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Safe Products to Wash Hands with Before Entering the Tank


RyeGuy411

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I have been wondering what would be a safe soap or chemical to scrub my hands down with before I start digging around in there. I try to keep my hands out as much as possible but sometimes they are the only tools for the job. Any experience or suggestions would be appreciated.

Ryan

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I use Dr.Bronners baby mild liquid soap which has no fragrances etc. Its REAL soap (saponified fats) not a surfactant and it doesn't dry your hands so bad if you dilute it. It won't leave any chemical residues. I keep it diluted 1\3 soap to 2\3 water in a pump dispenser.

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http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Bronners-Organic-Castile-Liquid/dp/B000HK1OOY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419126395&sr=8-1&keywords=bronners+baby+castile+soap

http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Bronners-Castile-Bar-Soap/dp/B0001ZZPI6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1419126494&sr=8-3&keywords=bronners+baby+castile+soap+bar

It comes in bars or liquid. And even the ones with scent might be safe, since its just light essential oils and don't really linger. I think making my own soap has made me a bit of soap snob ;) I think you can get this soap also at Walgreen's now, or at least a healthfood store or whole foods type market.

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Just keep your hands off the tank, that's safe.

Definitely this is this best way.

But if need be I use unscented regular soap.

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...

It comes in bars or liquid. And even the ones with scent might be safe, since its just light essential oils and don't really linger. I think making my own soap has made me a bit of soap snob ;)

Another soapmaker?? I do cold process soaping!

I'll admit, though, I just reach for my commercial dish soap to wash up before putting hands in the tank. :blush: I probably should keep a bar of my castile out for this purpose.

Some essential oils would probably make me nervous going in the tank, but I agree, the stuff added to a bronner's soap, which you mostly wash down the drain anyway, probably wouldn't make a bit of difference.

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I only cold process, I have never tried liquid soap making, it uses a different type of lye. I would sell some. Its actually soaping season for me =) I only make soap during the winter since its the only time of year cool enough to soap outside.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've never done liquid either, same reason (KOH vs NaOH). I do have some old homemade castile (100% olive oil) soap bars around, which are about as simple as it gets. Maybe I'll dig them out and RAOK them in advance of EbiBunBun's new ShrimpSpot soap line!

PS I have totally thought of doing soap bars inspired by shrimp markings... Princess Bee, PRL SSS, and Blue Bolt soaps just sound like so much fun to make/create. Of course, although they'd probably be safe enough to wash with, the colors wouldn't make them as pure as the other soaps we've been discussing. :)

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What a fun idea!  Shrimp on a rope. Decorative shrimp soaps. :)

 

Ebi found a link to share with me for making liquid soap from castile soap.

 

The Master Recipe

This is so easy it is a wee bit embarrassing but stay with me.

Ingredients:

1 bar of castile soap

2 quarts (8 cups) of boiling water  (I used filtered water)

Equipment:

A large kitchen or vegetable grater

A bowl or pot large enough to hold 2 quarts

Directions:

1.  Using your kitchen knife, slice and dice the bar of soap into small chunks.  Or, if you are so inclined, grate it up with a vegetable grater instead.  Castile soap in inherently soft so there is no reason to drag our the food processor or blender to do this.

9549753949_f120a384a9_n.jpg

2.  Measure out your boiling water and place it your bowl, pot or do as I did and use a large Pyrex measuring cup.

3.  Add the chunks or flakes and walk away.  Go do something else.  Walk the dog. Catch up on Backdoor Survival.  Just do something. When you come back in an hour or so, most if not all of the soap will be dissolved into a nice concentrated liquid.  At this point, transfer your liquid castile soap to some mason jars, a squirt bottle or other container and you are ready to go.

Notes:

Within 24 hours, my batches of liquid soap turned gel-like and semi-solid.  A quick run under hot water brought them back to liquid form.  In a way, this makes sense because coconut oil does not liquefy until it reaches 76 degrees.  Given the tremendous cost savings, this was something I could deal with.

9549753359_fdf40728c6_n.jpg

I tried both cutting the bar soap into chunks with a knife and grating it with my vegetable grater.  I felt that the vegetable grater resulted in a better end product.  I believe the soap dissolved more quickly and for some reason the resulting liquid was smoother.  I don’t know – hard to describe.

As will all castile soaps, there will not be an abundant amount of sudsing.  The suds in most soaps comes from sodium lauryl sulfates, a known irritant that does nothing but make suds. Be aware that you may get a few bubbles with this, but not many. Odd as it seems, it still clean very well and does not feel at all oily even though it is an oil based soap.

 

http://www.backdoorsurvival.com/diy-liquid-castile-soap-wonderful/

 

I'm anxious to see if it works with Ebi's soap as well. :)

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Hey, awesome! I use unscented castille soap (I'm allergic to so many things, it's just easier), and have wished that it came as a liquid for quite some time (it's hard to wash dishes with bar soap).

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We use Dr. Bronners soaps here too.  I use it for hands, shampoo and bodywash.  They have a conditioner I love but it kinds smells funky but got rid of my dry scalp problems.

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I've never done liquid either, same reason (KOH vs NaOH). I do have some old homemade castile (100% olive oil) soap bars around, which are about as simple as it gets. Maybe I'll dig them out and RAOK them in advance of EbiBunBun's new ShrimpSpot soap line!

PS I have totally thought of doing soap bars inspired by shrimp markings... Princess Bee, PRL SSS, and Blue Bolt soaps just sound like so much fun to make/create. Of course, although they'd probably be safe enough to wash with, the colors wouldn't make them as pure as the other soaps we've been discussing. :)

  

Shrimpy themed bath soap! That would be awesome! I haven't experimented with colors yet. I just want to put glitter in everything though. My stick blender just gave up the ghost. I dont know why but liquid soap making seems scarier. And the pottasium hydroxide isn't as easy to get. I might try a paint mixer attachmet on a drill instead. That's a great RAOK idea!

Hey, awesome! I use unscented castille soap (I'm allergic to so many things, it's just easier), and have wished that it came as a liquid for quite some time (it's hard to wash dishes with bar soap).

Yeah that must be hard. Have you tried Dishmate or Sun & Earth dish soap? For natural soap they cut grease really well and they make an unscented version. And I get it in bulk on amazon to cut down on cost, I go through tons of dish soap and the natural stuff is pricey! Liquid castile will leave a residue since it is supper fatted to leave a little oil on your skin so it doesn't dry your skin out.
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Really? Drat. I guess I lucked out. Stuff seemed to rinse clean.

I live with my parents and they have been wedded to a particular brand of dish soap since before I was born, so I'm only using it to wash food and water bowls and thus don't go through that much. No grease there. I picked up some random inexpensive stuff that came in a pump bottle. It works, but I would rather use unscented around my pets.

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