Stearin from laundry soap. Do-it-yourself soap candles (stearin) Soap in the treatment of constipation in pregnant women

They mentioned the special arrangement of its molecules: a “head” and a long “tail”, moreover, the “head” tends to water, and the “tail”, on the contrary, repels from the water ...

Let's take a closer look at the hydrophobic "tail" - a long hydrocarbon chain. Such compounds are very common and extremely important for industry. They are an indispensable component of many fats, oils, lubricants and other useful substances. One of them - the so-called stearin - we will now get, taking laundry soap as a basis.

With a knife, cut from half a piece of laundry soap and put in a clean tin can (or in your used saucepan). Pour in enough water to cover the soap chips, and place the mixture in a water bath. Stir the contents of the saucepan with a wooden stick from time to time so that the soap quickly dissolves in the water. When this finally happens, remove the vessel from the fire (of course, not with your bare hand) and pour vinegar into it. Under the action of acid, a thick white mass will stand out from the solution and float to the surface. This is stearin - a translucent mixture of several substances, mainly stearic C 17 H 35 COONa and palmitic C 15 H 31 COONa acids. It is impossible to say the exact composition, it depends on the substances that went into the preparation of soap.

From stearin, as is known from fiction, candles are made. Or rather, they did it before, because now candles are mostly not stearin, but paraffin - paraffin obtained from oil is cheaper and more accessible. But, as soon as we have stearin at our disposal, we will prepare a candle from it. That, by the way, is a fun activity in itself!

When the jar is completely cool, scoop the stearin off the surface with a spoon and transfer it to a clean bowl. Rinse the stearin two or three times with water and wrap in a clean white cloth or filter paper to absorb excess moisture. When the stearin is completely dry, let's start with a candle.

Here is perhaps the simplest trick: dip a thick twisted thread, for example, from a wick for a kerosene stove, repeatedly into slightly heated melted stearin, each time allowing the stearin to harden on the wick. Proceed in this way until a candle of sufficient thickness grows on the wick. This is a good way, although somewhat tedious; in any case, in ancient times, candles were often prepared in this way.

There is a simpler way: immediately coat the wick with stearin heated to soften (it can even be freshly cooked, not yet cooled down). But in this case, the wick will be worse saturated with fusible mass and the candle will turn out to be not very good, although it will burn.

For beautiful, figured candles, manufacturing methods are not easy. And first of all, you need to make a form - wooden, plaster, metal. In this case, too, it is desirable to impregnate the wick first with one or two layers of stearin; then it is fixed in the form so that it passes exactly in the middle. It is desirable that the wick be slightly taut. And after that, hot stearin is poured into the mold.

By the way, in this way you can make candles from paraffin, i.e., in fact, from purchased candles, by melting them and giving them the shape you like. However, we warn you - you will have to tinker ...

Having received a candle from soap, we will carry out the experiment in the opposite direction: we will prepare soap from a candle. Only not from paraffin, soap cannot be made from it at all, because paraffin molecules do not have “heads”. But if you are sure that the candle is stearic, then you can safely prepare laundry soap from it. Natural beeswax is also suitable.

Heat a few fragments of a stearin candle in a water bath, hot enough, but not brought to a boil. When the stearin is completely melted, add a concentrated solution of washing (soda ash) to it. The resulting white viscous mass is soap. Hold it for a few more minutes in a water bath, and then, putting on a mitten or wrapping your hand in a towel so as not to burn yourself, pour the still hot mass into any form - at least into a matchbox. When the soap has hardened, take it out of the box.

It will not be difficult to make sure that this is soap and that it washes. Just please don't use it to wash your hands, because we don't know how pure the ingredients in the candle were.

O. Olgin. "Experiments without explosions"
M., "Chemistry", 1986

Soap as a laxative is considered an effective alternative to pharmaceutical medicines and drugs that have side effects. However, this method of getting rid of constipation can be addictive.

Soap

Regarding the use of soap candles, there are many discussions both in the medical environment and among patients: the issues of the benefits and harms of this method are being resolved. However, its effectiveness has been proven more than once in practice, due to which this product is considered the most accessible assistant when constipation occurs.

Does laundry soap really help with constipation?

Soap in the fight against constipation began to be used back in the Soviet years, when there were few laxatives in pharmacies. At that time, the "soapy" method was considered safe and universal, but modern doctors constantly dispute this statement. So that soap does not harm the body, it is worth understanding exactly how it acts when it enters the anus.

