bath, add the solution of potash previously warmed, and stir briskly.
Continue the heat until saponification is complete. If oil globules
separate out and refuse to saponify, the potash is not of proper
strength, and more must be added—1 or 2 parts dissolved in water. If
desired transparent add a little alcohol, and continue the heat without
stirring until a drop placed in cold water first solidifies and then
dissolves.
Commercial potash may be used, but the strength must be ascertained and
adjusted by experiment. The soap thus made will be like jelly; it is
dissolved in alcohol, 4 to 6 ounces of soap to 2 of alcohol, and after
standing a day or two is filtered and perfumed as desired. A rancid oil
would be easier to saponify, but the soap would likely be rancid or not
as good.
II.—Ammonium sulphoichthyolate, 10 parts; distilled water, 15 parts;
hebra’s soap spirit (a solution of potash soap, 120 parts, in 90 per
cent spirit, 60 parts; and spirit of lavender, 5 parts), 75 parts.
«MEDICATED SOAPS.»
First make up a suitable soap body and afterwards add the medicament.
For instance, carbolic soaps may be made as follows:
I.—Cocoanut oil 20 pounds
Tallow 4 pounds
Soda lye (38° to 40°B.) 12 pounds
Phenol 1 pound
Prepare the body soap by stirring the liquefied fat into the lye at
113° F., and when combination has set in, incorporate the phenol and
quickly pour into molds. Cover the latter well. Instead of the phenol 2
pounds of sulphur may be used, and a sulphur soap made.
Parts by
weight
II.—Cotton oil 200
Alcohol, 91 per cent 300
Water 325
Caustic soda 45
Potassium carbonate 10
Ether 15
Carbolic acid 25
The oil is mixed in a large bottle with water, 100 parts; alcohol,
200 parts; and caustic soda, 45 parts, and after saponification the
remaining alcohol and the potassium carbonate dissolved in the rest of
the water, and finally the carbolic acid and the ether are added and
the whole well shaken. The mixture is filled in tightly closed bottles
and stored at medium temperature. The preparation may be scented as
desired, and the carbolic acid replaced with other antiseptics.
«Liquid Tar Soap.»—Mix 200 parts of tar with 400 parts of oleic acid,
warm lightly and filter. In this way the aqueous content produces
no trouble. Now warm the filtrate on the water bath, neutralize by
stirring in an alcoholic potash solution. To the soap thus produced,
add 100 parts of alcohol, and further a little olive oil, in order to
avoid a separation of any overplus of alkaline matter. Finally, bring
up to 1,000 parts with glycerine. This soap, containing 22 per cent of
tar, answers all possible demands that may be made upon it. Mixed with
2 parts of distilled water it leaves no deposit on the walls of the
container.
«Liquid Styrax Soap.»—The process is identical with the foregoing.
For digestion with oleic acid, the crude balsam will answer, since
filtration deprives the product of all contaminating substances. While
this soap will separate, it is easily again rendered homogeneous with a
vigorous shake. Preparations made with it should be accompanied with a
“shake” label.
«Superfatted Liquid Lanolin-Glycerine Soap.»—Dissolve about 10 per cent
of lanolin in oleic acid, saponify as in the tar soap, and perfume
(for which a solution of coumarin in geranium oil is probably the most
suitable agent). The prepared soap is improved by the addition of a
little tincture of benzoin.
«Massage Soaps.»—I.—An excellent recipe for a massage soap is: Special
cocoanut oil ground soap, 2,500 pounds; lanolin, 50 pounds; pine-needle
oil, 20 pounds; spike oil, 3 pounds. Other massage soaps are made from
olive oil ground soap, to which in special cases, as in the treatment
of certain rheumatic affections, ichthyol is added. Massage soaps are
always wanted white, so that Cochin cocoanut oil should be preferred to
other kinds.
II.—Cocoanut oil, 1,000 pounds; caustic soda lye, 37° B., 500 pounds;
pine-needle oil, 4 pounds; artificial bitter almond oil, 2 pounds.
There is also a “massage cream,” which differs from the ordinary
massage soaps in being made with a soft potash soap as a ground soap.
The oils, etc., incorporated with the ground mass are exactly the same
in the “cream” as in the soap. {648}
«Metallic Soaps.»—Metallic soaps are obtained by means of double
decomposition. First a soap solution is produced which is brought to
a boil. On the other hand, an equally strong solution of the metallic
salt of which the combination is to be made (chlorides and sulphides
are employed with preference) is prepared, the boiling solutions are
mixed together, and the metallic soap obtained is gathered on a linen
cloth. This is then put on enameled plates and dried, first at 104° F.,
later at 140° F.
Aluminum soap is the most important. Dissolved in benzine or oil of
turpentine, it furnishes an excellent varnish. It has been proposed to
use these solutions for the varnishing of leather; they furthermore
serve for the production of waterproof linen and cloths, paper, etc.
Jarry recommended this compound for impregnating railroad ties to
render them weatherproof.
Manganese soap is used as a siccative in the preparation of linseed-oil
varnish, as well as for a drier to be added to paints. Zinc soap is
used in the same manner.
Copper soap enters into the composition of gilding wax, and is also
employed for bronzing plaster of Paris articles. For the same purpose,
a mixture is made use of consisting of copper soap and iron soap melted
in white lead varnish and wax. Iron soap is used with aluminum soap
for waterproofing purposes and for the production of a waterproof
varnish. By using wax instead of a soap, insoluble metallic soaps are
obtained, which, melted in oils or wax, impart brilliant colorings to
them; but colored waterproof and weather-resisting varnishes may also
be produced with them. Metallic rosin soaps may be produced by double
decomposition of potash rosin soaps and a soluble metal salt. From
these, good varnishes are obtained to render paper carriage covers,
etc., waterproof; they may also be employed for floor wax or lacquers.
«Petroleum Soap.»—
I.—Beeswax, refined 4 parts
Alcohol 5 parts
Castile soap, finely grated 10 parts
Petroleum 5 parts
Put the petroleum into a suitable vessel along with the wax and alcohol
and cautiously heat on the water bath, with an occasional agitation,
until complete solution is effected. Add the soap and continue the heat
until it is dissolved. When this occurs remove from the bath and stir
until the soap begins to set, then pour into molds.
II.—The hydrocarbons (as petroleum, vaseline, etc.) are boiled with
a sufficient quantity of alkali to form a soap, during which process
they absorb oxygen and unite with the alkali to form fatty acid salts.
The resulting soap is dissolved in water containing alkali, and the
solution is heated along with alkali and salt. The mass of soap
separates out in three layers, the central one being the purest; and
from this product the fatty acids may be recovered by treatment with
sulphuric acid.
«Perfumes for Soap.»—From 1 to 2 ounces of the following mixtures are
to be used to 10 pounds of soap:
I.—Oil of rose geranium 2 ounces
Oil of patchouli 1/2 ounce
Oil of cloves 1/2 ounce
Oil of lavender flowers 1 ounce
Oil of bergamot 1 ounce
Oil of sandalwood 1 ounce
II.—Oil of bergamot 2 ounces
Oil of orange flowers 2 ounces
Oil of sassafras 2 ounces
Oil of white thyme 3 ounces
Oil of cassia 3 ounces
Oil of cloves 3 ounces
III.—Oil of citronella 1 ounce
Oil of cloves 1 ounce
Oil of bitter almonds 2 ounces
«Pumice-Stone Soaps.»—These soaps are always produced by the cold
process, either from cocoanut oil alone or in conjunction with tallow,
cotton oil, bleached palm oil, etc. The oil is melted and the lye
stirred in at about 90° F.; next, the powdered pumice stone is sifted
into the soap and the latter is scented. Following are some recipes:
I.—Cocoanut oil 40,000 parts
Cotton oil 10,000 parts
Caustic soda lye, 38° Bé 24,000 parts
Caustic potash lye, 30° Bé 1,000 parts
Powdered pumice stone 25,000 parts
Cassia oil 150 parts
Rosemary oil 100 parts
Lavender oil 50 parts
Safrol 50 parts
Clove oil 10 parts
II.—Cocoanut oil 50,000 parts
Caustic soda lye, 40° Bé 25,000 parts {649}
Powdered pumice stone 50,000 parts
Lavender oil 250 parts
Caraway oil 80 parts
«Shaving Soaps.»
I.—Palm oil soap 5 pounds
Oil of cinnamon 10 drachms
Oil of caraway 2 drachms
Oil of lavender 2 drachms
Oil of thyme 1 drachm
Oil of peppermint 45 minims
Oil of bergamot 2 1/2 drachms
Melt the soap, color if desired, and incorporate the oils.
II.—Soap 10 pounds
Alcohol 1 ounce
Oil of bitter almonds 1 1/4 ounces
Oil of bergamot 3/4 ounce
Oil of mace 3 drachms
Oil of cloves 1/2 ounce
Melt the soap with just enough water to convert it into a soft paste
when cold; dissolve the oils in the alcohol, mix with the paste, and
rub up in a mortar, or pass several times through a kneading machine.
III.—White castile soap 5 parts
Alcohol 15 parts
Rose water 15 parts
«SOAP POWDERS.»
The raw materials of which soap powder is made are soap and soda, to
which ingredients an addition of talcum or water glass can be made,
if desired, these materials proving very useful as a filling. An
excellent soap powder has been made of 20 parts of crystallized soda,
5 parts of dark-yellow soap (rosin curd), and 1 part of ordinary soft
soap. At first the two last mentioned are placed in a pan, then half
the required quantity of soda is added, and the whole is treated. Here
it must be mentioned that the dark-yellow curd soap, which is very
rosinous, has to be cut in small pieces before placing the quantity
into the pan. The heating process must continue very slowly, and
the material has to be crutched continually until the whole of the
substance has been thoroughly melted. Care must be taken that the
heating process does not reach the boiling point. The fire underneath
the pan must now be extinguished, and then the remaining half of the
crystallized soda is added to be crutched with the molten ingredients,
until the whole substance has become liquid. The liquefaction is
assisted by the residual heat of the first heated material and the pan.
The slow cooling facilitates the productive process by thickening the
mass, and when the soda has been absorbed, the whole has become fairly
thick. With occasional stirring of the thickened liquid the mass is
left for a little while longer, and when the proper moment has arrived
the material contained in the pan is spread on sheets of thin iron,
and these are removed to a cool room, where, after the first cooling,
they must be turned over by means of a shovel, and the turning process
has to be repeated at short intervals until the material has quite
cooled down and the mixture is thoroughly broken. The soap is now in
a very friable condition, and the time has now come to make it into
powder, for which purpose it is rubbed through the wire netting or the
perforated sieves. Generally the soap is first rubbed through a coarse
sieve, and then through finer ones, until it has reached the required
conditions of the powder. Some of the best soap powders are coarse, but
other manufacturers making an equally good article prefer the finer
powder, which requires a little more work, since it has to go through
three sieves, whereas the coarse powder can do with one or at most two
treatments. But this is, after all, a matter of local requirements or
personal taste.
The powder obtained from the above-mentioned ingredients is fine and
yellow colored, and it has all the qualities needed for a good sale.
Instead of the dark-yellow soap, white stock soap can also be used, and
this makes only a little difference in the coloring. But again white
stock soap can be used, and the same color obtained by the use of palm
oil, or other coloring ingredients, as these materials are used for
giving the toilet soaps their manifold different hues. Many makers
state that this process is too expensive, and not only swallows up all
the profit, but some of the color materials influence the soap and not
to its advantage.
Soft soap is used only to make the powder softer and easier soluble,
and for this reason the quantity to be used varies a little and
different manufacturers believe to have a secret by adding different
quantities of this material. As a general statement it may be given
that the quantity of soft soap for the making of soap powder should not
overstep the proportion of one to three, compared with the quantity of
hard soap; any excess in this direction would frustrate the desires
of the maker, and land him with a product which has become smeary and
moist, forming into balls and lumping together {650} in bags or cases,
to become discolored and useless. It is best to stick to the proportion
as given, 5 parts of hard and 1 part of soft soap, when the produced
powder will be reliable and stable and not form into balls even if the
material is kept for a long while.
