This happens to me from time to time and I dont worry about it. Can you share your thoughts on this? Add to the lye solution once it has cooled. A longer cure time will give the soap time to fully saponify and to lose the excess moisture. Please guide me I do want to get into soap making. First, double check that you didnt forget to add the lye when making soap. Its a balancing act for sure! (Oops!) 698g Sodium Hydroxide If you cut a bar and it crumbles, or if its still soft, allow it to sit in the open air for several more days before trying again. Actually for me this look very beautiful, Id like to make the soap with a ring like that. (Most of my recipes work out to requiring 1 grams per batch.). Reason: Using your immersion (or stick) blender too much. A student of mine recently contacted me for some advice about one of the most common soapmaking mishaps when using the cold process method: soap seizure. This hardens much faster than palm oil bar soaps and . Have you had it for a long while? Its possible that there was too much lye. One of the biggest factors I notice in soapmaking is the tendency to rush the cure. If the lye solution is a strong dark brown though, then you can likely expect some type of tan or brownish color in the final soap. Hi Theresa! It also helps if your soap goes through gel phase as it will be harder upon un-molding. Double check that you used the correct amount of lye and that your scale is accurate. Theres an amazing list of lather boosters to play with in Modern Soapmakings article, Lather Lovers Additive Tests, One Year Later! The Ultimate Guide to Soap coursebook series, Youtube, & blog provide students with. Can I use Theraputic essential oils in soap making? Thanks. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Soap has a weird texture with raised lines, or veins, running throughout. This is most evident when you see hard clumpy lye. For laundry soap, you use a 0% superfat though, since you dont want those extra oils on your clothes. Stir it well. Ive been doing my soaps for long time, but I still have problems sometimes. When your cold process soap is in the mould it will heat up, and if it gets warm enough it will reach gel phase. Colorado. How old is your soap & what are some of the additives? (If you have big chunks of hard unmelted fat and soft spots of soap in between them, then that might be a bad sign, but little spots are usually okay.) 4. Its pretty hard and normal, but when I put it in the water, it oozes a slimy, kinda sticky gel thats so hard to wash off. It looks like the makings of a really great recipe! Hi Pennytoes! The lady in Nova Scotia may have just used the words superfat to help with marketing & to show that it was nice and nourishing for your skin. Can you verify that this was your original recipe, before you added the extra weights? :). (This sometimes works, sometimes doesnt.) It has 12 different fats in it. If it still shows the trace after 30 seconds then its a true one. Solution: You can choose to leave the droplets on the surface of the soap and see if they reabsorb in over the next few days, or dab at the moisture with a paper towel to soak them up. Reduced water amounts, longer cure time, and certain additives can help them be harder and longer lasting. Wonderful post, thank you. Hi Aisha, Thats such an interesting question! Solution: Carefully read reviews before purchasing and using a fragrance oil. Jan 13, 2020. 972g olive oil For tips on using synthetic colorants such as micas and LabColors, check out this article on How to Color Handmade Soap by the Soap Queen. It may take longer for certain soaps made of different oils or with different ingredients. Reason: discovered an awesome homemade soap in Nova Scotia. But there can be other factors that cause this to happen. Solution:Temperature is subjective and flexible, but if youre a newer soapmaker, aim for temperatures around 95 to 110 F (35 to 43 C). Oven process the soap by placing it in an oven set to 170 F for about 15 minutes. They may take a little longer to reach trace, unmold, and cure, but the final soaps are usually very gentle and mild. Over time, lye will absorb moisture and humidity from the air. 45 Oz (35%) https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/coconut-laundry-soap-stain-stick-laundry-detergent-recipe/. When you create a recipe using a lye calculator, you normally calculate around a 5 or 6% superfat. The most common reason for your soap to be oily is due to wrong measurements, or you may have stirred it wrongfully during the mixing process, but let's look into it in detail. The more airflow, the faster soap hardens. I used a soap bar with glycerine rivers and found it very conditioning even though i formulated it with a good cleansing score .Do glycerine rivers increase conditioning of soap? Solution: Cover your soap to minimize the amount of air that raw soap is exposed to. Hi Sigrid! The texture of remelted soap will be a bit different than cold process, but it will be soap you can use and you can actually use it immediately after it sets up if that is your desire. I am attaching the recipe below, the bars are kept in an oven at a higher temperature at first (~125-130f) and then reduced to slightly lower overnight (~120f). Soap is darker in the middle and the outside edges are lighter colored. 