# Newbie Question - Oily Soap



## Handicrafter (Nov 15, 2012)

Hi there!

I'm new to this forum and new to soap making, as in I have only made 2 batches of soap so far!  My first batch, when unmolded, was dry and looked/felt like bars of soap.  I used coconut oil, olive oil, almond oil, shea butter and a superfat of 1 tbsp of castor oil.  The 2nd batch, while smelling wonderful, was really oily around the edges of the mold.  The middle of the soap looks good and soap-like, but all around the edges, it's really oily, as in puddles of oil are sitting on top of it.  For that one, I used:

castor oil 10%
coconut oil 30%
olive oil 40%
shea butter 20%

Now, I did oil up each mold with a bit of olive oil, rubbing it around the sides and bottom of the molds.  But again, even tho I did this with both molds, the first batch came out dry and nice.

Can anyone tell me what I did wrong?  Thanks!


----------



## AlchemyandAshes (Nov 15, 2012)

First off, I would not line my molds with Olive Oil...it is saponifiable so it can actually react with the lye in your soap and stick worse than of you didn't use it. You want to line your mold with an unsaponifiable oil, like Mineral Oil. I know some soapers use food grade silicone spray to line their molds. I just use freezer paper. It's kind of a pain, but it works great.

Second...when you say puddles of oil, do you mean 1/2" or so of oil floating on top of a semi solid mass, or just that it is beaded up on the surface of your soap? If there is an actual layer of oil, you'll need to rebatch. That's usually from pouring before you get a true trace or emulsion. Sometimes it's from overheating. If its just little beads of oil on top (and you're sure it's oil and not lye), then leave it and see if it reabsorbs over the next few days.


----------



## Handicrafter (Nov 15, 2012)

Hmmm...  I am talking actual layers of oil sitting on top.  Bummer.  Can you rebatch when you used EO's and turmeric powder?  I am pretty sure it reached full trace when I poured, but it was awfully hot, so maybe it's the overheating.

Good to know on the lining with olive oil and not to do it!  I read in a book that it was ok, hehe.  So no more of that.

With rebatching, I just melt it down and let it trace again?  Do I add anything to it?  And the existing EO's and turmeric powder are ok or no?  

Did I mention I am new to this?


----------



## AlchemyandAshes (Nov 15, 2012)

We were all new at some point  :wink:  You will learn a lot from this forum...there are so many experienced soapers willing to share their wisdom!

What were your temps when you mixed your oils and lye? What were the Essential Oils used?

If your oily soap is still "goopy" (professional word) like gelatin on the bottom, then you can probably dump it all back into the pot, even with essential oils and turmeric, and stick blend (or hand stir) it back to trace and remold it. You shouldn't need to add anything to it. Or you can hot process it in a crock pot, which is a bit more work, but should assure you that it will not separate again and force saponification. I prefer to do the crock pot method with my rebatches.

P.S. it's not "wrong" to line your mold with Olive Oil, there's just better ways to do it  :wink:


----------



## Handicrafter (Nov 15, 2012)

The EO's were sweet orange, grapefruit and lime.

I melted the solid oils first and added the liquid ones to it.  If I remember right, the temps after combining were around 100 degrees, plus or minus a little.  But the lye solution was still pretty hot.  I melted the oils first, rather than do the lye first and let it cool.  I think the temp at pour was 120 to 130 degrees, again if I remember right.

The soap isn't very 'goopy' (lol); it's mostly solid, especially the cut pieces from the middle of the mold.  It's just the oil sitting on top that is wet.  There IS oil starting to seep out from all the cut pieces now, though.  I remember the bottom of the mold felt pretty hot when I covered it with the towel and put it on the shelf.

Thanks so much, btw!  Your kindness is helping me not feel 100% dumb, heh!


----------



## AlchemyandAshes (Nov 15, 2012)

Handicrafter said:
			
		

> Thanks so much, btw!  Your kindness is helping me not feel 100% dumb, heh!



Dumb would be not asking the question and continuing to have the problem  :Kitten Love: 

I should have asked your wateril ratio...did you use full water (38%) or a water discount? Did you run your recipe through a lye calculator? Your temps are ok, but soaping hot can speed trace up, but also look like a heavier trace than it actually is (so can heavy stick blending). You also don't want your oils hotter than your lye...it can volcano and creep out of the pot  :shock: I generally like to soap around 110 degrees F, unless I'm using an accelerating essential oil, like Geranium, or if I plan to do swirls.

I think you're gonna have to crock pot rebatch this soap. Pour off as much of the oil as you can into your soap pot, then chop up the solid-ish  "soap" into very small pieces...use gloves! Cook it on LOW until it softens up, stir, cook until gel-ish, and mold. If you need more info, just use the advanced search option for +crock pot +rebatch - you'll get tons of advice.


----------



## Handicrafter (Nov 15, 2012)

I did use full water ration, 38%, and I also used the soapcalc for the lye.  I used a stick blender and it DID seem to trace rather quickly.  By the time I got the EOs and color added, it was pretty thick, so maybe it was somewhat false trace, due to too much stick blending and being hot at pour?

I am thinking this turned into a good lesson, at least!  

And erm...  well, now I get to try my hand at rebatching, right?  I found an excellent tutorial on rebatching, so fingers crossed!


----------

