Home made soap!

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Home made soap!
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dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46207
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 20 9:22 pm Post subject:
Na OH does require care (and shopping unless you have some in the larder) but i can vouch for the soap. once aged it is ace. by care i mean look up the h and s data for it. it ain't cat4 nasty but a grain in the eye, or aerosol mixing spray in the lung will ruin your life more than a few holes in your skin. safe enough if you learn to be safe with it.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 20 7:40 am Post subject:

Agree on that. Like most chemicals that aren't, as Dpack says Cat4 nasty, treat with respect and read up the health and safety precautions before handling.

Strangely, I have never made soap properly, just played around with it by very basic means once. I know in theory how to make it from scratch starting from wood ash, but have never actually done it. If using potassium (from wood ash) you have to use salt to make it solid.

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 20 9:43 am Post subject:
If there are nasty chemicals in soap that can do you harm if misused, what is it in soap that neutralises them?

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 20 10:05 am Post subject:
The reaction thing... the caustic and the lard react and make the soapy goodness. But if you use it too early it stings. I have some in the airing cupboard that's been curing since autumn.

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 20 12:57 pm Post subject:
Thanks Chez. So once made, do you have to leave it to cure for a certain amount of time? Is it like a chutney that get's better with age?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46207
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 20 1:24 pm Post subject:
yep the reaction continues after it sets so maturing it makes it more soapy and less caustic, at some point all the naoh is reacted with the oil/fat and the ph of the soap is almost 7. not quite like chutney, a bit more like concrete in many ways in that it goes solid quickly but takes a while to reach full strength, or in the case of soap a neutral ish ph, as the reactions continue.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 20 2:15 pm Post subject:

sgt.colon wrote:

Thanks Chez.

So once made, do you have to leave it to cure for a certain amount of time? Is it like a chutney that get's better with age?

Sally says that hot-processing means you can use it straight away, but I don't know what that means. But for cold processing, dpack is correct!