Jelly soap is suitable as a funny and at the same time useful gift for young and old alike.

Maybe you've already come across interesting videos or photos of jelly soap, or maybe you're just hearing about it for the first time, it doesn't matter - you can make your own soap at home. Jelly soap will bring joy to the face of not only children, but also adults, you can use it as a gift. We bring you two recipes on how to make jelly soap in the comfort of your own home.

JELLIED SOAP - INGREDIENTS

Below you will find a list of ingredients for two basic jelly soaps. Of course, we will also go into a comparison of the two soaps. First, however, it is important to note that in order for a soap to foam, it must contain a tenside that will provide cleansing and foaming effects. Secondly, we need a gel-forming ingredient, in our case we chose carrageenan - a vegetable thickener that is great for making solid jellies and is also vegan.

JELLY SOAP WITH SCS

Phase INGREDIENTS %

A Demineralised water 56,00
A SCS - sodium coco sulphatet 4,65
B Carrageenan 2,25
B Mica powderok Soft amethyst 0,50
B Glycerine 36,10
C Essencesessential oil lavender 0,50
C IPA (isopropyl alcohol) As required
silicone mould rectangles ---

JELLY SOAP WITH DECYL GLUCOSIDE

INGREDIENCE phase%

A Demineralised water 71,00
A Glycerine 10,00
A Mica powdershock Enchanted forest 0,50
A carrageenan 4,00
B Decyl glucoside 14,00
C Lactic acid 0,00
C IPA (isopropyl alcohol )as required
C Pine essential oil 0,50
silicone mould rectangles ---

JELLY SOAP WITH SCS - PROCEDURE

1.thoroughly disinfect all utensils, containers or packaging you will use, for example with ethanol.
2. weigh the carrageenan, glycerine and mica powder into a container, mix thoroughly to a thick slurry.
Set aside.
3.in a second heat-resistant container, weigh out the water and place on a water bath, start heating.
4.once the water reaches a gentle boil, around 70-80°C, stir in the SCS powder. Once dissolved, add the mixture of glycerin, carrageenan and mica powder that you prepared beforehand. Stir thoroughly.
5. keep at 70-80 °C for about 10 minutes to give the carrageenan enough time to dissolve. Then test a small amount of the mixture on a cool plate - if the mixture has hardened, you can remove it from the water bath.
6.as the mixture solidifies quite quickly, you will need to add the essential oil at an even higher temperature,
if you wait for it to cool, the mixture will harden and the oil cannot be added.
7.immediately after adding the essential oil, pour into the silicone mould of your choice and spray the filled mould with IPA - this will remove any bubbles.
8. once hardened, the soap is ready to use.

JELLY SOAP WITH DECYL GLUCOSIDE - PROCEDURE

1.again, disinfect all utensils, containers or packaging, e.g. with ethanol.
2. weigh the glycerine, mica powder and carrageenan into a heat-resistant container, mix thoroughly
to a thick slurry and add demineralised water.
3. place this mixture in a water bath and heat until the carrageenan is dissolved at 70 °C.
The mixture can only be removed from the water bath when the carrageenan has solidified (test this by placing a small amount of carrageenan on a saucer, if the mixture solidifies the carrageenan has heated sufficiently, if not, continue heating).
4.once removed from the water bath, immediately add the decyl glucoside and mix thoroughly.
5.then check the pH and add lactic acid drop by drop
(the amount given is only a guide) to bring the pH below 7, ideally 4.5-5.5.
6. add the essential oil, mix well and pour immediately into the prepared mould.
7. spray the filled mould with IPA to remove bubbles.
8. once set, the soap is finished and ready to use.

JELLY SOAP - TIPS AND TRICKS

Here are some tips and tricks, including storage advice, to help you make and enjoy your product successfully for as long as possible.


The mixture solidifies very quickly once removed from the water bath, so don't hesitate to add essential oil.
Due to the higher temperature, some of the oil will evaporate and some thermal degradation may occur, andif the temperature drops below 40 °C, the mixture is too stiff to incorporate other substances.


For this reason, no preservative has been used in the product, even though there are relatively high amounts of tensides and carrageenan in the jelly soap. At the same time, at a higher temperature, when it is still possible to add substances to the mixture, the preservative would degrade and would not provide protection for the product. It is therefore also a good idea to use up the product as quickly as possible.


At the same time, it is a good idea to store the soap away from water after use (watch out for residual water in the soap dish). If you want to store the soap, it is not recommended to do so for a long time as the soap will start to dry out without use.


So prepare smaller batches of soap so that you always have fresh product on hand.


In the case of making soap with decyl glucoside, the previous advice also applies. Again, add the decyl glucoside and lactic acid as soon as the soap is removed from the water bath otherwise the mixture will solidify and the substances cannot be added. Although the higher temperature will cause inaccuracies in the pH determination, this should not significantly affect the resulting pH of the product - the aim is to go from an alkaline pH (8 or more) to neutral (pH 7) or slightly acidic (up to pH 4,5).

JELLY SOAPS AND THEIR COMPARISON

Here is a comparison of the properties of the two soaps, so you can choose the one that suits you best.

At first glance, the soaps already differ in their working process, since in the first case we use powdered and in the second liquid tenside. These tensides also have different pH, decyl glucoside is strongly alkaline, so pH adjustment is necessary. you can also adjust the pH of the soap with SCS, but since SCS has a lower pH than decyl glucoside, this is not as necessary.


In use, the soap containing decyl glucoside provided a little more lather, but if your soap got too stiff, such soap can only handle one more warm up for additional dissolving. In other respects, however, it was comparable to the jelly soap with SCS.


So the main criteria for you will probably be availability of ingredients, if you have SCS on hand, choose this soap. If you prefer to work with glucosides, a jelly soap containing decyl glucoside is the one for you.

