Personal cleansing freezer bar made with a rigid, interlocking mesh of neutralized carboxylic acid

A rigid, low smearing, mild personal cleansing freezer bar comprising a skeleton structure having a rigid interlocking, semi-continuous open, three-dimensional crystalline mesh of from about 15% to about 85% sodium soap, and from about 15% to about 40% water;

• wherein said soaps have saturated fatty alkyl chains of C.sub.12 -C.sub.24 carbon atoms and mixtures thereof at a level of from about 75% to about 100% by weight of total fatty acid soap;
• and wherein from 0% to about 20% of said total fatty acid soap are selected from the group consisting of:
• unsaturated fatty acid soaps and salts of fatty acid with chain lengths C.sub.10 and shorter;
• and wherein said cleansing freezer bar is made using a scraped wall heat exchanger.

A personal cleansing soap freezer bar composition comprising a rigid, interlocking mesh of sodium soap fibers;

• said soap bar comprising:
• from about 15% to about 40% water;
• and from about 15% to about 85% sodium fatty acid soap composed of at least about 75% saturated fatty alkyl chains having 12-24 carbon atoms of which at least about 25% of said saturated fatty alkyl chains is of a single chain length;
• and from about 2% to about 60% by weight of a hygroscopic synthetic surfactant wherein said hygroscopic synthetic surfactant is selected from surfactants which absorb at least about 20% of their dry weight in water at 26.degree. C. and 80% Relative Humidity in three days;
• and wherein said freezer bar is made using a scraped wall heat exchanger.

A process for making a personal cleansing freezer bar comprising a skeleton structure having a rigid interlocking, semi-continuous open, three-dimensional crystalline mesh of sodium soap;

• wherein said process comprises the following steps:
• (1) mixing a molten mixture comprising by weight of said bar:
• from about 15% to about 85% of said soap and from about 15% to about 40% water;
• (2) cooling said mixture to a semi-solid in a scraped wall heat exchanger freezer;
• (3) extruding said semi-solid as a soft plug;
• and
• (4) further cooling said soft plug to provide said personal cleansing bar;
• and
• wherein the soap of Step (1) is made by mixing parent fatty acid, sodium hydroxide base, and said water at from about 170.degree. F. to about 200.degree. F. (76.degree.-93.degree. C.);
• wherein the fatty acid is selected from the group consisting of fatty alkyl chains of C.sub.12 -C.sub.24 carbon atoms at a level of from about 75% to about 100% by weight of the total fatty acid and unsaturated fatty acids, and fatty acids of chain length C.sub.10 and shorter at a level of from 0% to about 20% of the total fatty acid;
• and
• wherein when the mixture of Step (1) is cooled in a scraped wall heat exchanger from about 180.degree. F. to about 200.degree. F. (82.degree.-93.degree. C.), to a final freezer outlet temperature of from about 135.degree. F. to about 180.degree. F. (57.degree.-82.degree. C.);
• and
• wherein said cooled mix of Step (2) is extruded onto a moving belt as a soft plug which is then cooled to fully crystallize and to provide said freezer bar.