100g cocoa butter Solution: Make sure the recipe youre using (including ones from this site) has the correct amount of lye calculated by running it through a lye calculator. Soap made with high amounts of olive oil take the longest to trace. Too much honey in soap is not a good thing, so resist the urge to go overboard. Reason: Some essential oils (EO) and fragrance oils (FO) dont hold up well in soap. Everyone wants their soap ready faster, but handmade soap requires a certain amount of time and patience. Some dont do well when combined with raw soap and will bind with bits of hard fats in the recipe causing those solid lumps. Step 5: Touch the test strip to the drop of blood or use the glucometer's lancing device to apply the blood to the test strip. It should be a nice hard bar of soap! Pure essential oil should not cause ricing in soap. At least thats my best guess so far! Reason: Silicone molds tend to form air tight seals on the sides and bottom that hold on to moisture. Inexpensive essential oils from Amazon and Ebay, or local stores such as Michaels or Walmart, are almost always mixed with synthetic fragrance to save cost. Was heavy blending the cause of it? Can anyone help ? Always read reviews before purchasing a fragrance oil and purchase only from reputable vendors. Yes, I did go wrong there. This isnt a common occurrence for cold process soap; youre more likely to get soap cracks. Its been curing for 6 weeks, Ive used this soap for my hands but the soap are getting softer and I think it will get worse. When I first learned to make soap, everyone added the extra oils for superfatting after mixing the soap to trace, but then some research was done to show that it doesnt matter when you add the oils, so you might as well mix them all at once. One of the main benefits of cold process soapmaking is having complete control over ingredients. :), Hi Jan More than 40% seems to not be sweating I can send photos to better demonstrate the issue too. This could be from working at high temperatures, high natural sugar ingredients (beer, pumpkin, honey, milk, etc), or a misbehaving fragrance oil. Thanks again Jan for a smart, insightful, and wonderfully written article. I used an immersion blender. Hi Shilpaa, Im so sorry to hear about your soap! The average waiting time before you can unmold your cold process soap is 17-24 hours. They smell and work fine. Reason: You got a partial gel. Ill try again and share results and pics with you. Have you tried grating it instead of cutting? What type and brand of essential oil did you use? (I often go even lower, to around 28% for some recipes.). ), CLICK TO RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE LIST. Reason: Some fragrance oils (FO) or essential oils (EO), especially florals and spices, are notorious for speeding up the saponification process rapidly. Hot process soap should be cured for at least 1-3 weeks. The color of the lye solution is not always related to the final color of the soap. Perhaps the glycerin rivers are more concentrated bursts of moisturization and give a more noticeable effect as they go over your skin?? Ground cinnamon makes the dark swirls here. With cold process soap, it typically takes about four weeks for the soap to fully cure. Solution:There are a few suggested workarounds to try. If it remains too soft after rebatching, then theres still hope you can let the bars of soap cure for several months or up to a year & it might become nice and usable. If you cant blend the majority of them out, then I suggest rebatching the soap. Hi Andy! Hi Desiree, Im so happy you found the troubleshooting article helpful! Before turning on the stick blender, tilt it slightly to the side while submerged to burp it, or release any trapped bubbles. I tried making my first cold process soap today and failed miserably. How to test soap. Some, such as alkanet and indigo, absolutely need a gel phase to be at their best. First step complete. That might help us troubleshoot a few ideas! Am i putting too much coconut oil in ? Use the same method of placing in the freezer as above, only be careful popping them out as the clear plastic is prone to cracking. 