Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Can Lye base soap be used as dish soap?

  • Can Lye base soap be used as dish soap?

    Posted by pras on October 29, 2019 at 2:25 pm

    I would like to know if a lye base soap can ever be used for washing dishes?  I have tried several combination of lye soap including 100% coconut soap but the soap seem to have several issues and doesnt work well. First of all, it does not dry fast and takes a very long time. Even when it dries,  it leaves a water mark on the dishes. have tried adding washing soda and borax too for water softening but it still takes a long time to dry and still leaves  water mark. Glucoside soaps are good but are not strong enough or concentrated. 

    OldPerry replied 5 years ago 2 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • OldPerry

    Member
    October 29, 2019 at 2:57 pm

    These are the problems for which synthetic detergents were created to correct. Sure you can use lye based soap to wash dishes, but not without the problems you noted.

  • pras

    Member
    October 29, 2019 at 4:03 pm

    Hmm…That’s what I felt too. Which surfactant would you suggest to go for natural but strong  for dishes? I have a coco glucoside formulation which works well but not strong enough.

  • OldPerry

    Member
    October 29, 2019 at 4:37 pm

    These are the most common ones used.  I don’t know what you define as “natural” so I can’t really recommend anything specifically.  Some people consider Sodium Lauryl Sulfate natural, some people don’t.

  • pras

    Member
    October 30, 2019 at 3:55 am

    Thanks for your suggestion and input Perry! I am looking for a non-ionic surfactant. Would Lauryl or Alkyl Poluglucoside work better compared to coco or decyl  ?  Also, for foam, would the combination of Lauryl, decyl and coco give good lather or do we still need to add capb to get better foam?

  • OldPerry

    Member
    October 30, 2019 at 1:11 pm

    I do not know the answer to your questions. I work on shampoo/body wash systems and not much in dish washing. For cosmetic products, you do need to add a secondary surfactant like Cocamidopropyl Betaine to get good foam. I just don’t know if that is the same type of foam you need for washing dishes. 

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