make some tonight.
I always add a few drops of Jojoba and also EO to my shampoo.

Was there any slime from such a new OO soap ? Was there much soap scum/residue ? I cannot stand the smell of Cider vinegar in my hair which is very long (waist length) and thick. Within a few hours it smells like a brewery We have extremely hot days here !!

I wonder whether a weak Citric acid solution would work as a rinse.

 

[Vintageliving]

MDL, The soap feels a tad slimy to me, but it could be the bar soap of 89% olive/11% castor, and not the pectin. I'm hoping the glycerin will give it a slicker feel. Nothing felt like soap scum to me. When I rinsed my hair, before using the cider vinegar, my hair felt less soap-scummy than with liquid soap from the health food store.

There is citric acid, jojoba oil, Vit E, sea salt and hemp oil added to the saponified coconut and olive oil in the store-bought.

I rinse out the vinegar. I tried once, a couple of weeks ago, not rinsing it out. The vinegar smell didn't go away until I washed my hair again.

My hair is long, and porous, so whatever smells are around, go right into my hair.

I like experimenting with this. Hope yours go well!

Unless I do something unusual, I'll test the amended shampoo on Sunday and report in then.

My hair is still damp from washing it this morning, but it does have a good texture.

If you try the citric acid, will you post a report?

I'm still using some leave-on conditioner that I bought at a health food store. I'm hoping with the pectin recipe that I'll be able to duplicate it.

I wait until my hair has dried about halfway before putting the conditioner on it. I only use straight oil on my hair when it is dry. Otherwise, the oil weights my hair down.

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

Holy Moly.............I think I cooked this a while too long :shock: :shock:

After cooling there was some creamy "stuff" on top of the more clear soap. Probably the excess oils from the superfatted soap which I had grated. Possibly also some of the milk powder which was in the soap.

The whole lot was quite thick at that stage, so I used the beater to get it all evenly mixed again, not wanting to waste any of the "good stuff"

I now have a cream soap which shows no sign of separating. I will try it as a shampoo tomorrow and report back on that and also the Citric acid rinse which I plan to try instead of Cider vinegar.

..................but my mind is working overtime.

I think in it's present state this will also make a fabulous shaving cream, so I will hand some out to male relatives and ask them to evaluate it.

Another thing which I will try with it is.............
sugar/salt scrub !!

I love the way sugar scrub makes my skin feel, but hate the oiliness of most scrub recipes. I will add some lovely Avocado or Macadamia Nut oil and 50/50 sugar/salt. Once I have the measurements and the test results I will post them, but how fabulous to have a scrub and a soap all in one When the scrubbing is done, just add water, lather up and rinse off.

Many thanks to Sunkawakan for sharing this revolutionary ( pretty sure I have never heard of this method before ) idea.

Vintageliving, your enthusiasm has infected me. Thanks for all your input.

 

[Vintageliving]

MDL, your soap sounds wonderful. What was your bar soap made of? How long did you heat the liquid mixture?

I keep thinking of things to try with this method!

Thanks for your kind thoughts.

I'll post reports as soon as I do my next experimenting.

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

The bar soap was a Whipped Soap made with Palm, Coconut, Olive and Castor. Additives were full cream milk powder added last, honey dissolved in the water, silk dissolved in the lye.

I let it cook for 2 hours on a medium/low setting (so that it did not actually come to the boil) but it looked too thin even though there were floaty bits on top which I thought was just foam at that stage.

Cooked for another hour and then left it to cool down. Once it had completely cooled it was pretty thick but not solid. Almost like a thick apple sauce.

I hope I can repeat this result with another bunch of Peppermint EO scraps which I have. I want to use it for the sugar/salt scrub experiment. I think it would make a good scrub for gardener's hands.

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

There is no turning back now

I have been using commercial shampoo for a while because the old method for making liquid soap is so time consuming.

This is what I did with my new "cream" soap.......

I wet my hair, scooped out some of the "cream" soap and lathered it between my hands, then into my hair. Rinsed out and repeated. Rinsed with plain water. At this stage my hair was squeaky clean. Used a rinse of 1 TBS Citric acid crystals dissolved first in a little boiling water, then topped up to about 2 lt. (that's about 3.5 pints) with lukewarm water. Then a final rinse with plain water.

I decided not to use conditioner so that I could feel whether this would have a drying effect on my normally dry type hair.

Guess I won't be needing the conditioner anyway. My hair and scalp feel great and I have more volume to my hair, not that I need it I also noticed that there was less shedding. Normally I shed like a Wookie

I'm loving this.

 

[Vintageliving]

MDL, your bar soap sounds great.

I'm going to try a different bar recipe, and cook the liquid for three hours, and try the citric acid.

I agree, no turning back now!

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

I have tried 3 batches now, each with a different cooking time.

