response 26 of 40:

Nov 17 02:56 UTC 1997

Ah hah! Everyone reading this cf now knows that! Good question, though,
where one might buy citric acid in town....I'll check it out.

response 28 of 40:

Nov 17 17:05 UTC 1997

Boric acid is "off the shelf" (or at least used to be...) as an antiseptic.
It wouldn't work in this application, though: it is too insoluble and
too weak an acid.

response 30 of 40:

Nov 18 00:06 UTC 1997

  I don't think I would class Arbor or Rite Aid as well stocked and reputable
apothecaries. I was thinking more along the lines of Wenks, or the ones in
Dexter or Chelsea that have a Ralph Bellamy look-a-like behind the counter
and knows his business, as well as the PDR by heart.
  There was one where I grew up called Wayne Apothecary who had everything
I needed to make my own toothpaste and shampoo, as well as the encouragement
to experiment with these things. BTW, they were both successes, although I
had to get the toothpaste milled because it was way too abrasive, and the
shampoo was very harsh since it was made with Tide. It did make a hell of a
hand cleaner, though.

response 32 of 40:

Nov 18 20:36 UTC 1997

  I got the recipe from Proctor and Gamble, and it was a basic formula that
involved (for toothpaste) Sodium Laurel Sulfate, Irish Moss Extract, Sodium
Laureth Sulfate, flavoring (I used spearmint), and a few other things I can't
recall (this was about 20 yrs ago). I had a friend whose dad worked as a
senior chemist at the R.P.Scherer Co, a pharmaceutical co that makes all
manner of geletin capsules, In fact the worlds largest producer of capsules.
  Anyhow, He asked to see it, and pronounced it a success, then did something
called "milling" which is run the paste through a machine with heavy rollers
to break down the abrasives. It still was pretty gritty even after milling.

  The shampoo was made with detergent as the base (most shampoos are detergent
based, BTW) and P&G recommended any detergent plus lanolin and a few other
things to make it foam and smell good. I didn't use any perfume, so it smelled
like Tide. I used it, it took all the oil off of my hair, and I went around
smelling like Tide for a week. Finally decided to sell it to the guy I was
working for. I used to work in a gas station changing oil and learning to
do simple mechanical tasks on cars such as changing starters, mufflers and
other things. The shampoo got our hands very clean, and so I made a large
batch of it for the station. 

response 34 of 40:

Nov 19 03:48 UTC 1997

One of the science classes at CHS is making soap...I'll try to get teflon in
here to tell you about it.

response 36 of 40:

Nov 19 07:07 UTC 1997

Home soap making was, of course, once very common when that was the only
way to get it (especially at the frontier, even after it was made for
sale). As omni says, it is made by reacting lye (wood ashes is a good
source) and beef fat. It takes some subsequent processing to recover the
soap with not too much residual lye - early soaps were pretty harsh because
of the difficulty of doing that well. 

Detergents are another matter. There are many chemical varieties, but
all require more than "kitchen chemistry" to produce. I cannot think of
any natural or simple detergent that was in use before modern chemistry
came to bear. Can anyone else here?

response 38 of 40:

Nov 19 17:24 UTC 1997

Found one (or, a group): Saponaria, also called soaproot, fuller's herb,
bruisewort, or bouncing bet. A lather can be formed from the saponins
from the root, but it is toxic to fish. Another source is Quillaja, or 
soap bark, Panama bark, China bark or Murillo bark. Such natural detergents
are still used today as foaming agents in shampoos and other products.

response 40 of 40:

Nov 20 07:12 UTC 1997

  That is what this conf is all about. You're welcome.