Chemical of the day: Salicylic Acid in CP soap

Have you ever heard of Salicylic Soap? Salicylic Soap is said to be used against wrinkles and acne. Salicylic acid is a type of hydroxy acid that "works mainly as an exfoliant. It causes the cells of the epidermis to become "unglued" allowing the dead skin cells to slough off, making room for regrowth of new skin." -Dermatology.about.com

It also is a great way to improve lightening of scars.

So how do we incorporate this in our soap? 

First of all, you might ask: CP soap has a high ph level, therefore, wouldn't the salycilic lose its power in the saponification process? Well, there are a few things we may add to improve the power of the Salycilic acid in a cold process soap. 

1. Add EDTA (I will talk about this soon)

EDTA is used in soap making to prohibit the formation of DOS or Dreaded orange spots. It also is used to give more power to any chemical additive in soaps. 

2. Add Citric Acid. 

Citric Acid will lower the ph level of the soap and make the CP soap more on a translucent color. (I will experiment on citric acid on cp soap soon)

So now we can add our Salycilic Acid in CP soaps by adding both EDTA and Citric Acid. 

How do we add Salyclic Acid?

Things to remember:

1. Use Salycilic acid not more than 5% in soaps. 

2. Please dissolve it in oil. Never in water. Here's what happened to me:

In the picture above, I attempted to dissolve the acid in water. Salycilic is poorly soluble in water. Salycilic acid can disslove in water if assisted with heat. You can heat your water to reach a high temperature enough to dissolve the Salycilic Acid. But make your life easier and dissolve this on oil instead. Look below: 

See? Its soluble in oil. Its as easy as that.

Where in the process do we put our Salycilic oil? 

Place this on trace. Use 1/2:1. 1/2 part Salycilic to 1 part oil. 

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Experiment: Cetyl Alcohol in CP soap

In a research conducted by Sir Kevin Dunn, a chemist with a wide knowledge on soap making as a science, he said that adding Cetyl Alcohol to cp soap is like adding Jojoba oil. 

Cetyl Alcohol is used in lotions as a thickener and adds slip and glide. You can research more about it to know its uses in lotions and creams. 

I took my time to try it after a couple of experiments. 

Sir Kevin Dunn suggested its usage at 5%. I modified my recipe of a 32 oz. oil batch to contain the 5% cetyl alcohol as part of superfat. My recipe was:

Oil Phase

27 oz Coconut Oil

5 oz Shea Butter

Superfat

1.6 oz Cetyl Alcohol (5%)

But I paused here and thought 1.6 oz is too much so I tried my first experiment at 3%. So my superfat is:

Superfat

.96 oz Cetyl Alcohol 

+ .64 oz Mango Butter

(to compensate for the 1.6oz total Superfat)

How do you add it to your batch?

Heat the oils along with the Cetyl Alcohol.

  Do not add Cetyl at trace. Cetyl tends to solidfy at room temperature and below making your soap batter consist clumps of cetyl. It will also tend to disperse unevenly throughout the batter. 

The .64oz Mango butter is for adding at trace. 

It's easy as that. 

Experiment:

L-soap with Cetyl Alcohol. R-soap without Cetyl Alcohol. 

Both soaps have the same recipes, amount of colourant, superfat, ingredients. 

Properties of the soap with Cetyl Alcohol

1. Color

Cetyl alcohol gives the soap an opaque color which tends to give it a 'lighter' touch of color. See picture above. 

2. Lather

The soap above is the soap without Cetyl Alcohol. As you can see, it gives quite a creamy lather and bubbles are small & minimal. While the soap with CetylAlcohol  (below) gives bigger bubbles but not a creamy lather. 

3. Slip

The soap with Cetyl Alcohol has a slip that a normal cold processed soap does not have. I don't know if its a good thing or a bad thing but I like it. 

4. Hardness

The picture above is the soap w/out Cetyl. As you can see, I placed pressure in the middle of the soap and there was quite an impression in the middle. But below, you'll see that the soap with Cetyl Alcohol didnt even have an impression. The soap is actually hard. 

These are the properties I would firstly want to share with you. I'll talk about Cetyl Alcohol more soon!

Hope you got a few pointers! Keep in touch and let me know how yours turned out too. 

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