Glendale
School
#11
St. Benedict St.Paradise Village
Project
8, Quezon City
Ampalunggay Soap
In
Partial Fulfillment of the Course
Requirement
in Research
Presented
by:
Josha
Alfajora
George
McNaughton
Bryan
Gatcho
Presented
to:
Dr. Marilou Juachon-Panlilio
Mr. Arnold Antiporda
Ms. Sherrlene Uy
Ms. Gemini Malubay
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to thank a lot
of people who contributed to make this investigatory project possible. We would
like to thank our classmates for helping us guide each other in making our
research papers especially Paolo Barrameda for accompanying us in search for
rare ingredients of our soap and letting us obtain malunggay leaves from their
front yard’s malunggay tree. We would also like to thank our families because
they have provided our necessities to buy our ingredients, to search for
references, and to create our research paper for our investigatory project. We
are thankful to one of our team mate’s father, James Francis Alfajora, who has
let us use his kitchen and help document the procedures of our
ampalaya-malunggay soap. We would like to thank our beloved school, Glendale
School, for giving us the knowledge of Chemistry to know the safety precautions
of our experiment specifically our Science Teacher, Sir Gemini Malubay. He
has also helped us find where our rare ingredient can be bought. We owe it to
T. Sherlenne Uy for giving us the idea of ampalaya-malunggay soap, guiding us
on creating our investigatory project, motivating us that our product can be
possible and of course, inspiring us to become successful people since the day
we met her. We would like to thank each other for being a productive and
cooperative teammate. Lastly, we would like to thank God for giving us
blessings and opportunities to be where we are right now.
ABSTRACT
It
has been observed that people nowadays are very much concern with the
appearance and color of their skin, so our group decided to invent a new kind
of soap. We can offer it to the people to help make their skin whiter, softer
and fairer at an affordable price.
We used one whole
ampalaya, half pound of malunggay leaves, lye, coconut oil and lavender
fragrance. We cut the ampalaya into pieces and mixed with a little amount of
water and blended it. Then we chopped and minced half pound of malunggay
leaves. We put the ampalaya and malunggay leaves into separate bowls. We mixed
a little amount of water into the lye and left it to chill. We put the coconut
oil in a pot and heated it and after heating we put it in another container and
slowly add the lye with it and mixed them vigorously for about an hour and a
half and put the blended ampalaya and minced malunggay into the mixture and
continuously stirring the mixture until it became more liquid.
After mixing all the
ingredients, we add lavender fragrance oil into the mixture then put in into a
soap mold and covered it with cloth to make it hard. After a few days the soap
hardened and we took it from the mold and set it in a dry place to cure for
about two months. After two months, the soap is now ready to be used.
Significance of the Study
Scope and Delimitation
CHAPTER TWO:
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Procedure
Bibliography
CHAPTER ONE:
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Introduction
Here
in the Philippines, the production of beauty soaps has increased as time
passed. Cheche V. Moral of the Philippine Daily Inquirer said that skincare in
the Philippines is twenty two billion pesos market and in 2004, Synovate, a
global market research company, conducted a survey wherein Filipino women has
the highest rate of 50% usage of whitening products among Hong Kong, Malaysia,
South Korea, and Taiwan.
Filipinos
see fair skin and young skin, as one of the standards of beauty and being
attractive has become a basis of being accepted in the society because most
people will judge you by the way you look. It seems like there is
discrimination within our society. Frankie, a blogger from
skinbeautifulblog.wordpress.com, has stated a few considerations of why it is
so important to be beautiful. She said, “attractive people are more likely to
have dates and have many friends” and “attractive people are 2-5 times more likely to be hired for a
position” while “unattractive people are most likely to be assumed or accused
of committing a crime.” Advertisements are also one of the
factors that made us think that fair skin is beautiful. Like the Ponds commercial, it promises a more
desirable you if you purchase and use their beauty products. Another factor is
the influence of the Spaniards. They have this colonial mentality that people
with fair skin are privileged.
A
lot of Filipinos purchase this expensive soap for the benefit of having a
beautiful skin although it is a big addition to an individual's expenses. One
bar of papaya whitening soap costs 80-290 pesos and it only lasts 1-2weeks. One
of the most famous whitening soaps is Pervil Soap that costs 100-120 pesos.
Statement Of Objectives
This investigatory project aims to make
alternative organic beauty soaps. Nowadays, Philippines are in the state of
being economically challenged because in the first semester of 2012, 27.9% of
the population in the Philippines is below the poverty line. Since Filipinos
could not afford expensive beauty products, this investigatory project aims to
help the society meet their wants and their small budgets by creating a beauty
soap using ampalaya and malunggay therefore we also aim to make it cheaper than
other beauty products in the market today.
