Hard Water Soap

A soap in one of the commonest used household material. It is believed that a soap with a good lather is better than a soap with relatively less lather. Natural soaps are nowadays a part of our daily life. The quality of soap not only depends on the chemicals that are used in it, but also on the type of water that is being used with it. Water as such has no classification, however, generally it is divided into two categories, hard water and soft water. How does the hard water affect the soaps? Before moving on to discuss the hard water soaps, let's discuss about the chemistry of hard and soft water.

Basic Chemistry of Soaps
Water has the unique property of surface tension that you can easily observe by dripping a drop of water on a table or a glass or even on your hands. It is due to the property of surface tension that water droplets are spherical in shape. A drop of water will always try to be in a spherical shape and it won't spread on the table, unless disturbed by an external source. In the process of cleaning, it is necessary that the surface tension is reduced and water molecules are spread throughout the surface that is to be cleaned. Soaps and surfactants are the chemical substances that have certain ingredients that play important role in cleaning, loosening and dispersing in water. This also helps in holding the soil in suspension until the dust and dirt is rinsed away. Soaps are basically water-soluble, sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids. Generally, soaps are made from fats and oils by treating them with a strong alkali. Saponification is a process that is used to manufacture soaps. Soaps act as an excellent cleanser that emulsifies the fat and insoluble particles.

What Is Hard Water And Soft Water?
Hard water is usually defined as the water that doesn't form lather with a soap. The chemical aspect that deals with hard water is that it contains a lot of minerals that makes it unfit and harmful to some extent for various purposes. Hard water contains high amount of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and also certain amounts of Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn). It also contains dissolved compounds of sulfates and carbonates. Hardness in water is of two types, temporary hardness and permanent hardness. Temporary hardness can be removed by simple process like boiling, but permanent hardness can't be easily removed. Soft water on the other hand is free of the minerals and contains cations of sodium and some anions. Soft water is considered to form lather with soap, however, since it is devoid of many ions and minerals it usually tastes salty.

Effects Of Hard Water: Soap Scum
Hard water soap scum is a common problem encountered in homes. Soap scum is a natural consequence of the interaction of the calcium and mineral ions in hard water and the soap chemicals. This leads to the formation of an insoluble compound that precipitates to form a scum, that we generally refer to as soap scum. Hard water soap scum is due to the chemicals in hard water contrary to the belief that the soap chemicals are responsible for the hard water soap scum.

There is a lot of research being carried out by soap manufacturing companies in order to reduce the hard water soap scum and poor lather, through addition of some new chemicals and agents. Companies are experimenting with natural additives like coconut oil, so that the a soap for hard water usage can be developed that can give good lather with the soap.