Talk:Soap/Archives/2014

Soap craft
An entire handcrafts art exists centered around the use of soap as a starting material. This article does not mention, or even links, this. Mercy11 (talk) 17:31, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

still doesnt define
what, by definition is soap. i mean what ingredient makes "real" soap soap and a detergent bar nor soap?

the article doesn strongly define this and since many people are told not to use soap i think this would be useful information

when i asked my doctor whether someone should avoid soaps or all detergents if they are told they are sensitive to soap she didnt know the answer.

needless to say i wasnt impressed because many detergent washes such as sanex are soap free but could still cause a problem. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.24.118.196 (talk) 22:37, 19 December 2006 (UTC).

Real soap is made by combining fatty acids with an alkali (most soapers use vegetable or animal fats and sodium hydroxide). A chemical reaction starts, the alkali combines with the fatty acids, and create soap molecules.

What I have discovered in my years of making soap, is that most people react to detergents, ie, SLS, or the fragrances or colorants in soap, but not the soap itself. Most fats used to make soap are edible fats, ie, olive oil, soybean oil, beef fat (tallow). Few people have a reaction to those.

I dont know —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.105.11.58 (talk) 12:35, 7 October 2008 (UTC)


 * The article says soap made of animal fat are "real soap". This seems biased as it conveniently ignores vegetable fat based soap. The definition should be based on the chemical property or effect rather than narrowed down to one part (e.g. in math a sub set of a set). Mightyname (talk) 20:36, 6 April 2014 (UTC)

Soap Ingredients
It seems to be a well known fact on the web that soap manufacturers extract the glycerin during the process and make their "soaps" from detergents, etc. Can this be documented anywhere and it is a standard practice? If so does this not make commercial soaps and handmade soaps differ chemically and would not be the same end product? --Soapforgoodnesssake 16:23, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Of course the differ chemically. They aren't the same thing at all, they just happen to be substitutes and people tend to be sloppy with wordchoice. --Belg4mit 00:44, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

A communications person for chemistry might have more expertise to answer the question on glycerin/glycerol based upon finding this ingredient in one academic chemistry book (General Chemistry, 8th Ed Robinson/Heath publishing) but not some soap ingredients. At least some soap manufacturers may not participate with this ingredient based on it not being present in the ingredients list below. If glycerin/glycerol was under a different name, it could have been accidentally missed. This ingredients list was derived from some Sun brand soaps and P-S-577B SOAP, GRIT (PASTE WITH MINERAL SCRUBBER, AND POWDER WITH VEGETABLE SCRUBBER). Gregs650 (talk) 16:47, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

Ingredient(s), Function(s)

Sodium Carbonate, Builder

Sodium Silicate, Builder

Sodium Citrate, Builder

Sodium Polycarboxylate, Dispersant

Acrylic polymer, Dispersant

Acrylic polymer, Dispersant

Methyl Ester Sulfonate, Surfactant

Alcohol Alkoxylate, Surfactant

Ethoxylated Lauryl Alcohol, Surfactant

Alcohol Ether Sulfate, Surfactant

Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Surfactant

Sodium Xylenesulfonate, Surfactant

Enzyme, Enzyme

Water, Solvent

Perfume, Perfume

Perfume, Perfume

Benzotriazole, Preservative

Methylisothiazolinone, Preservative

Liquitint® Blue HP, Dye

Acid Blue 80, Dye

Cellulose Gum, Antiredeposition Agent

Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulfonate, Brightening Agent

Stilbene disulfonic acid triazine derivative, Brightening Agent

Triazinyl Stilbene, Brightening Agent

Sodium Hydroxide, pH Adjuster; [free alkali]

Citric Acid, pH Adjuster

Triethanolamine, pH Adjuster

Coconut fatty acid salt, Defoamer

Sodium Sulfate, Filler

Bentonite, Opacifier

Sodium Chloride, Viscosity Adjuster

Sodium Carbonate Peroxide, Oxygen Bleach, Soil Remover

Oleic acid (free acid), -

Anhydrous soda soap, -

Lanolin, -

Rosin, -

Sugar, -

another dubious fact
In the Commercial Production section it says Andrew Pears together with his grandson opened up a factory in 1862, but aparently Andrew Pears died in 1845. Dazalc (talk) 04:33, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I fixed that. -- Soap Talk/Contributions 04:46, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

I believe there is still some misinformation in the 15th-19th century section. According to this article, Thomas J. Barratt was Francis Pears' son-in-law, not his grandfather Andrew's. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.126.10.114 (talk) 00:37, 16 October 2014 (UTC)