1.65 oz castor oil Kevin Dunn, a soapy scientist and author of Scientific Soapmaking: The Chemistry of the Cold Process, recommends using Rosemary Oleoresin Extract at 0.1% of the oil weight. CP Soap Troubleshooting The first thing to always check when something like this happens is the recipe. Castile or Bastile High Olive Oil Soap. However, I might be wrong! Pl suggest what to do ? I dont t think I added enough lye. Blends nicely with bergamot, citrus oils, clary sage, spice oils, neroli, rose, sandalwood, palmarosa, patchouli, petitgrain and ylang ylang. Leaving the bag tightly closed, snip off the corner of the bag with a pair of scissors. That could come from overheating. Don't use a blanket - your soap needs more air, preferably dry air. In some cases, tallow and lard can add an unwanted aroma to your soap. Then I stumbled upon your write up and Im wishing I knew all this before. To avoid unintended brown soaps, be careful not to steep your herbal tea too long, especially when using herbs such as mint or lavender. When working with natural sugars (honey, milk, beer, etc) work at even cooler temperatures. Soap made a few hours ago is turning darker in the middle and looking funny. Thank you Diana W. Hi Diana, Im so glad you enjoyed the article! During the first 2 days, the lye is reacting with the oils and turning into soap. The oils will eventually go rancid though, so to extend shelf life that way, you can add ROE (rosemary oleoresin extract or rosemary antioxidants) to your soap. Good luck with your next batch of soap! Next time you can melt the oils at a higher temperature & that should help! If you find your soap cracking then try to cool it down. I would try making a much smaller test batch of the same recipe but dont oven process the soap at all, or instead just put them in the pre-heated oven then turn it off & leave in overnight without any further heat. Is it past its expiration date? Since it has already heated so much in the middle, cooling the soap too fast will likely result in a partial gel at that point. Given enough time the soap will become much harder. Solution: Use a water discount. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her family and a menagerie of animals, where she enjoys brainstorming creative things to make with the flowers and weeds that grow around her. These include many citrus essential oils and also some fragrance oils such as coconut or light florals. Most of the saponification process happens then. Thank you for your time and your work. Solution: Folded versions of lemon and orange are stronger and longer lasting in soap than their regular counterparts. Solution: Use moderate amounts of clay and zinc oxide in your soap; more is not always better! Solution: To use sodium lactate, add 1 teaspoon for every pound (16 oz) of oil in a soap recipe. Soap is soft and squishy, like playdough. Solution: Use a lighter hand when spritzing soap tops with alcohol, or cover with an alternative method such as plastic wrap. Hot Process: . :) https://www.facebook.com/TheNerdyFarmWife. Solution: Use sodium lactate or salt in the lye solution, a water discount, and a high amount of solid fats. Sometimes those get mixed up when you order them, and potassium hydroxide would make your soap stay soft. SOAP RECIPE. Sodium Lactate is thought to harden cold process soap while minimizing shrinkage associated with curing which will help alleviate troubles with unmolding. My soap never traced, I poured it anyway and waited 24 hours but its like mushy pudding, can I re-melt it and try to blend it to see if it will trace, Hi Gilda! If your liquid soap recipe is made from scratch, then you might want to consider adjusting the recipe to include more coconut or castor oil, or try lather boosting additives like aloe liquid (in the lye solution, not for dilution) or sugar. If the soap has been in the mold several hours and then starts separating, scoop it into a crockpot and cook on low heat for around 1 hour (hot process), then spoon into a soap mold. Lovely article very well written. Helpful article Simple Secrets: Anchoring Fragrances In CP Soap, 1. Solution: An increased lather may help offset some of the slimy effect that castile or bastille soaps can have, while a decreased superfat will reduce the amount of free oils in a soap. It could be that your lye has gotten old, or you possibly had a false trace: Solution:If youve recently poured the soap in the mold and it starts separating, you could pour it back into your mixing container and stir/blend until a true trace is reached, or scoop into a slow cooker to hot process. OR, If your lye solution and oils are too hot, then you might cause the soapmaking process to accelerate, leading to a fast trace. Make sure to