PerthMobility
Well-Known Member
G'day all, what hardness range should I be aiming at with my CP soap for a good toilet soap for bathroom use? Thanks
Aaahhh, ok. Thanks for the definition! So if it's soap that's used as a personal tioletry, then hardness is what YOU want it to be. People with sensitive skin keep the CO lower which lowers hardness. People that like lots of lather may increase the CO which will increase hardness. My usual recipes have a hardness between 38-42 but Soap Calc hardness doesn't tell the whole story. I add SL and others add salt which increases hardness. Just look at the specs for Castile. Based only on Soap Calc it shouldn't be anything but a blob of mush. Give it 6-12 months and it's another story."Toilet Soap" in Aus normally describes soap that is used as part of "personal toiletries" as distinct from washing dishes, clothes, floors etc. Generally "toilet soap" in found in super markets in an area where a range of bathroom products are on display. Sorry about the confusion.
I understand that. It's the same in the states too. It even varies within each city depending on where they get their water. In the city I live there are 2 main water sources that supply different parts of town, each with different qualities. But there are also a lot of people that have their own well. Then you have those that have water softeners. Since we can't really do anything about the water supplied to us (except getting a softener or RO system) it's best to start with the most pure when making the soap. Hopefully you have distilled water available to you? This will at least ensure you aren't introducing any minerals from ground water that may lead to issues like DOS.Thank you. The problem we have down here is the huge range of domestic water qualities that we have to deal with from "hard" (high pH) to "soft" (low pH). So called "soft water" obviously reduces the time it takes to dissolve a cake/bar of soap. Soap sellers just love "soft water" supplies.
If I'm reading this correctly does this mean I can use either demineralised OR distilled water in my soap recipes? Our local supermarket only stocks demineralised.Very good points. Krista. About 75% of our water supply here is RO caused by a rapidly increasing population and a dramatic drop in rainfall over the last 50 years. Having said that the RO is rated potable, of course, but that does not mean it is anywhere near good enough for CP.
I harvest my water from an air conditioner with dehumidifying. This gives a near zero reading on a sensitive hydroponic type Electrical Conductivity meter. This means that the mineral content of the water is for the purpose of soap making at zero and can be treated as distilled.
It is always possible to purchase bottled "demineralised" water from a super market of course.
Same. I fetched my current olive oil blend out of the shower to try and squish it - it's not possible to dint it with my fingers, so I gave it a bit of a tap with the large ball-peen knockometer. That put a dint in in (to about a cm deep), but the soap smooshed out of the way (funny stuff, soap). It didn't crack. Now it's really hard, with a big round dint in it. Olive oil soaps are one of the oddball soaps - their numbers make no sense if you look in lye calculator numbers.Hardness in the soap calculator doesn't really mean much to me. The hardest bars I have are my pure OO castiles, and those are "17 hardness". I swear the bar I use for my face every night has lasted almost 6 months so far.