- Solid soap is made from oils plus sodium hydroxide.
- Liquid soap is oils plus POTASSIUM hydroxide.

Yes, you can make a gloopy runny gross liquid-ish soap from bar soap by dissolving it, but for real liquid soap, like dr bronners, you need potassium hydroxide at the start

Here’s a good soap calculator: http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcWP.asp
You need to select KOH (top left) for liquid soap

M

Sure, it was soapy slimy gunk that you could use to wash things with, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant to use. So after various trials, I gave up.

Instead, for dishes, you can use solid bar soap (“sunlight” works well) with a sponge cloth. It doesn’t give you heaps of bubbles, but it does clean your dishes. I blogged about it here.

For shampoo, I use bicarb, then rinse with apple cider vinegar. I blogged about it here.

My hair is still intact on my head with no problems. All good so far. And my dishes are clean. Also all good.

Apart from these uses, I’ve just switched to bar soap for hand basins, and bought some nice soap dishes, so that the soap scungies didn’t end up all over the basin (I have preschoolers). Works well, and saves money.

But the liquid soap thing did NOT work. Maybe some evil genius out there knows how to get it to work nicely, but for me, forget it.

So I guess I’m laughing with you, not at you!

Second, I’ve crocheted some tawashis (google it, I couldn’t find my favorite link) out of some long-owned acrylic yarn. (Still “plastic” but one can use cotton — it just gets slimy quicker.) And slip a sliver of the bar soap (or now, “bowl soap”!) inside the tawashi. Or, make a little terrycloth bag and slip the soap inside and use that to wash dishes. I like it better than liquid soap!

Third, I had much the same experience when I tried to turn leftover soap slivers into liquid handsoap. I now have a big jelly jar of hardened liquid soap. It just doesn’t liquify very well.

Thanks for the inspiration — and the laugh.

Holly

You are awesome for trying. Keep us posted on the usability of your liquid soap :)

I have a use for some of the slivers – they are great for marking fabric for sewing projects. Just use them like a pencil and they wash out completely of course :)

viv in nz

i wanted to add an idea for the scraps of soap from solid soap bars we all end up with. instead of a metal cage (which would work but i’d have to buy), i’ve been using one of those mesh (unfortunately plastic)bags which oranges or perhaps onions come in, which i had on hand from years ago, saving for some art project or other. i cut off most of the top of the bag, leaving just a small baggie sized bag. i slip the slivers inside and tie the top in a knot. we use it as bar soap for handwashing. the mesh is easy on the hands and allows the “bar” to dry between use. i like the idea of slipping this “bar” into dishwater for dishes, so i’ll be trying that when my liquid soap runs out.

thanks again for all you do. i learn so much here, from you and the other posters. the mistakes are never failures!
becky

There are actually some good step-by-step instructions on the Internet on how to make liquid soap yourself. Or you could try different substrates to dissolve the solid soap in, like gel, glycerin, or oils. I’ve got similar experiments going to turn diluted Dr. Bronner’s into more thick, pumpable hand soap. Go with small batches, though, until you find something that works.