In case of constipation, a bar of soap can effectively soften the stool, which will ensure a quick bowel emptying. Soap is used as the main ingredient in the preparation of bowel cleansing enemas and laxative rectal suppositories.

The effect of a soap bar on the body is similar to the effect of known suspensions that are used rectally. Due to the direct contact of soap with the mucous membrane, in order to facilitate the process of defecation, only natural varieties are used.

Laundry soap for constipation in an adult will give the fastest effect. And the baby acts gently, slowly stimulating the intestinal system. Tar soap is completely prohibited for use. It is too active on intestinal receptors and can provoke serious inflammation in the intestine.

Do not make candles from moisturizing soapy cream. Despite the fact that this remedy provides moisture to the skin, it takes moisture away from the mucous membrane, which can cause cracks in the anus. In addition, in such a mass there is a large list of additives that cause fat imbalance.

Soap candle making

Immediately you need to find out which soap is best for constipation in infants or adults. Many people think that there is nothing better than laundry soap. But it is characterized by the highest alkalinity, which is so harmful to the intestines. Therefore, for a child, it is best to choose a mild baby soap that will not harm the delicate skin of newborns.

Having decided on the choice of soap, you need to cut off a small part from it, form it in the form of a candle and smooth the edges under a stream of water. The diameter of a piece for an infant should be like two match heads.

The child is laid on a barrel, a candle is carefully inserted. After about 10 minutes, the baby should poop.

folk recipe

To reduce the negative effect of alkali on the intestinal mucosa, soap can be made by yourself at home. This will require:

Crushed dark soap - 50 grams;
Olive oil or vaseline - 10 grams;
Small baking dish;
Water - 100 grams.

All ingredients must be mixed, boiled for a couple for about two hours. To prevent the liquid from boiling away, the mass is covered with a lid. Then the mixture must be poured into a mold and sent to the refrigerator so that the soap freezes. When it finally hardens, you can make candles from the soap composition.

Attention! Homemade soap has a milder effect, does not irritate the rectum, and the discharge of feces occurs no later than 30 minutes after the introduction of a soap bar. The ingredients of pure natural soap stimulate peristalsis, and thanks to the oil, hardened stool particles soften.

Help a child

It is impossible to use any soap product during constipation with an inflammatory process in the rectum. This can lead to an exacerbation of the disease and the opening of bleeding.

It should be borne in mind that soap is not a medicine, but only an irritant that provokes the release of the intestine. If the body is not able to independently remove food from the body, you should not suppress the natural functions of the digestive system. In this case, you need to go to an appointment with a gastroenterologist to solve the root of the problem, and not just a symptom in the form of constipation.

As practice has shown, using soap too often during constipation is not a good idea. Many patients overly often resort to this method of dealing with problematic stools, which causes irreversible consequences. In addition, soap has long been superseded by the wide range of available rectal suppositories. Even when you urgently need to empty the intestines, it is better to use safer and milder folk recipes.

What are the possible complications?

If constipation has happened once in a long period, then soap can be used to alleviate the condition, but you need to be sure that the condition is not associated with a specific serious illness. And when constipation occurs often, then it is necessary to talk to a doctor, undergo an examination, understand what is the cause of the pathology.

Complications

It must be remembered that the frequent use of the method with soap candles causes irritation and damage to the mucous membrane, which leads to the appearance of cracks and ulcerative formations.

Alkali, which constantly acts on the intestine from the inside, simply corrodes its walls. After frequent use of soap, tenesmus develops - false urge to defecate, accompanied by pain, even if there is no feces in the rectum.

When and how often can it be applied?

The "soapy" method is used for constipation. But for the following diseases, it should be used in combination with soothing herbs and oils:

indigestion, dyspepsia;
Dysbacteriosis;
peptic ulcers;
Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

The frequency of use should not exceed 1 time in 2 months.

The resulting candle must be carefully inserted into the anal passage. You don't have to push it deep. The procedure is not accompanied by pain, because at body temperature the soap melts in the intestine and lubricates its walls so that feces come out easier. The relief effect, depending on the duration of constipation, occurs after 20 minutes.

Important! Elderly patients are not recommended this method with hard stools without the permission of a doctor.

Are there any risks?

It is not without reason that medicine takes the side of medical methods of dealing with frequent constipation in infants, in adult patients, during pregnancy and lactation. Doctors explain this by the fact that the soap in the composition contains alkaline substances that corrode and irritate sensitive intestinal walls.

