Teach Soap

I have been making liquid soap for about a year now...in the last 6 months, i feel I have finally 'gotten it' and my batches have been nice. Lately, I have been toying with the viscosity. I stumbled on a "Gelled Liquid Soap" recipe on the Yahoo Cream Soap forum using a glycerin and Hydroxyethyl Cellulose (HEC) slurry and I made another batch using a slurry of Guar Gum (both slurries were added in the initial dilution water amt., then added to the hot paste).

Both the HEC and the guar gum, thickened the liquid but when cold weather came, the soap became semi-solid and opaque.... anyway, in searching the Web, I have noticed a lot of "Organic" companies' bath gels/liquids containing saponified oils of coconut, sunflower etc. but with Decyl glucoside added (some with Decyl Glucoside and an additional syndet). When trying to do a search on WHY (or for what purpose) syndets are added to potassium soaps - google just gives you bunches of products on the market that're formulated this way
I just want to know why/what the syndets bring to the party? I want to know if it makes the Potassium soap more gentle? Thicker? ANY info is appreciated - thanks in advance

Syndets bring more bubbles to handmade liquid soap.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.