Viscosity wise, our Coco-Olive Liquid soap doesn’t look concentrated, but it is 45% active, which means you can add up to 55% Distilled Water, Hydrosol/Floral Water and scent to 100% - it will be water thin when diluted. This makes it perfect for our Foamy Pump Bottles. As this is a wash off product, and not intended for the face, you can scent it at up to 2%.
Scroll on down if you want to thicken this base to use in regular pump style bottles.
For a 1 Litre Batch suitable for Foamy Pump Bottles
Using a dilution of 1:3 (adding water, additives and fragrance totalling 750g)
- 250ml Coco-Olive Liquid Soap
- 700ml Distilled Water or Floral Water
- 25ml Herbal Extract (2.5% - adjust to suit - we used Organic Calendula Extract)
- 10 20g Fragrance or Essential Oils of choice (2% - adjust to suit - we used Neroli & Shea Blossom Fragrance) in this batch
- Foamy Pump Bottles
For total accuracy all ingredients should be weighed. For this example tutorial we have used volume measurements so you can use a full 250ml bottle of liquid soap. If you are not using this immediately, the addition of 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus will preserve the finished product. (We have not trialled any natural preservatives with this base, so please do make a test batch if using a natural preservative to ensure it's suitability)
Assemble ingredients and equipment
Add the extracts and scent to the soap base
Add Distilled Water and/or Floral Water
Stir to combine - try to avoid making bubbles
Thickening
If you are using a regular pump bottle a thickener will be needed.
The easiest and most economical is to grab a bottle of Coco Betaine (from Coconut raw material) or you'll need to track down a
cellulose thickener (this is not an ingredient we stock).
The basic ratio is 2:1- Coco-Olive Liquid Soap Base:Coco Betaine
Using the dilution of 2:1 (If you want to add water, additives and fragrance adjust accordingly)
- 250ml Coco-Olive Liquid Soap
- 125g/ml Coco-Betaine
Optional: - Distilled Water or Floral Water
- 10 - 20g Fragrance or Essential Oils of choice (Up to 2% - adjust to suit - we used Neroli & Shea Blossom Fragrance) in this batch
- Regular Pump Bottles
- Salt solution (optional as below) for further thickening if desired
Again, for total accuracy all ingredients should be weighed. For this example tutorial we have used volume measurements so you can use a full 250ml bottle of liquid soap. If you are not using this immediately, the addition of 0.3 - 5% Liquid Germall Plus will preserve the finished product. (We have not trialled any natural preservatives with this base, so please do make a test batch if using a natural preservative to ensure it's suitability)
Method:
1. Combine the Liquid Soap and Coco-Betaine and stir to combine
2. Check thickness and then add fragrance and any additives
3. Check the viscosity again, and if it is not to desired level add 20% salt solution in 1% increments to desired viscosity
To make the salt (sodium chloride solution)
You make a 20% salt water solution by adding regular Table Salt (not iodised) to warm water. Make the salt solution of:
20g Salt into 80g of Distilled Water. You can begin by adding one teaspoon (1 - 5ml) of Salt Solution per 100g of Liquid Soap, and increase as necessary.
You can see the whisk is holding the thickened soap. Note! if you whisk the Coco-Betaine through,
you will incorporate bubbles so will need to spritz with Isopropyl Alcohol to remove them.
Stirring with a stick or spatula helps avoid bubbles.