The second batch cooked for 2 hours. (remnants of Geranium/Palma Rosa whipped soap). This did not have any creamy bits floating on top, so I think my suspicion that the first batch had milk powder residue in it was correct. Possibly also protein from the Silk. The second batch cooled to an almost pasty consistency. I had poured it into squeeze bottles before it cooled completely. I can squeeze it out but still find it a little too thick.

The third batch cooked for 1 hour. (remnants of Litsea/Ginger/Patchouli whipped soap). So far, so good. It is pretty liquid and lathers very well. Still just under lukewarm so it may thicken a little more.

Now I am thinking............

Shower Gel..............

would Arrowroot or Xanthan Gum be the better choice to turn this into Gel ?

 

[Vintageliving]

MDL, cooking times, arrowroot, xantham gum, hmmmm, more happy experiments to come. Thanks for the suggestions.

I am thinking about cooking some Irish Moss and using it for thickener. I like all the possibilities with this.

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

.......from the diary of a compulsive experimentalist

The 3 hour batch from a few days ago is holding up nicely. The texture is still like a creamy mousse with no sign of separating.

The 2 hour batch (which was not beaten after the cook/melt) is a very thick paste which is difficult to squeeze out of the bottles.

The 1 hour batch has firmed up quite a bit, so I will not be needing the Xanthan Gum for this batch. It is now a thick liquid but squeezes out of the bottle easily. Good texture for a shampoo.

I am going to try a half hour batch which should be just enough time to get the soap shavings melted down. If that stays runny after cooling and sitting for a while I will try the Xanthan Gum to make a Gel.

 

[Vintageliving]

MDL, thanks for your report.

I took a bit of my batch made with the olive/castor bar and amended it with glycerin. I like the glycerine in it. My hair feels much less "attacked" than it does with the Dr. Bronner's mixture. (Why did I wait so long to start making my own soap???)

I was at a quilt meeting today and a woman who owns a quilt shop commented on how soft the skin was on my hands. I told her about soapmaking, and I think she's going to give it a try!

I don't have unusually nice skin on my hands, but I don't have the rough patches and difficulties that many do who work with fabrics. Those chemical finishes are so rough.

Soaps I'm planning to make in order to use this pectin method:

olive/jojoba bar for shampoo
lard bar for dishwashing soap

MDL, I'm looking forward to your next report!

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

Vintageliving, looks like only the 2 of us are into this experiment now

I like the idea of OO and Castor for my actual shampoo, but I will add some Jojoba after the pectin cook. I don't want to lose any of the beneficial wax during saponification. I used to add about 10 drops to a 200 ml bottle of the old style liquid soap and found that was enough.

The other thing about the pectin method that has surprised me is that the EO's which were in my shreds have actually retained their aroma in the pectin soap. I expected them to totally evaporate, but the aroma is still there even though it is not so strong.

Are you going to superfat the lard soap for the dishwash ? Let me know how that turns out. I have only ever used vegetable oils, but might be tempted to try Lard if it works well.

ETA My late Gran used to soap with Lard for laundry soap, but I switched to vegetable shortening.

 

[Vintageliving]

MDL,

I have some lard soap which I did not superfat. I will make a tiny batch of pectin soap with it, as a test batch for dishwashing liquid. It crumbled a bit taking it out of the mold, but the chunks (can't exactly call them bars) are hardening nicely. (I may try melting some of the lard soap in water, mixed with borax, for laundry soap. I don't care if it is thick or thin.)

I will make a test with my olive/castor/glycerin and add some jojoba to it. I've been putting jojoba oil directly on my hair. I alternate that with lanolin, and castor. A different one each night. I hate to put jojoba in shampoo if it doesn't make a definite improvement, as it is expensive.

I would like to try the lard for dishes and laundry as it costs less than the other fats and oils I've been considering.

I want to do some reading about hydrogenation, as the pre-rendered lard I've found is a mixture of lard and partially hydogenated lard. I don't want to be using something that has the molecular structure of plastic in my soaps.

I'll post my next round, and am looking forward to your next reports.

 

[Vintageliving]

Test batch using 100% lard soap, no SF, is thickening nicely.

Will add baking soda, and a couple of drops of tea tree oil.

This will be dishwashing soap.

Edited to add: the baking soda added the to freshly made liquid soap starts turning it back into solid soap. I had quite a chuckle. That got me squishing the "coagulating" soap through a sieve and adding great quantities of water. It washed dishes just fine, but wasn't the soap I intended to make.

Looks like the best method it to use the liquid soap and add the baking soda, as needed, during each round of dish washing.

The tea tree oil is nice and takes the edge off the smell of lard.

 

[ctmax]

I did this using some of my ugly soaps and I have to say this is what I will be doing with all of my soap that I don't like. It worked perfect. I did get a little impatient though, it didn't seem like it was thickening so I added another 1/2 t of pectin and when it cooled down I had some really thick soap. I added more water to thin it out and so far it hasn't seperated. Thank you for this wonderful idea.

 

[andreja]

Wow, how come I haven't seen this before? Can't wait to try it out! Just like cooking jam.