Superfat vs grease cleaning

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nsmar4211

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Had a request from a friend to make something that will remove grease and oil off hands without leaving "stuff" in the sink. Told them I'm pretty sure detergent is the best way to go, but I'd play with some ideas.

If I want a soap that will cut grease, I would need to make it with say .5% superfat right? .5 for a safety margin, 0% is too close to being lye heavy....at least I think so. So, it would be very "cleaning" since there's not much extra oils.... then they'd probably want to use lotion or something (or maybe another soap with 5%+ superfat).... is my thinking along the right lines?

Also eying orange oil and wondering if it has grease cutting powers, seeing as how half the cleaners out there brag about having the cleaning power of orange....

Thoughts? I briefly considered a kerosene soap (hahahahahah) :).
 
What did they mean by stuff? To me that means things like coffee grounds or pumice. You can make a good grease cutting soap and still have a good enough SF that it won't make their hands into jerky.

I really like a 100% coconut oil soap with a 20% SF and some pumice. The pumice is super fine, it won't bother the drains but is enough to really help cut the grease. Since 100% coconut soap is very soluble, I like to toss a little salt in to help it last longer.
 
If I want a super cleansing grease cutting bar, I use 50% coconut, palm for longevity, castor, any soft oil and 2% superfat, fine pumice and orange essential. I make this for an artist and he loves it. Not saying it cannot dry, but that is what lotion is made for, and it gets the job done. Yes, soap can be made with 0% superfat without being lye heavy. You would be amazed what a good cure will do for soap
 
Try this
Olive Oil 40%
Coconut oil 25%
Lard 35%
SF 5%

add 2% dried, sifted Spent coffee Grounds
add 2% Citric acid to reduce the "soap scum".
Add .6246 gram additional lye for every gram of citric acid.
Good Luck,
Roy

Had a request from a friend to make something that will remove grease and oil off hands without leaving "stuff" in the sink........
 
"Stuff" I got narrowed down to the particles of pumice that come out of another soap-had to get ahold of them to clarify ! They also mentioned worrying about the septic system...although coffee grounds might be a great idea since those won't hurt anything!

Obsidian, I hadn't noticed my 100% CO bars being any better at cleaning...but I had noticed them melting. Must add salt to the next batch!

cmzaha- do you think the orange helps any with cleaning?

NevadaRoy-can that be made without the citric acid? I don't have any :(. Thank you for the specifics!!

This forum rocks :). *backs away from the turpentine soaps*
 
nsmar4211 you can get CA at the grocery store, Ace hardware and walmart. They should all have it right next to the canning stuff. That is where I bought my CA. Since you use very little of it, it lasts a long time. I have hard water and put it in every batch of soap I make (along with the extra NaOH). For a 2# batch, I add 18 gm CA and 11 gm NaOH to counter balance it. That's using it at a 2% rate.
 
Maybe I'm totally off here, so correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't oil dissolve oil? If so, would the superfat itself help cut through grease without needing anything too hardcore cleansing?
 
From the knowledge I have gained from various readings, I think that hands can generally cope up with relatively high amount of CO in a recipe (up to 30%) , and in case of they can't you can try PKO instead of CO that it is known for lesser skin irritation.

I would superfat from 1-2% so as to lesser the oily stuff in the sink.

Nikos
 
Thoughts? I briefly considered a kerosene soap (hahahahahah) :).

.......*backs away from the turpentine soaps*

Funny you should mention that. I'm actually going to be making such a soap hopefully this week or next week. But instead of turpentine or kerosene, I'll be using Turpenoid from the hobby/craft store, which is an odorless turpentine substitute made of a mixture of petroleum distillates. It's what many soapers use to make their own stain-sticks, and that's basically what I'll be doing- making stain sticks to remove grease stains from clothes. I suppose such a soap could also be used as a grease-cutting hand cleaner like GoJo, since the first ingredient in GoJo (at least the original formula) lists petroleum distillates as it's first ingredient, but I think I'd rather use 10x orange oil instead of Turpenoid if I were going to wash my hands with it.

Carolyn's recipe sounds awesome.


IrishLass :)
 

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