5 Easy Ways to Harden A Bar Soap During Production

The Importance of Soap hardening During Production

When making a block of bar soap, the need to find ways to harden a bar soap is an important factor that many producers want to achieve in their products. Besides that, the customers being the end-users know which bar soap that lasts longer than others based on their experience, so they tend to go for the quality bar soaps that are hard alongside other features.

Hard bar soap will not dissolve in water easily even when thrown into the water, such a property could make the bar soap last longer while using it for any purpose. There are various ways professionals use in the making of quality bar soaps when it comes to hardness, such ways will be detailed in this post.

Ways to Harden a Bar Soap

According to the diynatural.com’s publication made by Debra Maslowski, there are five basic methods the hardness of bar soap could be enhanced during the bar soap production, they are highlighted as follows:

1. WATER REDUCTION: This is one of the ways to harden a bar soap. The percentage of water used to dissolve the lye in the bar soap making will affect the cure time which is also a factor that could determine the final outcome of the bar soap hardness.

When excessive water is added to the bar soap mixture during its making, it will affect the curing time and make the bar soap become soft. According to Debra, “if the recipe calls for 5.75 ounces of water, you can decrease it by around 10% or use about 5.25 ounces” such will enable the bar soap to cure much harder.

2. ADDITION OF WAX / HARDENER: This is one of the ways to harden a bar soap. Adding wax to the melted oil would help to harden the bar soap after cure time. Wax such as beeswax, soy wax, bayberry wax, or any similar wax could serve the same purpose. Besides the use of wax, some do use starch and other hardening agents to harden the bar soap during the production process.

However, one should be very knowledgeable about the effect of these hardeners to be able to determine the accurate volume of any of them that will be added to the oil during the bar soap making.

3. ADDITION OF SODIUM LACTATE: This is one of the ways to harden a bar soap. Sugar cane and sugar beets are natural sources of sodium lactate through the fermentation of their sugars. Adding about four tablespoons of sodium lactate will add a significant hardness to the bar soap after its cure. The use of the additive is ideal for individual bar soap molds with intricate designs.
4. THE OLIVE OIL QUANTITY: This is one of the ways to harden a bar soap. It is a fact that oil and lye are major ingredients in bar soap making, the quality of the oil will say a lot about the bar soap. When considering the oil quantity, it will be based on the quantity of lye needed to turn the oil into bar soap. The oil SAP value will determine the amount of lye to be added to it to make bar soap.

Because coconut oil has a much different SAP value than olive oil, it should be left alone in the amount recommended while the olive oil amount should be increased because it has a very close SAP value other certain oils.

Hence, decreasing the number of other oils recommended in the recipe and increasing the olive oil will still turn out the same but the difference is that harder bar soap will be produced.

5. ADDITION OF SALT: This is one of the ways to harden a bar soap. Salt has a great effect on bar soap making, it has the potential of hardening the bar soap after the production. Adding the salt into the oil before adding the lye is a good arrangement and stirring the mixture thoroughly would ensure a better outcome in hardness.

Conclusion

The above methods could affect a great change in the hardness of any bar soap made either for domestic purposes or for commercial purposes.