how to lower PH

[venus78]

Hi all,

I was wondering if there is a way to lower PH in cp soaps.

my soaps ph are about 8, I know it's fine and normal for cp

soaps but still... it's much better to have more gentle soap

I just read about adding citric acid lowers PH in cp soaps,

any comments if it's true and if so how to add it to the soap?

thanks

Edited September 26, 2010 by venus78
forgot something

[CareBear]

actually I'd be stunned if the pH of your CP soap is 8 - it's supposed to be about 9.5-10.

if you try to lower it, you will end up with sludge.

[LuminousBoutique]

Can I ask how you are testing the PH? Are you using litmus strips or phenol?

Soap is notoriously hard to test the PH of… you can get missreadings very easily. The truth is not all pH strips are created equal when it comes to testing soap. Some are inaccurate by as much as 2-3 units because the surfactant nature of soap can interfere with the indicator dyes used to make the strips. laboratory grade plastic test strips are more accurate than paper test strips for testing soap, but some require more time than others… as much as a minute. To test what I’ve typically done is take a bar and shred it, create a “paste” in some distilled water, and test with that. You can still get false readings, however. In some tests I’ll get 7-8, in others I’ll get 9-10.5, on the same bar of soap. Im sure it depends on the persons skin but 10 is perfectly acceptable.

Higher pH values generally mean better cleaning of greasy and/or oily soils. If you use phenolphthalein, it will be colorless in the super mild range, faint pink in the handmade soap range, and deep pink in the laundry(or cleaning) soap/too harsh for skin range.

[Abbiepql]

Citric acid will neutralize your lye - leaving you with lye heavy soap. I believe certain ingredients can bring the pH down somewhat, not a noticable amount because that high pH is a result of what makes soap - soap.

[venus78]

Can I ask how you are testing the PH? Are you using litmus strips or phenol?

Soap is notoriously hard to test the PH of… you can get missreadings very easily. The truth is not all pH strips are created equal when it comes to testing soap. Some are inaccurate by as much as 2-3 units because the surfactant nature of soap can interfere with the indicator dyes used to make the strips. laboratory grade plastic test strips are more accurate than paper test strips for testing soap, but some require more time than others… as much as a minute. To test what I’ve typically done is take a bar and shred it, create a “paste” in some distilled water, and test with that. You can still get false readings, however. In some tests I’ll get 7-8, in others I’ll get 9-10.5, on the same bar of soap. Im sure it depends on the persons skin but 10 is perfectly acceptable.

Higher pH values generally mean better cleaning of greasy and/or oily soils. If you use phenolphthalein, it will be colorless in the super mild range, faint pink in the handmade soap range, and deep pink in the laundry(or cleaning) soap/too harsh for skin range.

I use ph paper strips to check for ph level, but as you said they're not very accurate.