Soap Making

[Sheryl]

<em><span style="line-height: 20px;">QUOTE (from another thread):<br>"</span><span style="line-height: 20px;">Sheryl,</span></em><br style="line-height: 20px;"><br style="line-height: 20px;"><em><span style="line-height: 20px;">This is such good information. Thank you so much.</span></em><br style="line-height: 20px;"><em><span style="line-height: 20px;">I have to say the soap making ebook is fantastic.</span></em><br style="line-height: 20px;"><br style="line-height: 20px;"><em><span style="line-height: 20px;">I am curious. I like the soft soap that comes as body wash in plastic bottles that you just sqeeze out to use.</span></em><br style="line-height: 20px;"><br style="line-height: 20px;"><em><span style="line-height: 20px;">Is there a way to turn the soap you show us how to make into a soft flowing body-wash type?</span></em><br style="line-height: 20px;"><br style="line-height: 20px;"><em><span style="line-height: 20px;">thanks again</span></em><span style="line-height: 20px;"><em>"</em><br><br><br>I'm so glad you liked the soap book, Ontheroadagain!<br></span><span style="line-height: 20px;">In answer to your question about soft soap. Most soft liquid soap is made with <strong>potassium</strong> hydroxide lye. It's what our great grandmothers use to make themselves to make their soft tubs of soap. It is what you get when you leach hardwood ashes...</span><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br></span><span style="line-height: 20px;">The lye crystals/flakes that you buy for soap making are <strong>sodium</strong> hydroxide lye and won't make good soft soap. Myself and several of my friends who make soap have tried many different things to make handsoap from it, without good success. I have melted it down and added 4x the water then blended it together and it still got too thick after a few days to even pour out of the jar. You could keep experimenting with larger and larger amounts of water added when making the soap, perhaps, but I don't believe you will get a soap that will stay liquid. You can, of course, buy potassium hydroxide. It is available online for sale, or you could always make it yourself. I have directions but have never done it. There are a lot of online sites that will tell you how.</span>

 

[yesican]

Sheryl...you are just a plether of information.&nbsp; I made liquid soap for my front load washing machine (when I wasn't living in my cabin).&nbsp; I always had to stir it a bit before washing.&nbsp; Could this be similar to liquid&nbsp;hand soap?<br><br>Rae

 

[Where~the~wind~blows]

Sheryl, there is a video online making soap with lard, I have it mark in my favs,<br><br> I have made soap with zote, borax and Washing soda, great for laundry...and cheap....<br><br>but would love to be able to made hand and body soaps

 

[Sheryl]

Thank you, Yesican. (I like your username!) &nbsp;I do try to be helpful <br><br>I have made laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent too, with the soda and borax. They are great money savers! - but this is not soap and I wouldn't use them on my hands or body. Soap is an entirely different thing. &nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>I have made soap with lard too. Lard alone, without any other oils&nbsp;makes great hard soap that doesn't melt as quickly in water as most homemade soaps. I find lard a tad expensive, however, when bought from the store bit it is a good way to start. I have saved all beef and pork fat and rendered it for soap making myself. The values are close for lard and tallow, so I toss both into a freezer bag together, until I have enough to render. Pure tallow (beef fat) makes the hardest soap (last longer) but lard is a close second. <br><br>I have saved all meat fats together before too, like bacon etc, rendered it several times, cleaned it as much as possible, but the soap still had a slight bacon smell. I now only save fat trimmed before cooking/seasoning and not from any preserved/smoked/seasoned meats. <em>(Of course, you have to render it before making soap with it.</em>) &nbsp;It's still amazing how quickly we can save enough to make a large batch of soap that will last for months, especially if friends save it for you too, in exchange for a few bars of soap. &nbsp;<br><br>I do sometimes use oils with the lard/tallow. It does make soap that melts faster in water but I want the properties of the oils and the herbs that I infuse them with. I have infused the hard fats too, when I can remember to do so ahead of time.&nbsp;<br><br>I have begun to experiment with finely ground herbs and flowers or teas to make my own organic soap colour. Has anyone else done this? I would love to hear the results.&nbsp;<br><br><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://providence-acres.blogspot.ca/p/free-books-for-download.html" rel="nofollow">Free ebook "Soap making"</a></em></strong></span><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>