keep fresh batteries in your scale. As water evaporates from the soap, fans help whisk that moisture away. Simply leave them in the mold a day or two longer before un-molding and cutting. Testing the soap is the best way to know for sure. Heres a great article on that: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-rebatch-soap-517103. I used brambleberry lye calculator with super fattening level of 5%. https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheNerdyFarmWife/posts, Hi Jan. Here is my recipe for both batches 19.2oz Canola Oil 12.8oz Olive Oil 4.037 Lye I used powder dye, and scents that werent exclusively made for soap, but would work. Solution: Turn the loaf of soap on its side when cutting so the toppings dont get pressed down and dragged into and across the soaps surface. Subscribe to Soap Tip Tuesdays and Ill send you my helpful Natural Colorants Reference Chart. It will give us a better idea of what your soap is doing now and we can give you better advice on how to proceed with it. Solution: If your temperatures get too cold, the fatty acids in solid fats can start solidifying before they can react with the lye, and you can end up with stearic acid spots. The result is a chemical process called saponification, where the composition of the oils change with the help of the lye to create a bar of soap. It sounds like the soap might need rebatching. Most scales have a tare button that you push to reset the scale to zero. Yes i used actual items not scents and two my bars turned yellow and dont smell anything like the rest. Cold Process Soap Troubleshooting Chart. In 14+ years of soaping, Ive never had a soap volcano and when I tried to force one for a photo for my print book, Simple & Natural Soapmaking, I still ended up having to fake the look. Solution: Next time, mix the soap at cooler temperatures, especially when working with ingredients containing natural sugars (milk, honey, pumpkin, beer, etc.). (Possibly hours.). Some need to be used at higher amounts, while others need to be used more sparingly to avoid skin irritation. Avoid any purchased containers of lard/tallow that have an overwhelmingly strong scent since it might carry through to the finished soap. Ive made my soaps recently, but one of my soap still a bit soft, it feels hard and soft in the mean time. Reason: Sodium lactate (a liquid salt derived from sugars in beets & corn) and table salt can both be used to harden soap so its ready to unmold sooner. What should I do to rebatch it? Reason: Olive oil doesnt lather very well on its own. Can you tell me more about the soap and the recipe you used? Solution: Try using babassu oil in place of coconut, and adding around 5 to 7% castor oil to the recipe. Soap has weird orange or brown spots on it and/or smells bad. Reason: Soda ash is more likely to occur when using colder soaping temperatures (oils and lye solution) or working in a cold area. Solution: Make sure the soap is completely blended to a light trace. You just cooked it all out! Or, you can try adding the FO or EO to the warmed oils before adding the lye solution and stir by hand. Thanks, Jan! Location. Stirring during the mixing process. Peek at your soap every now and then. Followed by rice flake kind solution. More information You can save some of the warmed soapmaking oil from the recipe, mix with the fragrance oil, and blend it in at light trace. You cant do anything about the cracks in this batch, but the next time you make the recipe, you could try using more olive oil and less tallow, and perhaps increasing superfat to 4 or 5% and that should help! Does it have any lumps or clumps in it? Heres a great article that tells how! Thanks. Looked through the book and searched your blog firstdo you have a recipe for a super fat soap? 30% RSPO Palm Oil. Solution: If youve insulated or covered the mold, remove the layers. Solution: Dont be alarmed. :). Reason: Salt bars are special soaps made mostly or completely with coconut oil and high amounts of sea salt. Solution: Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in a soap recipe. Cold process soap. Thank you, this is so helpful. The soap may not be the prettiest, but its still usable. Does it have any lumps or clumps in it? If making a bastille soap (around 75% or higher olive oil) be sure to include bubbly oils such as coconut (20 to 25%) and castor oil (5 to 7%). 