Liquid Soap from Scraps:
In order to make the liquid dish detergent, you'll need soap slivers as well as water, pectin powder, Borax powder and coconut oil. The pectin powder will help to keep the liquid dish detergent from separating and thicken it. The Borax will help to slow down bacterial grow and the coconut oil will help to add suds.
The amounts of each ingredient will vary based on your personal preferences and the quantity of soap needed. You'll also need glass canning jars or some kind of sealable container to store the finished product in.
Once you've managed to create 12 ounces of grated soap, you can add the other ingredients. Use ½ tablespoon of Borax powder, 1 teaspoon of pectin powder and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil. Next, place those ingredients into a saucepan and add 8 ounces of water to start. Continue by slowly heating the mixture over low heat. You'll need to stir the mixture as it melts. Just don't stir it too vigorously. Otherwise, it will start to lather.
After the chunks of soap have melted, you'll need to check the consistency by setting up an ice bath. To set up an ice bath, fill one large bowl with ice cubes. Then place a small, heat resistant bowl on top of the ice. Keep going by removing a teaspoon of the hot detergent mix and pouring it into the small bowl. Wait until the liquid in the bowl cools and then check its consistency.
If the liquid is too thick for your liking, consider adding more water to the saucepan. If it is too thin, consider adding more pectin. You can also use the ice bath sample to check the suds level of the detergent and adjust the amount of coconut oil as desired.
Once you are happy with the soap's consistency and lathering capabilities, remove it from the stove and let it cool. Afterward, pour it into your canning jars or soap bottles and use it as desired.
On average, the soap should remain viable for about a month. However, you will need to shake it periodically to help keep the ingredients from separating or hardening.
12 oz bar soap, 1/2 Tbs Borax, 1 tsp pectin. Add 8 oz of water to start.
Another recipe I've found online :
5 oz grated bar soap, 1/2 tsp pectin, 30 oz water. This thickens as cools.
Seems like an awfully lot of variance!
Liquid Soap from Scratch:
Making liquid soap: Here is a very simple recipe:
I want to try this one first. It looks maybe too easy? But worth a shot!
Other sites with liquid soap instructions from scratch:
KOH is normally around 90% pure. That means the KOH amount calculated from SoapCalc is actually the pure KOH value and needs to be increased by 10% to give you the amount of the KOH that you actually use.
My recipe for dish liquid soap:
If I use glycerin instead of water, with lye, I want to be sure to
use VG, NOT PG! I will not need to neutralize with VG, but it is
rather expensive this way.
To neutralize with Borax: Make a Borax solution with 9 oz of
distilled water and 3 oz of Borax. Water must be hot for Borax
to dissolve. Use this to neutralize by adding 3/4 oz per pound
of soap paste. As long as I superfat, I don't need to neutralize
at all! But Borax can help thicken, so I might add some any
way.
**In recipe below, I need to add 4.26 ounces or 120.6 grams of
KOH***
One pound recipe:
| Total oil weight | 16 |
| Water as percent of oil weight | 38 % |
| Super Fat/Discount | 3 % |
| Lye Concentration | 38.889 % |
| Water : Lye Ratio | 1.571:1 |
|
| Sat : Unsat Ratio | 79 : 21 |
| Iodine | 18 |
| INS | 242 |
| Fragrance Ratio | 0 |
| Fragrance Weight | 0 Oz |
|
| Ingredient | Pounds | Ounces | Grams |
| Water | 0.38 | 6.08 | 172.365 |
| Lye - KOH | 0.242 | 3.869 | 109.688 |
| Soap Bar Quality | Suggested Range | Your Recipe |
| Hardness | 29 - 54 | 71 |
| Cleansing | 12 - 22 | 60 |
| Conditioning | 44 - 69 | 19 |
| Bubbly | 14 - 46 | 69 |
| Creamy | 16 - 48 | 20 |
| Iodine | 41 - 70 | 18 |
| INS | 136 - 165 | 242 |
|
| Lauric | 43 |
