# Problems with my soaps



## Annmarie0407 (Aug 28, 2008)

I have been making soap for about 2 months now. 
Up until now...I thought I had the hang of it...until last night when I unwrapped my mold of GFCF (gluten Free casein free)Lavender Soap.

 I took a pic of the soap and placed it to a bar of the same type of soap I made last week. They BOTH have the same exact ingredients
Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil, lavnder essential oils. The white soap is what it is suppose to look like. The ruined soap is the yellow one.

Also, does anyone know how I am suppose to trim and shine my soaps? I heard that soem people do this.

Someone please help. I have no idea what went wrong...

The first pic are the GM soaps I have made so far













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## digit (Aug 29, 2008)

Your soaps look fabulous!!!! 

As for the two identical but different ones, did one gel and one not? Did you use the same brand/lot number/supplier of the same ingredients?

Folks use different things to clean up their bars. A vegatable peeler is quite popular. 

Digit


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## Annmarie0407 (Aug 29, 2008)

Thank you Digit

I am a bit confused on te contraption you showed me to shape my soaps. I have never seen one(since I am so new to all of this)....

How is it used?  Do I put in 1 soap at a time?

In regards to my soaps...I used the SAME ingredients from the same vendor.  Is it possible that my oils and lye were too hot during the tracing? Ahhhh...I know another thing I did difffertly.....

I DOUBLED my recipe(have never done that before)...so I can make 2 batches of the same soap in one shot. I also noticed tha it took a LONG time for the temp of my lye mixture and my oils to cool down....thats when I got a bit impatient and started mixing(I think they were at 125 degrees)....

Could something like that make a difference?

Annmarie


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## digit (Aug 29, 2008)

Hmmmm.....double and then tripple check your math for the doubling. Run the doubled batch through a lye calcutor. Just to be certain. 

Have you checked to see if your scales are accurate? They can be bumped or dropped and get out of whack.

Heat can affect your results, hence the question of whether one gelled and one did not. If you had twice as much oils than before, yes, it would take a bit longer for the mixture to cool down. I generally soap room temp or very cool. Sorry I am not a whole lot of help here. 

Digit


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## Annmarie0407 (Aug 29, 2008)

OH CRAP!!!!!  I did not run anything through the cal. I JUST doubled EVERYTHING.....even the LYE....

What was I thinking? I am now sure that is why this happened.


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## Martin (Aug 29, 2008)

Hey now you know like me what happens when you just double everything. I found out soap recipes are not like cooking recipes   So now before I even pull out my pots, I run my recipes thru soapcal.

Sonja


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## jettibo (Aug 29, 2008)

Martin said:
			
		

> Hey now you know like me what happens when you just double everything. I found out soap recipes are not like cooking recipes   So now before I even pull out my pots, I run my recipes thru soapcal.
> 
> Sonja



Even some cooking recipes can't be doubled, specifically baking.


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## Annmarie0407 (Aug 29, 2008)

Oh yea...I am learning my lessons along the way.


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## Annmarie0407 (Aug 30, 2008)

Ok, so I went to look at the funky looking soap again last night and saw a white power all over it. Is this because the lye was doubled and there is too much lye in the formula?

Does this mean I should just put this batch in the trash?


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## spotts71 (Aug 31, 2008)

White powdery stuff on top is soap ash. Did you tongue test it?


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## Annmarie0407 (Aug 31, 2008)

Tongue test? I do not know what a tongue test is?


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## pepperi27 (Aug 31, 2008)

I like the way your soaps came out!


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## Becky (Sep 1, 2008)

Don't panic!!   It could just be ash! Tounge testing is putting the tip of your tounge to the bar of soap to see if it zaps you. If the bar is lye heavy, it will feel the kind of zap a 9-volt battery gives. 

Your bars look great!


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## Annmarie0407 (Sep 1, 2008)

Thank you so much. Its funny...I am sooo critical of my soaps




			
				pepperi27 said:
			
		

> I like the way your soaps came out!


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## Annmarie0407 (Sep 1, 2008)

Becky

Are you kidding? I am peeing my pants right now thinking about getting zapped by my soap. Hmmm...on second thought...I am gonna ask my husband to do it for me.  

So, should I just trash it...or can I do something with it? I am clueless


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## digit (Sep 2, 2008)

So.........where are you at with this batch? Never trash anything until you are certain it is trashed.   

Digit


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## Annmarie0407 (Sep 3, 2008)

Digit

I am tooooo scared to put my tongue on the soap .....I do not want to get zapped......


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## zajanatural (Sep 7, 2008)

I am going to guess and say one batch gelled and the other did not.  Why? Because you stated that you did not wait for your oils and lye to cool down before soaping, which would definitely make a soap gel a bit faster. There is nothing wrong with the soap as long as everything is done correctly. It should be fine.  This is the world of soaping, sometimes batches with identical ingredients do not always come out identical.


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## JumpinKaren (Sep 19, 2008)

The tongue test isn't bad! I swear!

I did make my boyfriend tongue test my soaps for a couple months there... But now I can confidently lick my own soap!   

-Karen


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