This point is of special importance, since soap powder is sold mostly
in weighed-out packages of one and a half pounds. Most manufacturers
will admit that loose soap powder forms only a small part of the
quantities produced, as only big laundries and institutions purchase
same in bags or cases. The retail trade requires the soap powder
wrapped up in paper, and if this has to be done the powder must not be
too moist, as the paper otherwise will fall to pieces. This spoils the
appearance of the package, and likely a part of the quantity may be
lost. When the powder is too moist or absorbs easily external moisture,
the paper packages swell very easily and burst open.
The best filling material to be employed when it is desired to produce
a cheaper article is talcum, and in most cases this is preferred to
water glass. The superiority of the former over the latter is that
water glass hardens the powder, and this is sometimes done to such an
extent, when a large quantity of filling material is needed, that it
becomes very difficult to rub the soap through the sieves. In case this
difficulty arises, only one thing can be done to lighten the task,
and that is to powderize the soap when the mixed materials are still
warm, and this facilitates the work very much. It is self-evident
that friction under these conditions leaves a quantity of the soap
powder material on the sieves, and this cannot be lost. Generally it
is scraped together and returned to the pan to be included in the
next batch, when it is worked up, and so becomes useful, a need
which does not arise when talcum has been used as a filling material.
Again, the soap powder made with the addition of water glass is not so
soluble, and at the same time much denser than when the preparation
has been made without this material. It is thus that the purchaser
receives by equal weight a smaller-looking quantity, and as the
eye has generally a great influence when the consumer determines a
purchase, the small-sized parcels will impress him unfavorably. This
second quality of soap powder is made of the same ingredients as the
other, except that an addition of about 6 parts of talcum is made,
and this is stirred up with the other material after all the soda has
been dissolved. Some makers cheapen the products also by reducing the
quantity of hard soap from 5 to 3 parts and they avoid the filling;
the same quantity of soda is used in all cases. On the same principle
a better quality is made by altering the proportions of soda and soap
the other way. Experiments will soon show which proportions are most
suitable for the purpose.
So-called ammonia-turpentine soap powder has been made by crutching oil
of turpentine and ammonia with the materials just about the time before
the whole is taken out of the heating pan. Some of the powder is also
scented, and the perfume is added at the same time and not before. In
most of the latter cases mirbane oil is used for the purpose.
These powders are adaptable to hard water, as their excess of alkali
neutralizes the lime that they contain:
I.—Curd (hard) soap, powdered 4 parts
Sal soda 3 parts
Silicate of soda 2 parts
Make as dry as possible, and mix intimately.
«Borax Soap Powder.»—
II.—Curd (hard) soap, in powder 5 parts
Soda ash 3 parts
Silicate of soda 2 parts
Borax (crude) 1 part
Each ingredient is thoroughly dried, and all mixed together by sieving.
«London Soap Powder.»—
III.—Yellow soap 6 parts
Soda crystals 3 parts
Pearl ash 1 1/2 parts
Sulphate of soda 1 1/2 parts
Palm oil 1 part
«TOILET SOAPS.»
The question as to the qualities of toilet soaps has a high
therapeutical significance. Impurity of complexion and morbid anomalies
of the skin are produced by the use of poor and unsuitable soaps. The
latter, chemically regarded, are salts of fatty acids, and are prepared
from fats and a lye, the two substances being mixed in a vessel and
brought to a boil, soda lye being used in the preparation of toilet
soaps. In boiling together a fat and a lye, the former is resolved into
its component parts, a fatty acid and glycerine. The {651} acid unites
with the soda lye, forming a salt, which is regarded as soap. By the
addition of sodium chloride, this (the soap) is separated and swims
on the residual liquid as “kern,” or granulated soap. Good soaps were
formerly made only from animal fats, but some of the vegetable oils or
fats have been found to also make excellent soap. Among them the best
is cacao butter.
From a hygienic standpoint it must be accepted as a law that a good
toilet soap must contain no free (uncombined) alkali, every particle
of it must be chemically bound up with fatty acid to the condition of
a salt, and the resultant soap should be neutral in reaction. Many
of the soaps found in commerce to-day contain free alkali, and exert
a harmful effect upon the skin of those who use them. Such soaps may
readily be detected by bringing them into contact with the tongue. If
free alkali be present it will make itself known by causing a burning
sensation—something that a good toilet soap should never do.
