Aloe vera juice

Replaces some or all of the water.

Opens the calculator’s starter recipe, 1000 g of oils, with this additive at the dose it fills in, ready to change.

What it is

Aloe vera juice is sold preserved: Lotioncrafter’s carries sodium benzoate, sodium sulfite and potassium sorbate, with citric acid to adjust its pH. The gel of the aloe leaf is about 99.5 % water.

Lotioncrafter supplier or guide, Hamman (2008) primary source

How much

up to 100 % of the water filled in Handcrafted Soap (2002) primary source

The calculator fills in 100 % of the water: 284 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.

When and how

Usually: as the lye liquid.
Also used: into the oils, at light trace.
Chill it well before the lye goes in.
Not into hot lye: it scorches.

Lovely Greens supplier or guide

What it does to the recipe

99.5 % is water, taken off the recipe’s water.

Hamman (2008) primary source

Worth knowing

Shop aloe juice is usually preserved, with sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate or sodium sulfite, and has citric acid added. Lotioncrafter supplier or guide
Fresh aloe gel can sting and itch: try it on your skin first. Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book primary source

Spoons and drops

1 tsp ≈ 4.95 g
1 tbsp ≈ 14.9 g
1 cup ≈ 238 g

Madar Corporation primary source

INCI name

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice

CAS number: 85507-69-3, 94349-62-9
EC number: 287-390-8, 305-181-2

Guides that discuss it

Sources

Hamman (2008) · primary source

J. H. Hamman, "Composition and applications of Aloe vera leaf gel", Molecules 13 (2008): the gel "consists of about 99.5% water".

Lovely Greens · supplier or guide

Lovely Greens, natural soap additives: pumpkin purée "1 oz (28 g) ... for every pound (454 g) of soapmaking oils"; aloe in hot lye "can burn".

Handcrafted Soap (2002) · primary source

Handcrafted Soap (North Light, 2002): aloe juice or cold, strong coffee in place of the distilled water; "2 tablespoons (30ml) of powdered goat milk for every 8 ounces (237ml) of water".

Lotioncrafter · supplier or guide

Lotioncrafter, aloe vera juice 1X: preserved with "Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Sulfite, and Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid as a pH adjuster".

Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book · primary source

Susan Miller Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book (Storey Publishing, 1995): honey, "no more than 4 tablespoons (59 ml) of warm honey for a 12-pound (5.45 kg) batch of soap" (pp. 66–67); vitamin E at about 0.06 % and grapefruit seed extract at 0.5–5 % of the ingredients, in the oils before the lye; the Goat Milk Soap (pp. 110–114) takes "½ pound (227 g) cold goat milk" beside "2½ pounds (1.13 kg) cold, distilled water", the lye solution drizzled into the milk at 80 °F, because too much goat milk "makes the soap more vulnerable to premature rancidity"; fresh aloe gel "can sting and itch".

Madar Corporation · primary source

Madar Corporation, aloe vera juice specification: specific gravity 0.997–1.009 at 20 °C (lot 1.005).

All 138 additives