Q&A for How to Make Liquid Castile Soap

The amount of lye changes because the different types of oil react with sodium hydroxide (lye) either more or less efficiently. The chemical reaction that turns fatty acids and lye into soap is known as saponification. Different oils have saponification values that reflect their relative efficiency in the reaction. Different ratios of oil to lye are used so that there is no excess lye in the final soap product. Lye is caustic when dissolved in water in the amounts used in making soap. All of it must be consumed in the reaction. All the ingredients in soap should be weighed accurately for this reason. There are several lye calculators available online for determining the correct amounts.

It could be, or you might want to mix it with a few other ingredients. Check out How to Make Shampoo .

Soapcalc.net will give you the complete recipe when you plug in these amounts.

Once lye turns to soap it isn't harmful any longer. It is all natural, and much better than the "soaps" you find on the market today. Lye soap is what everyone used before soap was made commercial. Technically, if it doesn't have lye in it, it isn't soap; it is detergent.

Sunflower's saponification values are very similar. However, sunflower oil has a short shelf life. A better idea would be an oil combination: 4 oz. sweet almond, 3.4 oz. jojoba oil, 3 oz. avocado oil, 2 oz. hemp seed oil, 2 oz. peach kernel oil. But your lye amount is going to change, no matter what you do.

Follow the recipe. If you change the amount of oil used, use a soap calculator to calculate the amount of lye and water needed. You can also use it to figure out the recipe in percentages and ounces.

Yes, but remember - coconut oil can only be used up to 30 percent before it becomes drying to the skin.

You can use castor oil in liquid soap, but its SAP value is different, so you cannot swap one out for another. Castor oil has a high fat content, best usage rate is about 8%. You need to run it through a lye calculator first, such as that found at soapcalc.net.

No. The llye will always heat up the water when added/mixed due to the exothermic reaction (produces heat), often reaching temperatures of up to 90C (194F).

For liquid soap, it is KOH.

Yes, this is true. KOH will make a soft gel paste, which then can be diluted with distilled water to make liquid soap.

Potassium hydroxide can be extracted from wood ash by running non-chemically treated water through the gray ash and cloth filter. The resulting lye water will be diluted and will have to be reduced to a stronger lye solution. The concentration will be highly variable, so there is no way of telling what the percentage would be. Modern recipes for liquid soap use KOH flakes by weight, from a chemical or soap supply company, which is what is used here.

Set the crock-pot to Low if yours only has High/Low settings. Set a separate timer if your crock-pot does not have its own timer.

Castile soap will do nothing to thrush and will only change your oral pH even more. There are several types of anti-thrush prescriptions. One is liquid which works well to coat the tongue and throat. There are also troches or lozenges meant to stay in the mouth for up to 20 minutes or so as you suck on the tablet. One type is Clotrimazole Lozenge. If you are prone to yeast infections, ask about Diflucan. You will have to try one of these at a time (not all at once). If you are sexually active, men can carry yeast without symptoms and pass it to sexual partners either vaginally or orally. So females should make sure males get to the doctor, too, for their own prescription.