Much safer and healthier natural oil candles, which are sold in pharmacies. In addition, the constant use of soapy candles can lead to addiction. The intestines will cease to cope with their task on their own.

A small child often behaves restlessly, from which the parents conclude that something hurts him. If he was recently fed, watered, he is dry, then there is a problem with the tummy, this is how the whole range of problems that the crumbs may have is most often classified. And the fact that he still has a head and all other organs is somehow not remembered.

And what could be wrong with the tummy? There are two extremes: diarrhea or constipation. If the first is not diagnosed, then the matter is in the second. The problem has been found, we will treat it, and quite often in these cases, young mothers put soap in the child's ass instead of a candle. How safe the tool can be, why it helps and what can be considered a worthy analogue, we will talk with you now.

What can be considered constipation

This is where every mom should start. Before giving the baby drugs or performing certain manipulations with him, you need to find out what is wrong with him. Maybe you are going to treat the wrong symptom. Soap in the ass can be put a little later, if it is really necessary. There are criteria and certain signs by which you can tell if everything is in order with the baby.

Main criteria

First of all, you need to evaluate the frequency of the stool. To do this, you can keep a record so as not to panic ahead of time. It is normal for a breastfed baby to have a bowel movement every 1-5 days. And here everything is individual. You need to monitor the condition and behavior of your baby. If he is cheerful, eats normally, the tummy is soft, then no additional measures need to be taken. As soon as a fecal sausage of sufficient size is formed, it will leave the intestines on its own.

Constipation in a newborn with artificial feeding is a more frequent occurrence. At the same time, the timing of the act of defecation here is from 1 to 3 days. Less often - this is a reason to consult a doctor. The fact is that the mixtures are absorbed worse, which means that there are more substances left for disposal. As we have already noted, everything is individual. If the child did not go to the toilet every other day, but at the same time systematically cries, pushes hard, grunts without a visible result, then this may well indicate constipation.

Additional factors

What to Consider

Only a few of the listed factors indicate that the child has constipation. Therefore, if the feces appear in the form of hard balls, with a delay of 1-2 days, and at the same time the baby cries a lot, this is constipation. If emptying does not occur every day, but the consistency of feces is within the normal range and the child groans and strains at the same time, this is normal. Most babies kick their legs a lot and tense up with their whole body, pushing the feces out. For the first year of life, this is a variant of the norm, since intestinal functions are just being formed. Therefore, if a child behaves calmly and smiles, eats and farts regularly, then he does not need any additional stimulation, and even more so, you do not need to put soap in his ass.

Possible causes of constipation

In small and large, bowel function can sometimes be disrupted, as a result of which episodic constipation develops, which then also goes away on its own. In this case, the children look healthy, develop properly and gain weight well. Changes in the nature of the intestines, not associated with any diseases, can be caused by the following reasons:

Insufficient liquid. This moment is especially important for artificers. Not in vain, when complaining of rare acts of defecation, pediatricians recommend giving children more water.
Maternal malnutrition. Sometimes the same principle lies in the basis of baby food. From the age of six months, a baby begins to receive semolina porridge, buns, rich, thick broths. The abuse of bakery products, rice, semi-finished meats and refined products provokes constipation in children and adults.
Taking medications. These can be antibiotics and anticonvulsants, antispasmodics and NSAIDs.
Constipation in a newborn with artificial feeding may be associated with the wrong selection of a mixture that does not suit him.

Soft stools and constipation

Sometimes it happens. The child constantly experiences anxiety, cries, but cannot go to the toilet. After stimulation, parents find that the stool is very soft and even watery. Does the child really have constipation and what to do? Yes, this happens with congenital diseases, intestinal defects, diabetes and adrenal insufficiency. This also includes disturbances in the work of the digestive organs, most often the pancreas and liver or gallbladder.

If the stool remains soft, and the child is lethargic and lethargic, and at the same time he has difficulty defecation, rickets and lactose deficiency, hypothyroidism and some other problems can be assumed. Do not forget that only a qualified doctor should make a verdict that the child has constipation. What to do - it will be clear during the examination.

