# What essential oils cause soap to trace faster?



## mikvahnrose

From your experience what E.O's caused your CP soap to trace fast?

Im sorta new to this. I made a lemongrass CP soap and practically traced instantly. Like seriously i mean (instantly). Lye and oils were around 120 degrees so i can't believe it was that. But i was also making a small batch. About 1 lb. 

Was it the lemongrass? 

If you could create a list (essential oils) of what causes soap to trace fast that would be amazing and i would so much appreciate it.

Also i heard clay makes it trace fast too? Is that true? I wanted to add titanium dioxide or bentonite clay but never got the chance.


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## lsg

Cinnamon and clove EOs can cause fast trace.


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## Susie

I use lemongrass a lot.  I went through a 16 oz bottle in 6 months. (I am a hobby soaper only, so that is a lot of one scent for me.)  I have purchased lemongrass EO from WSP, Brambleberry, and the Now brand off of Amazon.  I have never had it speed trace.  I am not saying that that is not what sped trace for you, just that the ones I mention above are not causes of fast trace from my experience.  So, don't give up on lemongrass.  Maybe just switch suppliers.  Everyone loves lemongrass.  It is gender neutral, and is cheap compared to other EOs. 

I rarely have trouble with fast trace when using EOs.  FOs, now, are the bane of my existence.  So, YMMV.


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## dibbles

I've never had a problem with lemongrass EO. As lsg said, cinnamon and clove will accelerate, and I've had both geranium and ylang ylang speed up as well.


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## dixiedragon

I haven't had a problem with it either. Look at the bottle. Is it 100% lemongrass essential oil?


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## shunt2011

No problem ever with Lemongrass.  I make a lot of it myself.  Maybe it's your recipe....you may want to soap a bit cooler.  110 or so.


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## mikvahnrose

I really don't think it was the lemongrass myself. I have used it before no problems but this time it just happened instantly.


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## mikvahnrose

But wait i did something new and added stearic acid. Does that speed up trace? 

I am new to using stearic acid so i didn't even think of that. I am not sure how much i should use in the recipe though because advice was sorta vague. Is it 5% of total weight (lye/water/oils?) or just 5% of weight of oils?


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## Arimara

mikvahnrose said:


> But wait i did something new and added stearic acid. Does that speed up trace?
> 
> I am new to using stearic acid so i didn't even think of that. I am not sure how much i should use in the recipe though because advice was sorta vague. Is it 5% of total weight (lye/water/oils?) or just 5% of weight of oils?



That's way more likely to be the culprit. I haven't used it but to my knowledge, it does speed up trace.


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## cmzaha

Stearic Acid will definitely speed trace.


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## Susie

mikvahnrose said:


> But wait i did something new and added stearic acid. Does that speed up trace?
> 
> I am new to using stearic acid so i didn't even think of that. I am not sure how much i should use in the recipe though because advice was sorta vague. Is it 5% of total weight (lye/water/oils?) or just 5% of weight of oils?



If you would post your questions in only one place, that would be awesome.  I answered that percentage question on the thread you started.


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## mikvahnrose

Susie said:


> If you would post your questions in only one place, that would be awesome.  I answered that percentage question on the thread you started.



I find that too many questions on the same thread dilutes what the original question is about and it gets lost in obscurity. With many people talking about different things it makes my damaged brain hard to "connect" things together. Hope you understand.

This thread is for essential oils that causes faster trace. Subsequently i forgot i used stearic acid cause of "brain" thing. But i rather not get into that


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