In
order to achieve this, we need to search for the contents of the beauty
products and the two vegetables and then study what that nutrient or ingredient
does for our skin. The knowledge of this will lead us to having our hypothesis
of the product. People tend to avoid these herbs because of its unlikely taste
but our experiment will prove that ampalaya and malunggay are still useful to
the body without consuming it and that it can possible and effective as
skincare products by conducting an experiment.
Significance of the Study
The importance of this study is to use
one of the healthiest and most unnoticeable veggies as skincare soaps. Skin is
one of the body parts that keep us healthy. To take care of our skin, we daily
use soaps to clean off those dirt, odors, and germs. We need to wash away the
germs to prevent it from getting under the surface of our skin. Using the
healthiest vegetables to become a daily used soap, maybe the biggest
breakthrough of skin care products.
This study is for everyone in our society
but most of it is the ones who want to achieve fair skin and remove fine-lines.
One of ABS-CBNnews.com's articles, "White Skin Comes With A Price"by
Leilani Chavez, says that a 26-year-old female named Jeimie had used almost all
the whitening products in the market. She started trying whitening products
since her early 20's even though she was born with a fair-complexion. She uses
whitening products to maintain her skin color. People, who are in 20's, both
female and male, can have the benefit of having their skins whitened by our
product. Then at the age of the 20’s, with all the work and stress, the
question “when will my wrinkles show?” will pop-out of your mind. Women and men
in 20’s could really have wrinkles. There are some 20-year-old adults who
already gets surgical procedures to remove or avoid getting wrinkles so as you
can see, not only 40’s adults gets wrinkles according Tanya Sharma from
skincare.lovetoknow.com. So with the help of our beauty soap, they could also
remove their fine-lines.
Scope and Delimitation
We have studied a few things to support
our idea of making an ampalaya-malunggay soap. Our study covers the content of
ampalaya, malunggay, and beauty products. We studied each ingredient's use to
our skin. This serves as proof that our idea could be possibly made but it does
not mean that it is proven effective. Our study does not cover the external
effectiveness of ampalaya and malunggay on our skin. We also studied the production
and usage of whitening products in the Philippines to know how much help could
our product be, in our society because our aim is to use the worth of these
vegetables as a convenient beauty soap. Lastly, we have to examine the ways of
making soaps in order to create our very own recipe of ampalaya-malunggay soap.
CHAPTER TWO:
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES
Facts about Ampalaya
Ampalaya is known as bitter melon. Its scientific name is Momordica charanti. Ampalaya has many
names around the world. Here in the Philippines, it is called ampalaya while in
other countries like U.S.A, China, India, and Japan; it is respectively called
bitter gourd and balsam pear, fukwa, kerela, and nigai uri. Ampalayas are considered
as a cucurbit because it is a member of the gourd family. The gourd family is
climbing vines, herbs, and rarely, shrubs or trees. Ampalayas are particularly
found in Asian countries because it normally grows in hot humid areas but it is
only cropped once, every year. Ampalaya contains Vitamin A 9%, Thiamine 2%,
Riboflavin 2%, Niacin 2%, Vitamin B5 2%, Vitamin B6 2%, Vitamin C 130%, Folate
17%, Calcium 2%, Iron 2%, Magnesium 4%, Phosphorus 3%, Copper 2%, and Zinc 5%.
As you can see, there are various macronutrients and benefits that can be
obtained from ampalaya. That is why W. G. Goreja can consider ampalaya as one
of the best medicines around the globe according to his Bitter Melon: Nature’s
Anti-Diabetic because it is the best alternative herbal medicine that cures
diabetes but according to my other references, it can also treat liver problems
and HIV. Here in the Philippines, they are many dishes that include ampalaya,
one of the famous example is Pinakbet
from Ilocos Norte.
