Idea for making soap: sugar + cornstarch =?

Soap making is a never-ending learning process for me. There are so many different ingredients and techniques to try, the possibilities are endless. I have always kept my mind and eyes open to new ideas. Well, I also love cooking and what better place to come up with new ideas than your own kitchen? I’m not sure if anyone else has tried this or thought about it yet, but a new hack appeared for me and I wanted to share my experience with other soap makers.

Having a sensitivity to coconut oil in soaps, and also having moody skin in general, has kept me stingy with foaming oils in my soap-making recipes. However, people are so used to the abundance of lather generally associated with store-bought soaps (as they cheat with sodium laurel sulfate), that a more “lotion-like” lather is harder for some to accept. Also, let’s face it, who doesn’t love big, fluffy bubbles? That is why I have always tried to increase the lather of my soaps through other natural additives.

The addition of various types of powdered milk not only adds the nutritious that we all know is famous for beautiful skin, but it seems to help a little to add more lather and give it a certain creaminess. The silk fibers added to my bleach water gave me even more positive results. I always knew that silk provided wonderful “moisture locking properties” and a truly luxurious feel, but as I felt it significantly increase my soap’s ability to lather, it quickly became one of my favorite pleasures. Then there’s the other trick of the trade … Sugar. Whether it dissolves in bleach water or its presence enters from the addition of honey to my soap batches, sugar has shown outstanding results. In fact, when I first started lathering, castor oil was almost a must-have in all of my soap recipes due to the rare ricinoleic acid it contains which contributes to lathering without being as drying as “lather oils” that are typically used. I have found that the combination of silk and sugar works so well together that while I still respect and welcome castor oil for its wonderful content of essential fatty acids, it is no longer absolutely necessary for which I soaped.

Good thing I’m a “tag reader”! One day while baking a special sandwich for my husband, I looked at the ingredient list on a bag of confectioner’s sugar. “Ingredients: sugar and cornstarch”. As with many addicted soaps, I have a personal problem with often sliding items from our food cabinets to sneak into the soap; if it’s in the kitchen, it’s a game! I have tried cornstarch in my soap before and it was actually really nice. (Cornstarch is soothing to the skin and is sometimes used as a replacement for the feel of silk in vegan soaps.)

I decided to give it a try. When my soap reached a very fine trace I added about a tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar per pound of base oils, trying to add it carefully and space it around the bowl for easier mixing. Then I put my hand mixer on it and mixed it really well, making sure it was evenly incorporated into the mix and there were no lumps. I did notice that it thickened a bit, but not so much that it was so difficult to handle to get my soap into its mold when it was ready. Once the curing time was up and I tried it, I jumped like a kid at Christmas. It seemed to have the effects that a batch soap would have. I took the extra steps to dissolve my sugar in water before introducing the bleach. Y The added sensation that cornstarch can bring! The only difference is that it was a lot easier and faster than having to heat the water and stir like crazy to dissolve the sugar, and then wait for it to cool down a bit before adding my bleach. It seemed to be a truly effective time saver.

I love sharing ideas with other soap makers and I really hope some of you find this hack useful. Happy and safe soap!