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You may already have come across interesting videos or photos with jelly soap, or you are hearing about it for the first time, it does not matter – you can also make such a soap at home. Jelly soap brings joy to the faces not only of children but also of adults, you can use it as a gift. We are bringing you two recipes for how to prepare jelly soap in the comfort of your home.
Below you will find a list of ingredients for two basic jelly soaps. Of course, we will also look at a comparison of these two soaps. First, however, you need to realise that in order for the soap to foam, it must contain a surfactant that provides the cleansing and foam-forming effects. Secondly, we need a gel-forming component, in our case we chose carrageenan – a plant-based thickener that is excellent for producing firm jellies and is moreover vegan.
We are bringing you several tips and tricks, including advice on storage, so that you can successfully make your product and enjoy it for as long as possible.The mixture sets very quickly after being removed from the water bath, so do not hesitate with adding the essential oil. Due to the higher temperature, part of the oil evaporates and some thermal degradation may also occur, however, when the temperature falls below 40 °C, the mixture is too firm to incorporate other substances into it.For this reason, no preservative was used in the product, although the jelly soap contains a relatively high amount of surfactants and carrageenan. At the same time, at a higher temperature, when it is still possible to add substances into the mixture, the preservative would degrade and would not provide protection to the product. That is also why it is good to use the product up as quickly as possible.It is also good to store the soap out of water after use (pay attention to residual water in the soap dish). If you want to store the soap, it is not recommended for a long period, since unused soap will begin to dry out. Therefore, prepare smaller batches of soap, so that you always have a fresh product at hand.In the case of producing soap with decyl glucoside, the previous advice also applies. Again, add the decyl glucoside and lactic acid immediately after removing from the water bath; otherwise, the mixture will set and it will not be possible to add the substances. Although the higher temperature causes inaccuracies in determining the pH, this should not significantly affect the final pH of the product – the aim is to move from an alkaline pH (8 and above) to a neutral pH (pH 7) or slightly acidic (up to pH 4.5).
We are bringing you a comparison of the properties of both soaps, so that you can choose the one that suits you best.At first glance, the soaps partly differ in the working procedure, since in the first case we use a powdered and in the second case a liquid surfactant. These surfactants also have different pH values, decyl glucoside is strongly alkaline, therefore pH adjustment is necessary. You can also carry out pH adjustment with the soap with SCS, but since SCS has a lower pH than decyl glucoside, it is not as necessary. During use, the soap containing decyl glucoside provided a slightly larger foam, but if it set too firmly, such a soap will only withstand one more heating for additional dissolution. In other respects, however, it was comparable to the jelly soap with SCS.The main criterion for you will therefore probably be the availability of ingredients; if you have SCS at hand, choose this soap. If you prefer working with glucosides, the jelly soap containing decyl glucoside is the right one for you.
Below, we will go through the individual ingredients and their significance for the recipe. You will also learn more about their possible substitutions, so that you can tailor the recipe for your jelly soap to your needs.
The basis for dissolving surfactants or forming jelly is demineralised water. Thanks to it, in combination with carrageenan, you will obtain a solid gel, that is, a jelly. Demineralised water can also be replaced by floral hydrolates, if you wish. Floral hydrolates can additionally give the product a delicate scent, which can replace the use of essential oils.
Glycerin is an important component in both recipes. It is an alcohol, in this case of plant origin, which has wide use in the cosmetics industry as a humectant for the skin. In our case, glycerin helps to accelerate the dissolution of carrageenan, since it provides a better environment for hydrating the powdered form of carrageenan than if carrageenan were added directly into water – lumps would form. The same applies to the use of mica powder, which, thanks to glycerin, disperses more quickly and colours the product evenly.For this reason, do not omit glycerin from the product or substantially change its proportion in the recipe, as it may happen that you obtain jelly soap with a different firmness.
The thickener and gel-forming agent in this recipe is carrageenan. Thanks to this plant-derived substance, we obtain a beautifully firm jelly. Carrageenan dissolves in water after heating to about 70 °C, so it is necessary to heat products containing it, otherwise your soap will not set.Carrageenan can be replaced with animal gelatin, but bear in mind that with the same dosage you may obtain jellies with different firmness. Therefore, it will probably be necessary for you to test doses with different proportions of gelatin until you achieve the desired firmness.Of course, if you want a less firm jelly, you can reduce the content of carrageenan by approximately 0.5 to 1 %. Conversely, if you want a firmer jelly, increase the content of carrageenan by the same amount.
SCS or sodium coco sulfate is a surfactant that is widely used in various types of cosmetics requiring foaming and cleansing effects. SCS is sold in the form of white beads, and therefore does not become airborne as intensively and does not irritate the respiratory tract during handling as much as SCI tends to. If you avoid the use of sulfates in cosmetics, try our second recipe for jelly soap containing decyl glucoside. Otherwise, SCS represents a convenient form of surfactant which is easy to dose and dissolves quickly in water.
An alternative to using SCS is decyl glucoside. It is a liquid surfactant with a higher pH, therefore adjustment of the pH of the final product is necessary. Decyl glucoside has similar properties to coco glucoside, however, we did not test this variant, so we cannot guarantee that the resulting soap will set when using coco glucoside.Decyl glucoside provides intensive and rich foam, which is more pronounced than with the use of SCS. If you have decyl glucoside at hand, try the jelly soap variant also with its use.
For colouring your products, mica powders are most commonly used, and you can use them in a wide range of products. Mica powders are usually combined with glycerin for their even dispersion after water is added. Mica powders can also be added at the end into the still liquid product, but there is the risk that they will not be mixed thoroughly and lumps will remain in the product. You can choose the intensity of the colouring of the product yourself, you can dose mica powders until you reach the desired shade. At the same time, you have a wide range of colours to choose from, and so you can create a product exactly according to your ideas.
To achieve a pleasant scent of the finished soaps, essential oils were used, these concentrated aromatic extracts from plants will fragrance your products with a variety of scents. Their advantage and at the same time disadvantage is that they are released more intensively in heat. Therefore, when adding them to the mixture while hot, you will lose part of these oils, on the other hand, when showering and in contact with warm water they will be released more intensively from the soap, and you will enjoy them even more.Of course, you can prepare an unperfumed version of the soap without these substances. Or you can choose fragrance oils, which are synthetically prepared fragrance substances. On the other hand, they offer you an even wider palette of scents than essential oils.
For pH adjustment, lactic acid was used in this case. Lactic acid has the advantage that it is sold already as a solution, and thus the dissolution and preparation of a solution, as in the case of citric acid, is not necessary. At the same time, lactic acid is relatively concentrated, and so you will not need as much of it as in the case of citric acid.For this reason, when adjusting the pH, it is suitable to proceed slowly, to add the acid drop by drop, stir thoroughly, check the pH, and only then add another amount of acid if necessary. To check the pH value, you can use, for example, pH test strips.
IPA or isopropyl alcohol is a universal substance for removing bubbles from soaps prepared either from soap bases or from jelly. At the same time, it helps to prevent the formation of soap dust in the case of classic soaps from fats and hydroxide. The easiest way is to have IPA in a spray at hand, but if you do not have IPA at the moment, you do not have to use this substance. However, count on the fact that your soap will have bubbles on its surface.
As mentioned, you can experiment with homemade recipes to achieve the desired properties. However, the final result can be influenced by many factors, such as humidity, temperature, quality of the ingredients or their storage. Before you use any ingredient to make a cosmetic product, get acquainted with its properties, the recommended dosage, the storage conditions and the safe handling. Each ingredient can have the potential to trigger an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals, therefore, before using the product we recommend finding out whether you are not allergic to some of the ingredients or to the whole product, for example by a patch test. If you have very sensitive or very acne-prone skin, or you have other skin and health problems, we recommend that you consult a medical professional before applying a new product to your skin, whether it is a homemade cosmetic product, a pure ingredient or a commercially available product.
Jelly soap is a fun and interesting way to liven up the evening ritual or to make the necessary hygiene routine more pleasant for children. Have you ever tried something similar?We thank Ivana Jakalová for the great guide on making jelly soap.
If you have any questions and ideas on how to further improve the jelly soap, be sure to write to us at marketing@handymade.skUntil we meet again at the next tutorial or article, have nice and creative days.
See you at the next soaping, friends.
