So, we all know that lye is caustic stuff and has an incredibly high pH. I am just curious about whether or not such a high pH affects certain additives. I see alot of "miracle" soaps on the cold process market. For example, tomato complexion soap, carrot soap, tea tree soap. Does the lycopene from tomatoes manage to stay active in CP soap, or the beta-carotene and other carotenoids in carrots, or the active ingredients of tea tree oil? I am sceptical of a lot of claims I have been seeing on some soap labels on-line. Another one I have a problem with is activated charcoal pulling toxins out of the skin. Activated charcoal adsorbs things because of its large surface area, but wouldn't this surface area be full of sodium salts of oils when its added to soap?
Sodium Hydroxide's effects on soap additives
- Thread starter tlm884
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
First question: can soap ingredients have any effects at all due to soap being a wash off product?
Based on many reports of people actually trying a soap and finding that it is good for the skin or instead irritating, based on the fact that there are medical soaps out there, I personally believe that soap ingredients have a chance of doing something
On the downside, it seems that only a small number of substances are able to penetrate the uppermost skin layer.
For flavonoids, I go by colour: if the colour is stable, likely the chemical structure remains the same.
Carotenoids, I believe they are stable - I vaguely remember reading somewhere that sodium hydroxide is used for their extraction.
Anthocyanins do change colour, but unless I am wrong, the colour reverts when pH is lowered. Which means that they are not damaged, but the question remains wether they are active in their icky brownish state.
There was a site out there talking about which EOs are lye reactive, and I believe that tea tree is not. Again, the Duck law: if it smells like eucalyptus, it probably is eucalyptus.
Proteins, I just read somewhere that they are split to amino-acids, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The activated charcoal still has a large surface* area inside the lather. But I am not convinced that it can extract toxins from inside the skin. I would guess that it physically neutralizes the chlorine in the water - can't say if to a relevant degree. It is also mildly scrubby...
*Not sure if that applies to your monkey thingys, since from the picture, the coal seems to form pin-sized little clumps. But maybe it's more scrubby that way
Based on many reports of people actually trying a soap and finding that it is good for the skin or instead irritating, based on the fact that there are medical soaps out there, I personally believe that soap ingredients have a chance of doing something
On the downside, it seems that only a small number of substances are able to penetrate the uppermost skin layer.For flavonoids, I go by colour: if the colour is stable, likely the chemical structure remains the same.
Carotenoids, I believe they are stable - I vaguely remember reading somewhere that sodium hydroxide is used for their extraction.
Anthocyanins do change colour, but unless I am wrong, the colour reverts when pH is lowered. Which means that they are not damaged, but the question remains wether they are active in their icky brownish state.
There was a site out there talking about which EOs are lye reactive, and I believe that tea tree is not. Again, the Duck law: if it smells like eucalyptus, it probably is eucalyptus.
Proteins, I just read somewhere that they are split to amino-acids, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The activated charcoal still has a large surface* area inside the lather. But I am not convinced that it can extract toxins from inside the skin. I would guess that it physically neutralizes the chlorine in the water - can't say if to a relevant degree. It is also mildly scrubby...
*Not sure if that applies to your monkey thingys, since from the picture, the coal seems to form pin-sized little clumps. But maybe it's more scrubby that way
I do think your right about carotenoids. I did read somewhere that they are unaffected by a 10% NaOH solution after 10 minutes of exposure.
Lye will most definitely denature proteins into their constituent amino acids and the amino acids will gain/lose protons depending on the pH of it environment. However, amino acids are pretty big things so I am not sure if they will even penetrate into the skin especially when they aren't left in contact with the skin very long.
The charcoal in my layered soap will most likely have no effects on the skin. I didn't use very much and I didn't stick blend it for very long. The only effect it may have is as an exfoliant. The pieces of charcoal I added were a little on the larger side.
I'd like to add things like eggs and silks and juices to my soap and think that they bring just a little more than label appeal, even if it is a small benefit. However, finding research on the subject is hard
Lye will most definitely denature proteins into their constituent amino acids and the amino acids will gain/lose protons depending on the pH of it environment. However, amino acids are pretty big things so I am not sure if they will even penetrate into the skin especially when they aren't left in contact with the skin very long.
The charcoal in my layered soap will most likely have no effects on the skin. I didn't use very much and I didn't stick blend it for very long. The only effect it may have is as an exfoliant. The pieces of charcoal I added were a little on the larger side.
I'd like to add things like eggs and silks and juices to my soap and think that they bring just a little more than label appeal, even if it is a small benefit. However, finding research on the subject is hard
Would it be possible to do this at home, for the purpose of extracting a cheap orange colorant ? I have "cooked" some lye with vegetable puree in a jar, but I am not sure how it will behave in soap.
I was intrigued when I first heard about this, because it seems they are extracted in a water solution. And I thought that carotenoids are oil soluble and not water soluble.
To purify carotenoids it looks like this general prodedure is followed:
Carotenoids are extracted from sample using an organic solvent (hexane/acetone)
The mixture of dry material and solvent is vaccuum extracted, then the carotenoids in the filtrate are treated with methanolic KOH to saponify the cartoenoid.
During saponification, the ester bond is hydrolysed and the free pigment is released. Then column chromatography is used to separate the carotenoids based on polarity.
Carotenoids are extracted from sample using an organic solvent (hexane/acetone)
The mixture of dry material and solvent is vaccuum extracted, then the carotenoids in the filtrate are treated with methanolic KOH to saponify the cartoenoid.
During saponification, the ester bond is hydrolysed and the free pigment is released. Then column chromatography is used to separate the carotenoids based on polarity.
Similar threads