How can you help

Soap for constipation is a reliable measure, but long outdated. Today, there are many much more effective methods that will help to cope with the problem. An examination by a pediatrician is the first thing you need. In parallel, try one of several ways:

Emergency relief of constipation

The first thing you must remember is to eliminate the cause, and not fight the effects. Stool retention for more than a day, accompanied by anxiety and crying, should be the reason for calling the local doctor. Any recommendation that soap should be injected into a child's bottom should be rejected outright. At the very least, refer to the fact that you will first consult with a specialist.

In ancient times, candles were made from stearin, so it is logical to assume that having obtained it, we will be able to make a candle on our own. Stearin can be easily obtained from the well-known laundry soap. And then we'll take the candle. This is an interesting activity, besides, a soap candle made by yourself is a great gift! So let's get started.

Getting stearin from soap

In order to isolate stearin from soap, you need to take:

laundry soap,
unnecessary pan,
table vinegar,
wooden spoon for stirring.

Prepared laundry soap (half a piece is enough) finely cut with a knife into some old unnecessary (but clean) pan. Then add water in such a way that the soap shavings are covered with it. We begin to melt the contents of the pan in a water bath. For better dissolution, stir the mixture from time to time with a wooden spoon. When the soap is completely dissolved in the water, remove the pan from the heat.

Now carefully pour the vinegar into the mixture. Gradually, a yellowish mass will appear on the surface of the mixture. This is stearin. After cooling with a spoon, collect it from the surface. Then rinse it under running water and wrap it in a paper towel to remove excess moisture.

Stearin

DIY soap candle making

Now let's start making candles. Melt the stearin (you decide how it is more convenient to do it yourself). Then take a sufficiently thick rope and dip it into the melt. Wait until the stearin on the wick hardens. Repeat the process until the soap candle is the desired thickness. Soap candle is ready! The method that we have given, of course, requires perseverance, but it was in this way that candles were made before!

Making candles from stearin at the Havi Oy Ab factory (Vyborg, 1830s)

A soap candle can also be curly. But for its manufacture you need a form. We prepare the form, impregnate the wick with a couple of layers of stearin, fix the wick and pour in the melted stearin, which completely fills the form. After hardening, you will get a curly candle made of soap. As you can see, nothing too complicated!

Do you know that?

Stearin is a mixture of various fatty acids, mainly stearic, palmitic, oleic, etc.

Currently, most candles are made not from stearin, but from paraffin, which is extracted from oil. Vaseline is also obtained from paraffin.

Few people thought, but there is a direct connection between a candle - not an automobile one, but used for lighting - and soap. Life experience allows us to use the chemical composition of these substances in such a way that by the simplest reaction carried out at home, it is easy to turn one into another. And vice versa.

What experience and skills should be, for example, to make a candle from a bar of soap? The most elementary. You need to take a piece of laundry soap. It has the simplest composition and does not contain numerous additives that are found in other types of soap. For example, aromatic additives.

Then you need to grind the soap - cut into cubes with a sharp knife, like a sausage. Or just cut like a pencil. The resulting small pieces of soap should be marked in a container. For example, a tin can. Pour the soap with water so that it completely covers the soap.

The bank is placed on a slow fire. But it is best to place it in a larger pot filled with water. When the water in the pot boils, its temperature does not rise above the boiling point of the water. And, therefore, the contents of the jar also do not heat up too much, as it can happen even on low heat. Such a design, when one container is heated in another container filled with water and standing on fire, is called a water bath.

When heating the jar in a water bath, you need to stir its contents all the time. Soon the soap bars will begin to dissolve in the water. When they are all dissolved, the jar must be removed from the water bath and pour vinegar into it. The acid will release a thick white foam from the melted laundry soap. This is stearin, the material from which candles used to be made.

Stearin was obtained from animal fat by removing glycerin from it. But with the invention of a method to obtain paraffin from unfiltered oil, the latter completely replaced stearin. The main argument was the cheapness of paraffin compared to stearin.

When the jar has cooled, it is not difficult to collect a wooden stick or false stearin from the surface of the liquid. Then the collected stearin must be washed with water and laid out on paper or a rag to absorb excess moisture.

The next step is to make a candle from the resulting stearin. It will take experience and skills in making a wick. Previously, the wick was made from reed or cotton, fibers of durable plants. Today, for a wick, you can use a thread extracted from a wide fabric strip - a filter for a kerosene stove.

It is better to impregnate the wick with the resulting stearin. After this operation, the candle will burn better. For impregnation, the wick must be dipped in slightly melted stearin. Then pull out and straighten. Keep the wick straight until the stearin hardens.