Facts about Malunggay
Malunggay
is known as horseradish tree or drumstick tree but it is called in different
names in different regions here in the Philippines like kalunggay in Bicolano,
Kamalongan, Malunggay in Bisaya, Kalamunge in Pampango, Arunggay in Iluko, and
Marunggay in Pangasinense. Its scientific name is Moringa oleifera Lamk. It is also commonly found in tropical
countries like the Philippines. Unlike ampalaya, it grows on trees and can
planted in various soils but thrives best
in fertile, well-drained sandy loams. Malunggay is planted throughout the
country especially in the Central and Northern provinces. In our observation,
there are many planted malunggay trees in the backyards of the citizens in
Quezon City. Like ampalaya, malunggay has various uses. Some of our Filipino
dishes like Tinola is mixed with malunggay leaves. The twigs of malunggay are
extracted as oil and used to become a cosmetic. Malunggay is also called a “Miracle Tree” because curing ailments
is the most beneficial use of malunggay. Malunggay leaves are loaded with
nutrients because a gram of malunggay leaves also contain two times the protein
in milk. Likewise, it contains three times the potassium in bananas and four
times the vitamin A in carrots. Health nutritionists claim that an ounce of malunggay
has the same Vitamin C content as seven oranges. Asthma, ulcers, and gout are few of many ailments that malunggay
cures or treats.
Facts about Soap
In a dictionary, soap is defines as “a substance used for washing and
cleansing purposes, usually made by treating a fat with an alkali, as sodium or
potassium hydroxide,
and consisting chiefly of the sodium or potassium salts of the acids contained
in the fat.” If we would visualize soaps, it looks like a rectangular or
sometimes, oval bars that we can usually buy in supermarkets around the globe.
Soaps clean the surface of our body to remove dirt and protect us from germs
with the presence of water. We daily use soap to maintain a good hygiene and
avoid bad odors. Soaps can also be moisturizers to help our skin become fair,
young, soft, smooth, or healthy. Most people doesn’t know that washing our
hands properly and regularly would prevent diseases like flus to attach them.
People should be reminded that our hands are the most usable part our body. We
use it to eat, write, count money, opening doors, dialing and such and as we
touch public objects, germs from diseases are
passed onto our hands and throughout our body. We wouldn’t want to have a sick
so it is important to wash our hands. As the Safeguard soap says,
“safeguard, laban sa limang banta (diarrhea, pneumonia, colds, cough,
and skin rashes)”
CHAPTER THREE:
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Materials
Ingredients
·
One whole Ampalaya or Bitter Melon
·
Malunggay
·
About 55grams of Lye
·
200ml of mineral water
·
500 ml of Minola coconut oil
·
20ml of lavender fragrance oil
Materials
·
6 round stainless molds
·
Glass stirring rod
·
Glass measuring cup
Procedure
We decided to make
our soap out of a few organic ingredients. We started off by cutting one whole ampalaya
into pieces with a knife and setting it aside. Then we took the malunggay
leaves off its stems. After that, we put them into separate bowls and blended
them separately in the blender. We put a little water with our ampalaya so that
it becomes a thick liquid while our malunggay needed extra cutting to become
minced after being blended because we needed it to become dry bits.
After we set those
aside, we put our gloves on and dropped about fifty grams of lye into two
hundred milliliters of water. We observed the chemical reaction as we dropped
the lye in the water our solution heats up. We mixed it until the mixture’s
cloudy appearance disappears. And while the lye is almost ready, we then put
five hundred milliliters of coconut oil in a pot to heat because the
temperature of the oil needs to be at least five to ten Celsius apart from the
temperature of the lye and if not, it can also react and burn. When the oil was
heated, we put it in a separate container and slowly put the lye with it.
We mixed it very
vigorously for about one and a half hour. As we mixed it, the mixture becomes
dark. Then we put the blended ampalaya and minced malunggay into the mixture.
After that, we stirred it again with a spoon just until it became one whole green
liquid base. It had an unpleasing smell to it so we also added about ¾ of a
twenty milliliters of lavender scented fragrance oil to the mixture.
Then we finally poured
it into the molders and set it aside with a cloth on top of the molds so that
it absorb the substances that it will release and help the increase the speed
of hardening the soap. After a few days, the soap hardened enough for us to be
able to take them out of their molds so we took them out of their molds then
set it in a dry place to let the soap cure for about two months so it can
finally be used.
