I belong to so many different Soap Groups on Facebook. It is great to talk to others through out the world who share the same passion with me. We are always getting ideas from each other and learning new tricks of the trade. A couple of days ago I joined a Liquid Soap group. You see I have had the ingredients at home for over a year in the back of the cupboard in my soap making room still in the original postage box from one of my suppliers on the Sunshine Coast. Late yesterday it was finally out of the box and ready for usage.
Anyway at my home I own two slowcookers. One for food which I rarely use and one for soap making which is over used. Yesterday it came out for usage.
First of all I had to mix the Potassium Hydroxide with the water. Yes I know its a chemical but guess what if you don't use it you can't make soap. Even in bar soap you need Sodium Hydroxide. If you don't use it all you have is a bucket of fat. All soap has to be made with it.
Any soap maker or retailer that you buy your soap from says they don't use it is a liar. But just remember when you buy your soap there is no trace of it in your soap.
I don't have a photo of me mixing the Pot Hydroxide to the water but it really made a crackling noise. After this process I left the bucket in a safe place and then turned on the crockpot on high and started melting down the oils.
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| Oils melting in the crockpot. After the oils were melted down I pulled the ceramic bowl from the crockpot, turning it off and then pour the Potassium Hydroxide into the oils. To this I decided to pull out the trusty stick blender and started blending. Now normally when you make CP soap it will go to trace (thick custard consistency) quite quickly but with liquid soap it takes quite awhile. So I blended for about 3-4 minutes then walk away for about 5 minutes then did it again. |
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| Stirring with the stick blender. Now this blending and walking away I did for quiet some time. About 30 minutes until I felt it was thick enough. |
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| Custard like consistency. Now I had it thick enough it was time for it to do its thing. I placed the bowl back into the cooker. Put the cooker on high with the lid on and walked away. I had already read up on the different phrases it goes through. Every 10-15 minutes I would come back, lift the lid and stir. |
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| Foaming up. Scrap down the sides of the bowl so it doesn't burn. After awhile it starts to look like meringue. Its all foamy and full of air. |
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| Really foamy like meringue . Now after about 1-2 hours it is starting to turn into a paste consistency. You must be careful it doesn't burn so keep scrapping down the sides and stirring. |
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| Drying out and starting to come to a paste. At this stage it did have a few burnt bits. Even after years of soap making this is my first attempt at liquid soap so I accepted that it wouldn't be perfect. All I did was remove the burnt bits. |
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| Nearly at a taffy paste consistency. Now the fun bit begins. After it is taffy looking and hard to stir its time to water it down. I added in half the water. I boiled the water first. It is impossible to break down the taffy paste so I just made sure it was all covered with the water and then I walked away and came back every so often to check on it. This was about an hour. |
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| Adding the water. I then added the other half of the water then walked away. Now it was coming on close to10pm at night and I was quite tired. It was a busy day with a grandsons birthday party and all so I turned the crockpot off and went to bed hoping it would do its thing over night. |
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| Liquid Soap This is what it looked like this morning. I neutralized it with the citric acid solution in the recipe. I was concerned with the colour but it is fine. I suppose we all look at those beautiful clear or colourful liquid soaps that are mass produced and available in our supermarkets. But after some research this morning I would rather use Liquid Soap made by a Artisan Soap maker then a supermarket one. My ingredients are: Coconut oil Castor Oil Olive Oil, Water, Potassium Hydroxide citric acid Essential Oils (Australian Tea Tree and Pine) 7 ingredients is all it is. I researched before the ingredients of one well known brand we have available in our supermarket and here is their list of ingredients. My liquid soap may not look as pretty as theirs but I would rather use mine then theirs. I hope you have enjoyed this blog on my first attempt of Liquid Soapmaking. Now the pot is cleaned and put away. Today being Sunday I am bringing out my food slow cooker to cook a piece of corned silverside in ginger beer. Now that's another recipe. Have a great Sunday everyone.
Sue xx
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So glad you tried liquid soaping! You will end up with a nice clear soap as you go - sometimes the cooler weather can make it cloudy and some EO's also can cloud it.
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