This is a simple recipe for liquid soap. Liquid soap is not difficult to make but there principles to follow in order to produce liquid soap that is thick. sudsy and has a good feel.

There are clear issues that most folks have problems with and those typically are:
1. soap is too thin
Oftentimes there are problems with dilution. In this instance you may have diluted the mixture too much or used oils that are solid at room temperature. For liquid soaps it is best to use oils that are liquid at room temp. Borax is used both as a thickener and a neutralizer. It thins the mixture if it is not mixed with boiling hot water. Also if when adding the borax this is not done quickly the borax precipitates out of the solution.

2. soap changes markedly with addition of additives
One additive that causes major problems are fragrance oils or essential oils. Any fragrance/eo used should be water soluble. You can try adding some kind of fragrance emulsifier such as polysorbate 20 so that the fragrance will be miscible in the soap.

3. soap precipitates into little clumpy particles -
problems with neutralization

4. Not cooking formulation long enough
If the soap is not cooked long enough the excess lye will not cook out and the soap will be opaque rather than clear. A minimum cook of three hours is needed - to ck use 1 oz. paste diluted with 2oz hot water. If clear, it is cooked long enough. If opaque cook for another 30 minutes and double check recipe for enough lye. One issue with liquid soap is that all the oil has to be accounted for. It is best to not have any excess oil as we usually do with solid soaps. So inversely, it is best to have an excess of potassium hydroxide in liquid soap. This is not a problem however because the potassium hydroxide will be cooked out during the long cook.



Recipe:
20.5 oz. olive oil infused with calendula
2.5 oz. coconut oil
5.016 oz. potassium hydroxide (normal saponification values (olive + coconut oil)+ 10% excess KOH)
15.13 oz. deionized water
borax - neutralizer and thickener
glycerine - thickener and bodyifier
--------------------------------------
Total batch size ... oz.



Equipment Needed
-----------------------
1.  stickblender
2.   whisk
3.   dilution pot
4.   double boiler
5.  s;cale large enough to weigh dilution
6. &nbs; pphenolphthalein -acid base indicator - with liuid soap ph strips are    not much use
7.  vinegar on the side- to neutralize KOH if splashes on skin
8.  gloves, goggles, apron, etc


Directions:

Add oils at 160F/ lye solution at 140F. Mix, stir until thick pudding-like viscosity. Maintain temps of 160-170F with stirring. If you don't have a stick blender use a whisk. Double boiler cook paste for 3 hours stirring often. Take a sample, mix with water. If cloudy cook longer 30- 60 mins.[ 1 oz soap in 2oz water] If still cloudy after 4hrs of cooking double ck measurements. At the end of cook you will have a paste much like pudding.

Dilute soap. This point can be tricky because all dilution should occur at a narrow temp range. Everything added at this point should be boiling to very hot. Bring water to a boil then add the paste in the dilution pot. Weigh the pot with the paste. Stir and cover and turn fire off. It takes a while. Heat again then cover. Leave it overnight on the floor covered and insulated with blankets.

Neutralize soap. If you will thicken with borax you do not need to neutralize.
glycerine-1-2 oz per of diluted liquid soap emollience and mildness
Add Glycerine sequester and thickens,dye,fragrence, superfat.
neutralize and thicken with 33% borax solution. add 4 ozs of borax to 8 ozs boiling distilled water. solution has to be boiling or very hot when you add it or the borax will precipitate out of solution, best to add to cool soap to see how much it is thickened. add 1/2-1 oz solution per pound of soap stock

You need to know the wt of pot, to compensate for water loss.
41 oz olive oil 5 oz coconut
10 oz koh 30 oz water



90% olive oil - infused olive oil in calendula olive oil makes a gentle low foam soap
10% coconut makes it more sudsy

increase lye by 10% cuz want tomake sure all the oil is used up. potassium hydroxide is not 100% pure make sure all the oil has been reacted.

During the dilution phase is the most imprtant. Cook another after you think its finished
cook 3 hours
maintain temp of 160 degrees farenheit.Check temp every half an hour. in liquid soapmaking catherine failor reccomends the oil at 160 and lye at 140...which will produce instant soaponifcation.

the problem most folks have is dilution, neutralizatin and additives