JELLY SOAP - RAW MATERIALS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE

Below, we'll go over the individual ingredients and their importance to the recipe. You'll also learn more about their possible substitutions so you can tailor your jelly soap recipe.

DEMINERALISED WATER

The basis for dissolving tensides or forming jelly is demineralised water. Thanks to this water in combination
with carrageenan, you get a solid gel, or jelly. You can also substitute demineralised water with floral hydrolates if you wish. In addition, floral hydrolates can add a delicate fragrance to the product, which can replace the use of essential oils.

GLYCERINE

Glycerin is an important ingredient in both recipes. It is an alcohol, in this case of vegetable origin, which has a wide use in the cosmetic industry as a skin moisturizer.


In our case, glycerine helps to speed up the dissolution of the carrageenan, as it provides the powdered form of carrageenan with a better environment for hydration than if the carrageenan were added directly to the water - it would form lumps. The same is true of using mica powder, due to the glycerin it disperses more quickly and colours the product evenly.


Therefore, do not omit glycerine from the product or fundamentally change its representation in the recipe,
as you may end up with a different strength of jelly soap.

CARAGENAN

The thickening and gelling agent in this recipe is carrageenan. Thanks to this plant-derived substance, we get a beautifully firm jelly. Carrageenan dissolves in water when heated to about 70 °C, so it is necessary to heat products with its presence, otherwise your soap will not set.


Carrageenan can be substituted for animal gelatine, but be aware that you may get a differently stiff jelly with the same dosage. Also, it will probably be necessary to try batches with different proportions of gelatine before you get the desired stiffness.


Of course, if you want a less firm jelly, you can reduce the carrageenan content by about 0,5 to 1 %.
Otherwise, if you want a firmer jelly, increase the carrageenan content by the same amount.

SCS

SCS or sodium coco sulfate is a tenside that is widely used in various types of cosmetics requiring foaming and cleansing effects. SCS is sold in the form of white beads, and so it does not become intensely airborne and irritate the respiratory tract when handled as SCI wont.


If you are avoiding the use of sulfates in cosmetics, try our second recipe for a jelly soap containing decyl glucoside. Otherwise, SCS is a convenient form of tenside that is easy to dispense and dissolves quickly in water.

DECYL GLUCOSIDE

An alternative to using SCS is decyl glucoside. This is a liquid tenside with a higher pH, so pH adjustment of the final product is necessary. Decyl glucoside has similar properties to coco glucoside, however we have not tested this option, so we cannot guarantee that the final soap will set when using coco glucoside.


Decyl glucoside provides an intense and rich lather that is more pronounced than when using SCS. If you have decyl glucoside on hand, try the jelly soap variant using it as well.

MICA POWDER

Mica powders are most commonly used to colour your products and can be used in a wide range of products. Mica powders are usually combined with glycerine to disperse them evenly when water is added. Mica powders can also be added at the end to a still liquid product, but there is a risk of not
to mix thoroughly and lumps remain in the product.


You can choose the intensity of the colouring of the product yourself, you can dose the mica powders until you reach the desired shade. At the same time, you have a wide range of colours to choose from, so you can create a product exactly to your liking.

ESSENTIAL OIL

Essential oils have been used to obtain a pleasant scent for the finished soaps, these concentrated aromatic extracts from plants will permeate your products with a wide variety of scents. Their advantage and disadvantage at the same time is that they are more intensely released when hot. Therefore, when you add them to a hot mix you will lose some of these oils, on the other hand, when you shower and come in contact with warm water they will be more intensely released from the soap,
so you'll enjoy them even more.


Of course, you can make an unscented version of the soap without these substances. Or you can reach for fragrance oils, these are synthetically prepared fragrances. On the other hand, they offer you an even wider range of scents than essential oils.

LACTIC ACID

Lactic acid has been used to adjust the pH in this case. Lactic acid has the advantage that it is already sold as a solution, thus eliminating the dissolving and preparation of the solution, as in the case of citric acid. At the same time, lactic acid is relatively concentrated, so you won't need as much of it as with citric acid.


It is therefore also advisable to proceed slowly when adjusting the pH, adding the acid drop by drop, stirring thoroughly, checking the pH and then adding more acid if necessary. To check the pH value you can use, for example, pH paper.

IPA

IPA, or isopropyl alcohol, is a versatile agent for removing bubbles from soaps prepared either
from soap masses or from jellies. It also helps to prevent soap dust from forming in the case of conventional fat and hydroxide soaps.


It is easiest to have IPA spray on hand, but if you don't currently have IPA, you don't need to use this substance.
However, count on the fact that your soap will have bubbles on its surface.

WARNING

As mentioned, you can experiment with homemade recipes to achieve the desired properties. However, many factors such as humidity, temperature, quality of ingredients and storage can affect the final result.


Before using any raw material to make a cosmetic product, familiarize yourself with its properties, recommended dosage, storage conditions or safe handling. Any raw material may have the potential to cause an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals, so before using a product, we recommend that you find out if you suffer from an allergy to any of the raw materials or the overall product, e.g. by a skin test.


If you have very sensitive or very acne-prone skin, or other skin and health problems, we recommend that you consult a medical professionalbefore applying a new product to your skin, whether it is a homemade cosmetic product, a pure raw material or a commercially available product.

JELLY SOAP - CONCLUSION

Jelly soap is a fun and interesting way to liven up an evening ritual or make a necessary hygiene routine more enjoyable for children. Have you ever tried something like this?

Thank you to Ivana Jakalova for the great tutorial on how to make jelly soap.

If you have any questions and ideas on how to make your jelly soap even better, be sure to email us at marketing@handymade.sk

Until we see you again for another tutorial or article, have a nice and creative day.

Until the saponification, my friends.