What happen when adding milk and glycerin into lye water?

[valen2]

I've never tried it before. I intend to add lye into water first. Then let it cool down around 30 Celcius degree. Next, I add lye water into freezing milk cubes, prevent the common raise of heat by putting that cup into another big bowl full of cold water. Then I suppose to add glycerin into that liquid.

Is there anyone who has tried it before?

 

[shunt2011]

Personally, I always mix my lye with water then add my milks to my oils and stick blend well before adding my cooled lye mixture. What I don't understand is why are you adding glycerine to the soap? Glycerine is a natural by-product when making CP/HP soap so you shouldn't need to add more.

 

[valen2]

Thanks for sharing your experiment. I try to add extra glycerin because i made soap buy 50% coconut oil to perform rich bubbly lather. Common problem is high percentage coconut oil cause skin drying. So I decide to use extra glycerin to focus it.

 

[Obsidian]

Easier and better way to counter act high coconut is too increase your superfat, I would go with 10% SF for that much coconut. I agree with shunt on the milk/glycerin, add it to your oils, there is no need for either to be mixed directly with lye.

 

[Susie]

Glycerin will not fix "drying" of coconut. Only oils will. Either decrease the coconut oil, or increase the superfat.

 

[valen2]

#Susie I found a small company in my city which makes soap only by coconut oil and palm oil, but their soaps are very good at moisturize skin, extremely beer soap. Sub ingredients are only glycerin and another powder or liquid like milk, mint leaf powder, etc. So I think glycerin can focus problems from coconut oil

 

[shunt2011]

Soap cannot be moisturizing. It's a wash off product. If it's got high coconut and not enough of a super fat most people will find it very drying. Coconut is a high cleansing oil. I make a very high CO soap but I also SF it at 20%. Glycerin won't make it more gentle. However if you add too much it could give you a sticky bar. Glycerin is a humectant and may draw too much moisture into the soap.

 

[TeresaT]

#Susie I found a small company in my city which makes soap only by coconut oil and palm oil, but their soaps are very good at moisturize skin, extremely beer soap. Sub ingredients are only glycerin and another powder or liquid like milk, mint leaf powder, etc.So I think glycerin can focus problems from coconut oil

The reason you see glycerin on the ingredients list is because glycerin is a byproduct of saponification (as has been pointed out already).

Lye+oils=soap+glycerin

Commercial manufacturers take most of the glycerin out of the soap and sell it for other uses (such as lubricants) and put other "stuff" in their products to replace it.

 

[IrishLass]

Valen, are the soaps in question being hand-made in the same way that we on the forum normally make our soaps, or are they producing their soap from pre-made, extruded soap flakes/noodles that have had their naturally derived glycerin removed so as not to gum up the extrusion machinery? If the latter, it's possible that the reason why glycerin is mentioned on their label is because they add some back in when shaping/pressing the flakes/noodles into bars.

If the above is not the case, though, and they are making soap in the same manner that we here on the forum do, it still doesn't necessarily or automatically mean that they have added any extra to their soap beyond the amount that is naturally produced as a by-product of saponification. Some people just choose to include it as part of their ingredients list for no other reason than to add label-appeal for increased sales, even if it was only naturally-derived as a by product from saponification. Unless you have actually talked to someone from the company in order to confirm or deny the reason for it being on their label, though, I wouldn't assume anything.

If they make their soap in the same manner as we do, I daresay it's more likely (at least to me) that they are probably just super-fatting their soap fairly high. For example, I make super-bubbly 100% coconut soap with a 20% superfat and it's not drying to me at all.

Also- you mentioned some kind of milk being listed on the label as well, which also helps to increase the overall super-fat. Depending upon how much fat is present in the milk, and how much is added, it's not out of the realm of possibility to actually boost a normal super-fat up by 10% or so.

Although glycerin does feel nice on the skin, adding extra to bar soap can make it somewhat soft and sticky, depending on how much extra is added.
For what it's worth, I make a shave croap with 20% ppo added glycerin, which is perfect for that kind of soap. It's somewhere in-between hard soap and a soft cream-like soap. I personally would never use that much in my regular bar soap, though.

Do you find the soap from that company to feel soft or sticky?


IrishLass

 

[valen2]

#IrishLass They make their own hand-made soap and do not mention about superfat. Thanks for your reply. I think I will try 50% coconut oil soap with 10% superfat + little glycerin and check it out