Hard water soap question

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Posted by Paul Ciszek on September 14, 2006, 7:25 pm
 
What sort of soap/detergent rinses off best in hard water?  i.e., what
sort of bath bar should I carry in my suitcase so that I will not be
left covered with soap scum after showering in a motel in a town with
heavily mineralized water?

Note:  I am not asking for the "healthiest" soap.  I am not asking for
the most natural soap.  I am not even expressing a preference for soap
vs. detergent.  I am asking for the type of bar of stuff-that-washes-
grease-and-oil-off-of-you that will rinse off easily regardless of the
nature of the local water.

I prefer bar vs. liquid soap, since bars don't leak in your luggage.
Also, my experiences with trying to shower with liquid soaps have
required a *lot* of it--it just didn't seem to lather up any significant
amount of body area.  It was squirt-squirt-scrub, squirt-squirt-scrub,
over and over again.

If the answer to my question is "Dr. Bronners", as the answer to most
soap questions on this group tend to be, does he have any competitors?
His soaps, bar or liquid, are extremely painful on the, uh, thinner
skinned parts of the human body.  (I am not the only one who has had
this experience.)  Are all castile soaps ouchy, or is that just a
unique quirk of Dr. Bronner?

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pciszek at panix dot com | and really don't care. It's not that important.
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Posted by Karen Newton on September 14, 2006, 12:29 pm
 

Paul Ciszek wrote:

I used to make soap.  Any ouchiness would be caused by perfumes or
other additives, or by soap being too freshly made.  You can touch your
tongue to soap and if it tingles the soap needs to age a while.
Castille soap is just made from olive oil rather than another fat.



Posted by Paul Ciszek on September 14, 2006, 9:13 pm
 

Do you have an opinion on the hard water issue?  Is soap or detergent
more likely to leave one covered in an unrinsable film in areas with
heavily mineralized water?
                                                                                
(This concern is based on an experience I had in a small town in New
Mexico.  Next time I make a big trip through the southwest, I would
like to be prepared.)

The local Vitamin Cottage sells bars of soap made from olive oil, lye,
and supposedly nothing else.  Of course they cost a fortune.  Are
other vegetable oils suitable?

Ivory is made from "sodium tallowate" which I am guessing is the result
of animal fat reacting with lye.  It's OK, except that it is perfumed
and so soft that it dissolves away too quickly in the shower.

Someone mentioned soaps made from petroleum on this group; is there
any such that contains oil, lye, and nothing else?

--
Please reply to:         |"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea
pciszek at panix dot com | and really don't care. It's not that important.
Autoreply is disabled    | It's not our priority." - G.W. Bush, 3/13/02




Posted by Karen Newton on September 14, 2006, 5:47 pm
 
Paul Ciszek wrote:

Sorry, I don't know anything about that.


Coconut oil or palm oil work.  That's about all.  Anything else would
not become hard enough.  If you didn't mind it being runny you could
make it out of anything, bacon fat even.  That's what people used to
do.


That's Castille soap.  You can make it yourself.  It's easy.  But
Castille soap doesn't have much lather.  You'd need some coconut or
palm oil added for that.  If you don't mind no lather then that's all
you need.  The first soap I made was Castille soap and I sold it all in
no time.



Posted by Karen Newton on September 14, 2006, 6:16 pm
 

Sorry, if it just has olive oil and lye that's Castille.
You can also just make it out of coconut oil and lye or palm oil and
lye.  Just as easy.



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