25% Coconut Oil. Solution: To prolong shelf life of soap, use fresh oils from a reliable vendor, distilled water (contaminants in tap water can cause problems), cure soap with plenty of air flow around each bar, and store cured soaps in a cool, dark, dry area with good air circulation. Thanks for commenting! It means a lot to me. (Make sure its labeled sodium hydroxide and not potassium hydroxide.) If it hasnt improved after a year though, then at that stage I think its a loss. You may notice that a weak lye solution doesnt get very hot, the soap batter takes too long to reach trace, and the final soap feels oily or soft. Solution: Choose the clearest and lightest colored oils when working with colorants such as pink and purple. Give the soap several weeks to several months of extra cure time and it should eventually harden up. Soap has a dark ring or rind around the outside and the middle is lighter. :). 1. now that youve mentioned this Ill definitely recheck once again to be absolutely sure. Reason: This is primarily a problem with fragrance oils. Reason: This is a normal part of the soapmaking process called gel phase, which is when the chemical reaction between the lye and oils causes the soap to heat up hotter than it was when you first started mixing it. You could try to include more oils that are hard at room temperature (coconut, babassu, palm oil if you use it, tallow, lard, cocoa butter, kokum butter, shea butter) Another idea is if you used a fragrance oil or essential oil; sometimes if they dont get stirred in well enough, or if theyre a misbehaving fragrance oil, they can ooze out of the soap, forming little beads on the surface. :). 381g avocado oil If your soap is soft and crumbly due to using mainly soft oils, not going through the gel phase or excess liquids, leave the soap to cure for longer. Soap Science, Recipe Formulating, Cold Process Methodology, Troubleshooting & Design. If you find yourself in this situation, put the soap in the fridge for about two hours to freeze solid. This is usually a temporary look caused by the outside of the soap reacting with air, while the inside of the soap hasnt yet. Its very exciting, since I love chemistry and making. Mix by hand, using the stick blender only if absolutely necessary, to ensure the EO or FO are mixed in completely. 619g illipe butter Solution: Work at lower temperatures and reduce the amount of water in your recipe. These common soap making additives can increase your chances of seeing glycerin rivers: Liquids with high sugars (milks, beers, fruit juices, etc.) It kimd of saperated. This ultimate troubleshooting guide breaks down the reasons and solutions for 30+ common cold process soap problems. Soap will not trace or is slow to trace. Solution: Sometimes when the batteries are getting low, scales will act erratic and register inaccurate numbers. If your cold process soap is oily on top and you can see the separated layer of oil on your soap, this most likely happened due to the measurements or stirring. I get a lot of questions from people on the cold-process soap recipes Adding honey or sugar to the lye solution can do this but if you Matching search results: There are two reasons to add citric acid to handmade soap: reducing soap scum and stopping the soap from going rancid. 777g kukui nut oil Reported to be beneficial for anxiety, depression, dry skin, headaches and skin care. Try to be gentle at this stage as any movement can cause foaming of the soap, which will lead to a more opaque soap. 6. This means that youre adding more oils than the lye can turn into soap, so there are leftover oils that ensure the soap wont dry your skin. The humectants in the product attract moisture from the air and droplets of water form on the surface of the soap, creating a visual and tactile experience to resemble that of sweat appearing on skin. Solution: Increase the amount of hard oils in your recipe. This ultimate troubleshooting guide breaks down the reasons and solutions for 30+ common cold process soap problems. Thank you! (When youre more experienced, you can stop at emulsion stage.) 1130g distilled water Ice cubes Solution: Take extra care if using bay laurel, citronella, clove, cinnamon, fir, palmarosa, pepper, and ylang ylang essential oils. ), East = Easy The lye solution has a hard crust of lye on the bottom of the container. Avoid any purchased containers of lard/tallow that have an overwhelmingly strong scent since might... The list are lighter colored to try grams per batch. ) only from vendors. To rush the cure go overboard that this was your original recipe, before you can melt the oils a. Cure time will give the soap may not be the prettiest, but handmade soap requires a amount. I knew all this before dont hold up well in soap than their regular counterparts whisk that moisture.... Once again to be used more sparingly to avoid skin irritation lye the. 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Oil bar soaps and most evident when you order them, and adding around 5 to %! Fo ) dont hold up well in soap making I still have problems sometimes for the soap beer etc...