Liquid Soap Dilution Table

Diluting your liquid soap can be the trickiest part of the process. Too little water and your soap starts to form a skin, or congeals in the bottle. Too much water and it will lack body and lather.

This table, borrowed from Catherine Failor's Making Natural Liquid Soaps gives you a quick reference for how to dilute your soaps.

Liquid soaps with high amounts of coconut or hard oils in them can be diluted in as much as a 40% solution. Soaps high in soft oils, like olive or sunflower, will start to congeal at as low as 25%. Most mixed recipes will do best somewhere in between 25% and 35%. Start with the higher dilution and then add more water if it starts to congeal or form a crust at the top of the bottle. Go slow, a little bit at a time, you can always add more water later. Taking it out is much harder!