Teach Soap

I'm just trying out my idea to use d-limonene as a component. The idea is to make a soap with extra cleaning power. I added 5% and discounted it from another oil with an equivalent SAP value (195).
Didn't bother adding FO because it has its own characteristic orange aroma. It took much more blending than usual, no doubt due to having no FO to accelerate it, but the batter came out very nicely and it's in the mould now. This was just a 500g experimental batch. More news later.
Also, to amuse myself, I tried using a couple of drops of red food colour and it came out a nice orange.

LOL, I love the way you amuse yourself! Keep up the good work.

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

Interesting. I use citrus oils, but as an add on, not as part of the oils/butters.

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

I would never think to use d-limonene in a soap. In Botany we use it as a solvent. It dissolves wax and helps strip dyes out of samples. I would worry about it stripping out hair colour! Also, long term exposure is linked to melanoma, so please be careful!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Really? All the info I have is that it's GRAS. (see pubmed, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18072821)
Can you let me have a link to that melanoma quote? Limonene has been used in mechanic's hand creams for ages, you know.

The soap went through full gell, I unmoulded it, already quite firm. Lather is the same as the recipe without the limonene. I haven't tested it yet on grease but I'll mucky-up my hands tomorrow on the car engine and try it out!

One thing, the aroma is great, better I would say than the orange soap my wife made recently and that had 5% orange FO, and the orange FO cost a lot more than the limonene.

I tried it on someone and they couldn't tell the difference between the orange FO and the d-limonene.

It is already very firm. I had a little trouble cutting it with the wire. I have the impression that it might be a very 'hard' oil, perhaps have a hardening effect on the bar.

I'd better pH test it tomorrow because if I'm wrong with the SAP value, then it might be a bit lye heavy. The lye discount was 5% and the d-Limonene likewise.

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Genius is 1 % inspiration and 99 % perspiration

Clinical Summaryhttp://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/d-limonene
Derived from the peels of citrus fruits, D-limonene is used by patients to prevent and treat cancer and has been promoted as a treatment for gastroesophageal reflux. Following oral administration, D-limonene is rapidly metabolized to limonene-1,2-diol, perillic acid, dihydroperillic acid, and uroterpenol (1) (2) (3).
In vitro and animal studies suggest that D-limonene has anti-inflammatory (13) and anticancer effects (14). It was also shown to enhance the activity of docetaxel against prostate cancer cells (15).

And it is generally regarded as safe by the FDA.

The soap does actually work to remove grease from the hands, I tried it this morning.

If has been marked carcinogenic and removed from sale to the public in most of Canada. You can get it from chemical supply but you must sign a waver. At least thats how it was a couple years ago.

And I don't have any website links about the safety, but I do have a Botanist Grandfather who had melanoma related to using d-limonene.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist