Making liquid soap

I've been making cold pressed soap for a few years now and I had always wanted to add liquid soap to my shelves too. The first hurdle I had to cross was to find potassium hydroxide. That is the type of lye used when making liquid soap, whereas sodium hydroxide is used in hard soap and is easily found at the supermarket.

I think it's illegal in Australia to send potassium hydroxide through the post so you'll probably need a supplier close by where you can go and pick up what you need. Don't use the lye you buy at the supermarket, it won't make liquid soap.

I finally found a supplier close to me and a couple of months ago I picked up my supplies. The only thing standing between me and all those bottles of handwash, shampoo and dishwahing liquid was my own trepidation. I read the instructions and stopped, too afraid to go further.

Notice the potassium hydroxide crystals are much bigger that ordinary lye crystals.

I read about the lye groaning! And it being much hotter than the other lye, and to use a double boiler. I didn't do anything for a while, then realised what an idiot I was being, and made myself start up again. Well, the lye did groan but I didn't use a double boiler, I used a crockpot, and I didn't noticed that the lye was hotter than before. Imagine that - it all went according to plan and apart from being much more of a drawn out process than the cold pressed soap, it went well.

There is an excellent tutorial here, with photos, so I won't repeat what is already done. My advice would be to read the entire process before you start. I didn't and didn't know that it would take as long as it did. Luckily for me there is a natural break in the process, so I stopped there because I had to go out to a meeting that afternoon. I put the soap paste in the fridge and resumed the next morning.

Early on, the liquid was crystal clear, it was darker after the second cooking.

Although I'm happy with my first attempt, my soap isn't crystal clear and it's too dark. That doesn't affect the performance but if I were to give this soap as a gift, which I hope to do with future batches, I would want it a light golden colour and clear. I think I overcooked my soap in stage two because it was much lighter in colour before that second cooking. However, I have tested it over these past few days and I'm very happy with it. I've washed my hair with it, used it as a hand wash, and washed up with it.

Trace - similar to cold pressed soap but the thicker.

It turns the water white, just like bar soap does, but it retains a lather for a few minutes. The best thing though is that it cleans the dishes and pots really well. It cuts through grease. I think it's better than bar soap for washing up, but not much better. If you're thinking that this is going to be the same as detergent, it isn't. But it does the job it's intended for and it isn't made with petrochemicals, like every detergent is.

The soap cooking in the crockpot.

It's great as a shampoo and hand wash. It retains the natural glycerin, so it's not drying on the skin. My next test will be to wash some pure wool with it. I'm going to add some eucalyptus oil to the soap and use it as a wool wash.

My ingredients: I used rainwater instead of distilled.

As you can see, there are several uses for this soap. It does take a long time to make but you only spend a fraction of that time actually doing anything, there is a lot of waiting. I chose olive oil, rice bran oil and coconut oil but I won't give you the recipe I used because I have to fine tune it, when that is done, I'll post it. It made up about four litres (quarts). This is a useful skill to have under your belt, but you should make cold pressed soap before you make this. I'm not sure if I'll continue using it to wash dishes but I really like that it is also shampoo, hand wash and wool wash - all cleaning liquids that are quite expensive. I can already see a lovely cleaning basket gift that this features in.

Are you making liquid soap? I'd love to know how yours turns out. And if you have a fail-safe recipe, please share it.

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