The amount of sodium salt needed will probably be somewhere between 0.2% to 2% by weight. In other words, 0.2 to 2 grams of table salt (or other sodium salt) will be needed to thicken every 100 grams of diluted soap.
Add a little alcohol to help with potential contamination. Adding salt will thicken it up. A lot of liquid detergents have sodium chloride (salt) for thickening.
When you add salt to soap recipes, it adds immediate hardness. That happens both when you add salt crystals or salt dissolved in a solution. Added dissolved, salt can be useful in making soap recipes, such as this Castile soap recipe. It takes a long time to firm up in the mold, but salt helps speed up that process.
Introduce salt to your soap recipe to enhance hardness. Whether it's sea salt, Himalayan salt, or table salt, adding around 1 teaspoon per pound of oils can contribute to a firmer soap. Mix the salt into cooled lye water for optimal results. Incorporate a small amount of stearic acid to help harden your soap.
A big water discount can make soap harden very quickly. The oils you use can make a huge difference. A large percentage of coconut oil makes soap set fast. If you soap at high temperatures you can force saponification.
Function of sodium chloride in soap making is to provide a balance of hardness and softness. The sodium chloride in soap making is responsible for the solid consistency of soap and for making soapy molecules adhere to one another, forming an insoluble mass.
Flexi Says: You can increase the viscosity of liquid soap by adding a thickening agent such as salt, glycerin, or aloe vera gel. However, it's important to add these substances gradually and in small amounts, stirring thoroughly after each addition, to avoid making the soap too thick or causing it to separate.
The inorganic salt is more "thirsty" than the organic molecule and deprives the soap of sufficient water to keep it soluble. This causes the soap to precipitate.
Most oils will cloud and cause separation of the finished soap. The best and really only oil which can be used as a superfatting agent in liquid soaps is Sulfonated Castor Oil, (Turkery Red Oil). It is very soluble, will not cloud or separate the soap and provides added lubricating properties.
A separate cellulose-based thickener such as HEC (hydroxyethyl cellulose) or HPMC (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose) can be used to thicken liquid soap. Other thickeners that have been used for thickening liquid soap include guar gum, Crothix, and xanthan gum.
Salt thickens by reducing micelle charge density, helping to promote the conversion of spherical micelles to rod-shaped micelles. Historically, sodium chloride has been used. However, divalent salts like magnesium sulfate are more efficient if compatible in the formulation.
It brings down the PH of liquid soap because it has a lower PH itself. Borax is also great because it helps thicken your soap, it softens hard water and helps prevent congealing (that layer of soap on top). Even though borax is magical in liquid soap there is some controversy in using it.
You can also thicken liquid soap using thickeners like guar gum, xanthan gum, or hydroxyl cellulose. These are typically used during the soap-making process, but could also be used to remedy an already-made soap that has become too watery. They also work on shampoos and body washes.
Soda ash is a great additive to soap and clothing detergents. It helps clean the surface of the object and provides a natural scouring action that helps remove dirt and grime. Soap and clothing detergents can be used in any situation where a detergent is necessary, such as in a car or home.
Sodium chloride, or salt, reduces the pH of soap solutions. It acts as a stabilizing agent, helping pH levels remain steady. A thickening agent, sodium chloride also has a de-greasing effect, enhancing the cleaning potential of liquid soap.
Salt is a critical component in liquid detergent formulas, explicitly used as a cheap thickener to enhance viscosity and consistency. This is because the salt ions (such as sodium and chloride) interact with the hydrophilic head groups of the surfactant molecules, causing them to pack closer together.
The soap formed remains in suspension form in the mixture. Soap is precipitated as a solid from the suspension by adding common salt to the suspension. Hence, salt helps in precipitation. This process is called salting out of soap.
All water-soluble cellulose ethers can be added to face masks, laundry detergents and shampoos as a detergent thickener. HPMC is a nonionic cellulose ether, which is one of the best detergent thickeners.
The first thing you can do to thicken up you wash or shampoo is to add salt to it. This may be enough to thicken your wash or shampoo back to a gel consistency. Just be sure to never add more than 2% salt or you run the risk of thinning your wash or shampoo even further.
Modern-day soapmakers often add small amounts of salt to soap to make the soap harden faster for quicker unmoulding. Formulas for so called 'salt bars' call for large quantities of salt; anything from 50% to 100% of the weight of oils is common.
Industrial salt is often used as a de-mineralizing or de-chlorinating agent to remove minerals, iron, aluminum, and chlorine from the water solution in the industrial salt soap dispensing process. One of the most common industrial uses for salt is a thickening agent.
Sugar is a very popular soap making additive, and for good reason... Sugar makes for one heck of a lather-booster in cold process soap! If you've ever wanted to bump up the bubbles in your own soapy formulations, adding sugar to your soap recipe is a great way to do just that!