In China and Japan, candles were made from wax. The melted wax was laid out on paper, the wick passed through and the candle was rolled up. You can still use this method today.

Life experience gives another way to make a candle. It consists in repeatedly dousing the wick with molten stearin. Layers of stearin, superimposed on each other, gradually give the candles the desired thickness.

The candle can also be molded. Which can be wooden, clay, plaster, sand. When the form is ready, melted stearin is poured into it. After the candle is completely hardened, it can be removed from the mold.

It is not difficult to make soap from a stearin candle by performing a simple reverse reaction. But it is important to be sure that the candle is really stearic, and not paraffin. Because you can't get soap from a paraffin candle. In this way, soap can also be prepared from beeswax.

Stearin or beeswax must be heated in a water bath so that the substance is completely melted. It does not need to be brought to a boil. When the stearin melts, a solution of washing (soda ash) is added to it. A white viscous mass is formed - laundry soap. It needs to be warmed up a little more. And then pour into a pre-prepared form. For example, a recess in the ground or in an empty tin can. When the soap hardens, it can be removed from the mold.

Few people thought that skills and abilities make it possible to prepare soap at the very moment and in the place where it is most needed - right in the dishes washed from food residues. Such a situation can happen in a garden or in a summer cottage, if the summer cottage is just being organized, and you have to live and build a house in the field - literally in an open field. So, water was found in a spring or a river nearby, there is something to make a fire from - there is a forest nearby, where it is not a problem to find dead wood.

Of course, the easiest way to clean the dishes is to simply wipe off the dirt with a napkin or rag. You can also wipe it with a mixture of earth and sand. Even in a metal bowl, you can boil water, thus disinfecting it. You can heat a bucket of water or a large pot filled with water on a fire and boil cutlery in it. But it's not fast. In addition, a suitable large-sized container may simply not be at hand.

I also don’t want to risk my health, because there is a danger of catching an intestinal infection. Then you will have to forget about summer cottage construction or outdoor recreation, since all the forces will be spent on fighting the disease.

How can you get out of a situation where there is no soap? Life experience suggests that source of soap in the field - fire ash. Since the lye contained in the ash is involved in the reaction of obtaining soap. If you mix lye with fats, a chemical reaction will occur and soap will be obtained. The fat present in the remnants of food is on the walls of dirty greasy dishes left over from lunch or dinner. It remains to add lye to the fat and prepare soap directly where it is needed most- in a dish to be washed from fat. Directly while washing.

To get lye, the ash must first be infused in water. To do this, ash is placed in a bucket, approximately two-thirds of its volume, and filled to the top with water. The solution is thoroughly mixed. Large debris and floating particles must be removed. Let the ash infuse for three days. The solution does not need to be stirred. After three days, lye is formed - a soapy transparent liquid.

It is important to understand that for not all ash is suitable for making lye. But only ash obtained by burning wood. Various household waste, plastic bottles that have been burned in a fire can be toxic material. And therefore, skills and abilities clearly say: such ash should not be used to make lye. And better lye is obtained from the ashes of deciduous trees than from the family of conifers.

To properly use the resulting lye, you need to follow some simple rules. Firstly, washing clothes with undiluted lye is not worth it. Because it will quickly fall into disrepair. Therefore, it is correct to wash with lye diluted with water (10 parts of water to 1 part of lye). You need to dilute the lye even more if you want to wash your head or body.

Do not pour the water used after washing near the reservoir. This can be done no closer than 80 meters from the water. Lye is a rather aggressive substance. Therefore, it is better to wash the dishes with rubber gloves. Or immediately after the procedure, wash your hands in clean water. Life experience says that you should not wash with lye wardrobe items that are not designed for the action of such aggressive solutions.

To wash the dishes, you need to put a few glasses of ash in a saucepan or pot. If the food was not very fatty, you can add a little fat to the pot - butter, margarine, animal fat, etc. It is also better to add a few hot coals. Then some warm water is added to the pot. If the water was cold, the coals will help warm it up even more. It is necessary to mix the ash and water well to make "semolina porridge". The high temperature of the resulting cleaning paste will help destroy various bacteria that may be present in the water. In addition, hot water will enable the formation of potassium salt. It mixes with fat to form soap. It will clean the pot of food debris.

The cooled pasta can also be smeared on the walls of the dish and left for a few minutes. This contributes to a better cleaning of dishes. Then the dishes should be washed with clean water.