# Grainy soap?



## alison82 (Mar 24, 2016)

The last two loafs of soap I've made have a grainy texture when I wash my hands with them. It's as if I added exfoliants to it, but I know I didn't. What could cause this?


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## Steve85569 (Mar 24, 2016)

Ricing?
It would help to know about your recipe and temperatures.
The ricing is just a blind guess.


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## alison82 (Mar 24, 2016)

Steve85569 said:


> Ricing?
> It would help to know about your recipe and temperatures.
> The ricing is just a blind guess.



There was no ricing either time.


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## cmzaha (Mar 25, 2016)

Air Bubbles or ricing. Sometimes ricing can happen in the mold, or did you use butters in the batch. Butters can get gritty in soap if soaped to cool


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## DeeAnna (Mar 25, 2016)

We're all just guessing without the help of your recipe and method. Care to share?


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## alison82 (Mar 25, 2016)

DeeAnna said:


> We're all just guessing without the help of your recipe and method. Care to share?



This is my recipe 

Palm 35%
Olive 30%
Coconut 20%
Shea butter 5%
Castor 5%
Avocado 5%

I soaped around 90 degrees


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Mar 25, 2016)

What type of Shea did you use? Was anything from a new supplier or an unopened batch?


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## alison82 (Mar 25, 2016)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> What type of Shea did you use? Was anything from a new supplier or an unopened batch?



No it's natural Shea butter from Wholesalesuppliesplus.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Mar 25, 2016)

I'm wondering if it went grainy like it can do in butters and so on.......?


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## shunt2011 (Mar 25, 2016)

I'm thinking soaped too cool and the palm and shea started to solidify.


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## DeeAnna (Mar 25, 2016)

You should probably soap this recipe a little warmer. Make sure the solid fats are melted and clear before you go on -- they need to be more like 110 to 120 F. Then add your room temperature liquid fats and proceed. 

If you don't want the soap to gel (which is why I'm guessing you're soaping at 90 F), then decrease the water in your recipe. What I mean by this is to use 30% to 33% lye concentration rather than the usual "full water" that many folks use (38% water as % of fats).

Next time, please provide the full recipe for best advice -- this means ALL ingredients including lye, water, and all additives. And the recipe needs to be in weights, not percentages. And kindly provide the method. Did you CPOP, insulate, put the soap in the feezer, add milk, use a stick blender, ??? I find myself still doing a fair bit of guessing.



alison82 said:


> This is my recipe
> 
> Palm 35%
> Olive 30%
> ...


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## alison82 (Mar 25, 2016)

Ok thanks all, I'm thinking I'll soap at a higher temp next time and see if that works.


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