| Myristic | 17 |
| Palmitic | 8 |
| Stearic | 3 |
| Ricinoleic | 9 |
| Oleic | 8 |
| Linoleic | 2 |
| Linolenic | 0 |
|
**In the below recipe, I will need 8.51 ounces or 243 grams of KOH**
Two pound recipe:
| Total oil weight | 32 |
| Water as percent of oil weight | 38 % |
| Super Fat/Discount | 3 % |
| Lye Concentration | 38.889 % |
| Water : Lye Ratio | 1.571:1 |
|
| Sat : Unsat Ratio | 79 : 21 |
| Iodine | 18 |
| INS | 242 |
| Fragrance Ratio | 0 |
| Fragrance Weight | 0 Oz |
|
| Ingredient | Pounds | Ounces | Grams |
| Water | 0.76 | 12.16 | 344.73 |
| Lye - KOH | 0.484 | 7.738 | 219.376 |
| Soap Bar Quality | Suggested Range | Your Recipe |
| Hardness | 29 - 54 | 71 |
| Cleansing | 12 - 22 | 60 |
| Conditioning | 44 - 69 | 19 |
| Bubbly | 14 - 46 | 69 |
| Creamy | 16 - 48 | 20 |
| Iodine | 41 - 70 | 18 |
| INS | 136 - 165 | 242 |
|
| Lauric | 43 |
| Myristic | 17 |
| Palmitic | 8 |
| Stearic | 3 |
| Ricinoleic | 9 |
| Oleic | 8 |
| Linoleic | 2 |
| Linolenic | 0 |
|
Notes: For liquid soap, I stil want to superfat at atleast 3%, to ensure all the lye is converted, and because I won't have to neutralize it if it's superfatted, and it won't be as drying to my skin when I was dishes.
Note:about dissolving: dissolve the soap paste in hot distilled water in ratio 2:1 (soap paste : distilled water).
I want to be very careful about adding any EO's or FO's, because these can literly stick to plastic!
When I made mine, I didn't "cook" it. I melted the oils in the crock, then added my glycerin/lye and had the crock on until I got the bubbles and trace, then turned the crock off, put a lid on it and let it sit until morning. When you mix glycerin/lye with oils (best at 150F), a chemical process will start. You do not need to use a stickblender, a fork or spoon will do.
Within 5-15 min. after mixing, this will happen: Temperature will rise to about 195-200F. First, the liquid gets darker, then, it kind of separates, with a thick layer in the bottom, then all the paste will thicken, and then in the end, it will be lighter and liquid again with flying bubbles. All this happens within about 1 minute.
When the soappaste is neutral, after 1½-2 hours on low heat, it will still be very liquid, like fluid honey, while it is still warm.
If you don't dilute it, and let it get cold, it wil be very thick, thicker than firm honey. I don't let it heat up in the first place (other than to melt the oils)
As for dilution, that's when I put the paste to heat, I warm up both the paste and the water to dilute.
Another combo if this doesn't work well is:
To 16 ounces of Swift's BASIC SHAMPOO recipe add the following:
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 tsp. borax
1 Tablespoon White vinegar
2 tsp. sweet orange essential oil
Stir together the dry ingredients and then add the vinegar and e.o., blend well. Mix with 16 oz of the shampoo formula.
Swift's Basic Shampoo is found at:
I've made a lot of liquid soap using the glycerine method and here is my 2c worth. You need to use 3 times as much glycerine as KOH. I just get the glycerine warming as I weigh my KOH then tip it into the glycerine and stir, still on the stove. It takes about 10-15 mins to dissolve completely. It will go all white and milky but will clear if you take it off the heat for a while,then you can check if it's all dissolved. You'll probably need to squash the last few bits with the back of a spoon. I'm very impatient and this is the most tedious part of making liquid soap for me!
For a mostly coconut soap I'd start at 1:1 paste:water and play around from there. The only liquid soap I've diluted 1:3 is a 100% olive oil soap I put orange and lemon EOs in my dishwashing soap because I figure those are food related. I'd definitely say to rinse your dishes though. My coconut soap goes cloudy after adding EO but clears up again after a couple of weeks.
My first batch of liquid soap:
Aloe Vera 
