Soap reacting with town water?

[Alek]

So I'm only really a beginner and have only been making small 1 pound batches as test batches for family and friends for about a year now and I have found that our town water, Roma, Queensland, Australia, seems to be either eating away at my soap or making it soft or something. Whatever it is doing my bars don't seem to last very long in the shower.
Our town water is bore water brought up from an artisan spring and has a PH of 9 and I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

If this is normal let me know or if anyone has any tip or tricks to get my bars to lasts a bit longer I would be very thankful.

 

[Bladesmith]

I would guess it would have more to do with your recipe and how long you let the bars cure for rather than the water itself. The longer it cures, the longer it will last.

You can change your recipe to use oils that make harder, less soluble soap. Also if you're adding sugar/alcohol/other soap solvents for lather you could reduce the amount of those that you are using. Adding some sort of salt as a hardener could also help with longevity a little.

 

[BattleGnome]

How you store your soap between uses also matters. If your bathroom is very damp the soap won’t dry out well and will just dissolve in a pool of itself.

many members use soap savers to keep their bars out of any puddles. different brands use different materials, my Soap savers are small rubber disks with spikes to keep the soap elevated

 

[Alek]

My recipe was
40% OO
30% CO
20% PO
5% Sweet almond
5% Castor oil

But the last batches I made I did with lard to see if that would help. I haven't started on added additives to much to my bars yet, I can't even get a hard bar down lol, but salt might be an option.

My cure time is 12 weeks. some times longer when I don't need to use them.

As for where it is kept in the bathroom, in our shower it sits on a wire rack that has complete air flow to it and it does dry out as I've seen melt and pour crack from being dry.

 

[BattleGnome]

Your recipe doesn’t look crazy and it sounds like you’ve got everything else working in the right direction.

The next questions are: how long does your soap last and how long do you want it to last? How many people use the bar? Do you lather with a washcloth, bath poof, or your hands?

for a comparison: my soap lasts 4 weeks, give or take. My husband washes his face with my soap but otherwise it’s used by one person. I lather with my hands. In past threads, 4 weeks seems like a fair expectation. If you have 6 people using bath poofs the expectation will probably be different

 

[KiwiMoose]

What's the stearic acid component in your soap? Maybe try something in there to increase the stearic a little? Also remember that hand made soap is not compressed like commercial soap - so it will always run out quicker. Maybe buy yourself a cheapie bar of soap of comparable size, and compare to your own soap? I used to find Dove didn't last very long.

 

[shunt2011]

Personally, I would up your palm oil to 40% and drop 10% from your CO and your Olive oil. I would eliminate the Almond oil, but then I don't use anything at less than 10% except Castor Oil.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Oh - and how much water do you have in your recipe itself? Maybe aim for less water?

 

[penelopejane]

I’d drop you coconut oil to 10% I find coconut oil just dissolves a soap away and it makes my skin dry. and I would increase you almond oil to 10% I love it. Add the rest to your OO or PA.
If your soap as mushy research on the forum about citric acid. It is a chealator and good for hard water.

and kiwimoose is right - what amount of water did you use?

 

[cmzaha]

I would follow Shunts advice. I would not drop the CO to 10% as you will probably be quite disappointed in the lather. What I would consider possibly changing is upping the Almond to at least 10% taking away the difference from the OO, but I am not a lover of OO in soap. I would at least give Shunts a try using a 30% Lye Concentration. Not knowing what calculator you use there should be an option for entering the Lye Concentration you prefer. Many use 33% but if you go with 40% I would go with 30%. I use 40% palm and it makes a very nice long-lasting soap. CO soap is very soluble which is why it lathers in saltwater, so your higher CO percentage is contributing to your soap not lasting as long.

 

[LadySarah370]

Hi ya I also use the same recipe as you do. I do a 2.5 lbs batch at a time. I also have hard water *sigh. My bars seem to last a long while. The lather is wonderful. I do notice that when it is super humid my soap does get a wee bit soft. Do you use a soap calculator to determine your water and acid calculation? If you do a water discount it should harden your bars up. If you got the recipe where I think you did, she also uses a water discount and I can remember at what percent.

 

[Nona'sFarm]

What lye concentration are you using?

I would go with:
20% Coconut
30% Palm
35% Olive
10% Almond
5% Castor

1 teaspoon of sodium lactate or plain fine grained salt ppo.

and a 30% - 33% lye concentration.

So now you have all manner of advice. Go forth and soap!

 

[Alek]

Thank you everyone for your wonderful advice.

To answer some questions
My lye concentration is normally 35%

My water is about 25% of my oil weight

I use soapcalc, I love it so much.



I will give your suggestions a try and see how things go.

My last batch I made was

75% Lard
20% CO
5% Castor (for lather)

and it seems to make a very nice bar, 1 of my testers loves it.

 

[Arimara]

What's the stearic acid component in your soap? Maybe try something in there to increase the stearic a little? Also remember that hand made soap is not compressed like commercial soap - so it will always run out quicker. Maybe buy yourself a cheapie bar of soap of comparable size, and compare to your own soap? I used to find Dove didn't last very long.

I found this to be the case too until I realised Lil Miss made soap water in the shower.