Timetable of Activities
SEPTEMBER
24 (Tuesday)
|
Getting
the idea
|
SEPTEMBER
25 (Wednesday)
|
Researching
and proving of idea
|
SEPTEMBER
30 (Monday)
|
Planning
of experiment and materials
|
OCTOBER
2 (Wednesday)
|
Deadline of Statement of Objectives
Deadline of Methodology
|
OCTOBER
3 (Thursday)
|
Testing
of experiment
|
OCTOBER
6 (Sunday) – OCTOBER 21 (Monday)
|
Observation
of Result
|
OCTOBER
7 (Monday)
|
Deadline of Results and Discussion
Deadline of Conclusion
Deadline of Recommendation
|
OCTOBER
12 (Saturday)
|
Deadline of First Complete Draft
|
OCTOBER
15 (Tuesday)
|
Deadline of Final Research Paper
|
OCTOBER
21 (Monday)
|
Blog:
Investigatory Project
|
OCTOBER
23 (Thursday)
|
Presentation
of Investigatory Project
|
CHAPTER FOUR:
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Analysis
Our
study is about creating a soap product with the combination of ampalaya or
bitter melon and malunggay. A French researcher said that organic products have
high nutritional quality and safety and
so
there have been a lot of studies regarding the use and benefits of organic
products such as soaps. Research has shown the significant improvements in
health care industries that involve the aid of organic products. According to Cancer
Prevention Coalition, most of the products in the cosmetics market are one the
causes of cancer. Because it contains ingredients such as mercury, which is a
very dangerous element, and because many people are concerned about this,
healthcare industries are trying to create organic products for
their consumers’ safety. As I have mentioned earlier, the ampalaya-malunggay
soap positions itself as an anti-aging and whitening soap. One of its benefits
is the suppleness of the skin after the soap is used or applied. It felt smooth
on the skin and it didn’t show allergic reactions after being used it and after
the following days. The ingredients that we used are all-organic and
individually has a benefit to skin. The scented smell of our product comes from
the lavender extract oil, which is also organic.
The soap that we formulated was successful because
it solidified and it somewhat turned into a soap. But in a way it was not
successful because the lye was burned by the over-heated coconut oil. We need
both lye and coconut oil to have the same temperature. But since the lye was
burned, it took us quite time to mix the ingredients. After mixing all the
ingredients we saw that bubbles were starting to build up while we were
transferring them on the container.
When we used the product, it wasn’t so hard because
the time wasn’t sufficient to harden the soap but when we used it was gentle to
the skin and does not cause any allergic reaction.
Summary
In summary, the experiment still turned out to be pretty
successful. For our first time making soap, the results were very good. The
outcome was not perfect for a few reasons like the solution seemed burnt, the
mixture didn’t reach trace with our efforts of mixing and the soap itself
looked a little bit too oily which could have caused it to not solidify
properly but it’s actually fine. Our oil turned out to be too hot compared to
the lye solution so the lye reacted to the oil and burned. Then after that we
think that we did not stir the mixture properly enough to the stage that it
would be able to be molded into soap or is called by soap makers as “trace”.
Soap making is not an easy task to do specially because you
are dealing with lye or sodium hydroxide that is a very reactive chemical. Our
goal was to make cheap and organic skin care soap. But the truth is that there
is really no such thing as a one hundred percent “organic soap” because the
main ingredient needed for it is lye, which is a chemical itself.
We conclude that making soap is fun and can be easy but
requires much research before even daring to deal with it. Our group definitely
did not lack in research but we were short on some materials. We did not have a
thermometer at that instance which is important for people who aren’t
experienced in making soap and measuring the temperature of the lye and oil so
the mixture burnt a little bit and that is why we think that our soap solution
did not reach saponification properly. We also did not have an electric mixer
that is required when making soap so that the solution thickens up easily and
that is the reason we assume why the solution just did not thicken at all. We
learnt through the experiment that exact measurements were really needed so
that the mixture saponificates.
Recommendations
We suggest that to anyone who is thinking of making soap for
themselves for and reason should do some proper research before deciding to do
it. In some instances, buying soap could be more preferable or ideal than taking
a risk and making your own because not everyone is successful on their first or
even second try. But if you really want to make your own soap, do not just
research, try to ask someone who has already made soap or is making it for a
living for advice. And finally, if you are set on making soap, be sure to have
the proper and complete materials you need; like a thermometer and electric
mixer specially when it is your first time making soap.
If you try or attempt making soap for the time, we would
strongly suggest for you to use a large pot when mixing the oil(s) with the lye
solution because if you make a mistake like us on getting the right
temperature, the mixture will react and will bubble a lot and if you’re not
doing it in a large pot, it overflows and it will certainly get very messy; you
would not want that to happen. Also be sure to have proper measuring materials
that will withstand lye and high temperatures. And if you’re going to use a
spoon or any other mixing apparatus besides an electric mixer, make sure it is
made of a material that wouldn’t possibly melt in lye. And of course, safety is
important so wear gloves, goggles and a mask when you are doing the procedure
and always have vinegar near you so in case you get lye on your hands or any
other part of your body, you can easily wash it off with vinegar as water
wouldn’t work.
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