The efficiency of soap depends upon the fact that in the presence of an
abundance of water the saponified fat is decomposed into acid and basic
salts, in which the impurities of the skin are dissolved and are washed
away by the further application of water. Good soap exerts its effects
on the outer layer of the skin, the so-called horny (epithelial) layer,
which in soapy water swells up and is, in fact, partially dissolved in
the medium and washed away. This fact, however, is unimportant, since
the superficial skin cells are reproduced with extraordinary rapidity
and ease. When a soap contains or carries free alkali, the caustic
effects of the latter are carried further and deeper, reaching below
the epithelial cells and attacking the true skin, in which it causes
minute rifts and splits and renders it sore and painful. Good soap, on
the contrary, makes the skin smooth and soft.
Since the employment of poor soaps works so injuriously upon the skin,
many persons never, or rarely ever, use soap, but wash the face in
water alone, or with a little almond bran added. Their skins cannot
bear the regular application of poor soap. This, however, applies only
to poor, free-alkali containing soaps. Any skin can bear without injury
any amount of a good toilet soap, free from uncombined alkali and other
impurities. The habit of washing the face with water only, without
the use of soap, must be regarded as one altogether bad, since the
deposits on the skin, mostly dust-particles and dead epithelial cells,
mingling with the oily or greasy matter exuded from the fat glands
of the skin—excellent nutrient media for colonies of bacteria—cannot
be got rid of by water alone. Rubbing only forces the mass into the
openings in the skin (the sweat glands, fat glands, etc.), and stops
them up. In this way are produced the so-called “black heads” and other
spots and blotches on the skin usually referred to by the uneducated,
or partially educated, as “parasites.” The complexion is in this manner
injured quite as much by the failure to use good soap as by the use of
a poor or bad article.
All of the skin troubles referred to may be totally avoided by the
daily use of a neutral, alkali-free soap, and the complexion thus kept
fresh and pure. Completely neutral soaps, however, are more difficult
to manufacture—requiring more skill and care than those in which no
attention is paid to excess of alkali—and consequently cost more than
the general public are accustomed, or, in fact, care to pay for soaps.
While this is true, one must not judge the quality of a soap by the
price demanded for it. Some of the manufacturers of miserable soaps
charge the public some of the most outrageous prices. Neither can a
soap be judged by its odor or its style of package and putting on the
market.
To give a soap an agreeable odor the manufacturers add to it, just when
it commences to cool off, an etheric oil (such as attar of rose, oil
of violets, bergamot oil, etc.), or some balsamic material (such as
tincture of benzoin, for instance). It should be known, however, that
while grateful to the olfactory nerves, these substances do not add
one particle to the value of the soap, either as a detergent or as a
preserver of the skin or complexion.
Especially harmful to the skin are soaps containing foreign substances,
such, for instance, as the starches, gelatin, clay, chalk, gums, or
rosins, potato flour, etc., which are generally added to increase the
weight of soap. Such soaps are designated, very significantly, “filled
soaps,” and, as a class, are to be avoided, if for no other reason, on
account of their lack of true soap content. The use of these fillers
should be regarded as a criminal falsification under the laws regarding
articles of domestic use, since they are sold at a relatively high
price, yet contain foreign matter, harmful to health. {652}
«RECIPES FOR COLD-STIRRED TOILET SOAPS.»
Parts by
weight
I.—Cocoanut oil 30
Castor oil 3
Caustic soda lye (38° Bé) 17 1/2
Pink Soap.—
Parts by
weight
II.—Pink No. 114 10
Lemon oil 60
Cedar-wood oil 60
Citronella oil 50
Wintergreen oil 15
Pale-Yellow Soap.—
Parts by
weight
III.—Orange No. 410 10
Citronella oil 60
Sassafras oil 60
Lavender oil 45
Wintergreen oil 15
Aniseed oil 25
Toilet Soap Powder.—
Marseilles soap, powdered 100 parts
Bran of almonds 50 parts
Lavender oil 5 parts
Thyme oil 3 parts
Spike oil 2 parts
Citronella oil 2 parts