The "soaps" in Dr. Bronner's liquid soaps, while made with vegetable fats and not animal fats, will work as an insecticide. I THINK Fels Naptha laundry soap is animal fat - if you find it, it's a bar, so you have to shave off the amount you want and dissolve it in the water - or Ivory Snow flakes (that one may be vegetable as well). I do not suggest anyone try to make their own as a one-off thing - you have to heat the lye and the fat before combining them, and hot, OR cold, lye is something to be VERY cautious with - lye burns badly. However, if you went on-line, or went to a few craft fairs, you might well find a soap made with vegetable fats and lye and maybe even with animal fats as well. I know of at least 3 brands/bars of soap made with olive oil, so vegetable fat soaps aren't unfindable. Dawn has been recommended to wash off Poison Ivy, but I don't recall reading about it as an insecticide - if it were, I think it would have been corrected, as now. And I will repeat Kimmsr's advice NOT to spray anything on a hot sunny day.

It's often the fragrance added to soap that is the problem, as well as synthetic detergents. Formulas for "soap" get changed all the time. DOVE sensitive skin, unscented, hypo-allergenic, and fragrance free - list of ingredients: sodium lauroyl isethionate, stearic acid, sodium tallowate or sodium palmitate, lauric acid, sodium isethionate, water, sodium stearate, cocamindo-propyl betaine or sodium C14-C16 olefin sulfonate, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, sodium chloride, tetrasodium EDTA, tetrasodium etidronate, maltol, titanium dioxide Compare that to a bar of Kirk's Castile Soap: Coconut Soap, Water, Vegetable Glycerin, Coconut Oil, Natural Fragrance - which is also hypoallergenic, all natural with no animal by-products or synthetic detergents. [Unfortunately, I can only use it in the shower, not the tub, with our hard water.] I make foaming soap for the hand dispensers by mixing 3 tablespoons Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap or Kirk's Castile Liquid (or other liquid soap) with 1 c. water. If you want to make it disinfecting hand soap, add 8 drops of Thieves Oil - especially during cold and flu season. Thieves oil is a natural disinfectant with an interesting story, but the oils are clove bud, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus and rosemary. You can make it with the individual oils (there are recipes available on-line), or purchase them already mixed - 5 Thieves Oil, 4 Thieves Oil (check Amazon.com). I just recently purchased a bottle of Mirai body cleanser. This liquid soap was designed for "older" people. I read recently "beginning around age 40, a personâÂÂs body odor contains a higher concentration of 2-Nonenal, a compound that has an unpleasant, greasy, grassy odor that we affectionately call âÂÂold-people smell.â So for every problem look for a solution, and for this condition it is persimmon extract, which lead me to information about Mirai. It really does make your skin feel great. I'm still in the testing stage. -Grainlady

I'm just guessing here, but since the ingredients are so simple, & there doesn't appear to be a catalyst (like lye) to cause a true saponification to occur, (which chemically changes the ingredients into something "new"), & there isn't a lathering oil, like coconut oil (I think...brain is very blonde right now....) it may be a soap that just doesn't lather much. Again, if I'm remembering correctly (see comment above...) soap made with olive oil alone, does produce a harder soap, BUT doesn't really lather. That's why a lot of CP soaps use a combination of olive, palm & coconut oils to produce a nice bar that lathers well, & holds up well. I don't know that adding more glycerin will do much good, not sure if curing it any longer will help or not.... I'm sure there are some folks around who have more info on this than me...... Just guessing, Hazel

I don't think this is too easy to make. See the site below for some info. The second site sells in huge quantities, the clear and shipping is based on the weight. http://www.pioneerthinking.com/glycerin.html http://www.soapcrafters.com/soap_crafting_supplies/711 http://www.millersoap.com/glycerinsoap.html I did find this info. for you. Looks complicated. Let us know how you do. deb "You can also make clear soap from scratch. This method involves all the aspects of cold process soapmaking, but takes it a few steps further by adding alcohol for clarity and a glycerin and sugar mix to suspend and enhance the clarity. It is a dangerous process because of the alcohol vapors. If you wish to make clear soap (which will not melt down like melt and pour  itÂs one pour only soap), please read "Transparent Soapmaking" by Catherine Failor. This is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to make clear soap from scratch".