# Struggling with activated charcoal



## loriag (Aug 22, 2018)

I have been struggling working with activated charcoal. I am hoping for some tips on what I can do to make this work. I tried my regular recipe 50% OO, 4 Castor, 22 CO, 21 Palm and 3 Cocoa and 2 tsp of activated charcoal in single cavity molds. It took 3 to 4 days to unmold as it was so soft. I made the mistake of using 4% lemongrass EO and don't like the smell. The hubby said he doesn't mind it so he will use it.

Second attempt with activated charcoal-  I used same recipe with black cherry FO at 3%, with water as percentage or oils my normal which is 33%. I had just 1/4 inch layer of activated charcoal at the bottom of the soap loaf (with mica line on top but not too much as I have done plenty of mica lines without issues) and after 3 days in the mold when I un molded it the charcoal separated from the loaf. It was so much softer than the rest of the loaf.

Is activated charcoal finicky to use? Why is it so soft always?

Now I really want to make a regular loaf mold with activated charcoal my regular recipe and not have issues. How can I make this happen? Do I need a steeper water discount? If so how much? How long would I need to leave it in the mold? Any help/ suggestions would really be appreciated.


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## shunt2011 (Aug 22, 2018)

I make an activated charcoal soap with lard and soft oils. I use tea tree, peppermint and lavender in it. It gels and comes out pretty solid. A bit softer than my usual recipe.


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## Obsidian (Aug 22, 2018)

Try changing the water amount to lye concentration at 33%. You are using a fair amount of water, that might be part of the problem.
How are.you adding the charcoal? I mix it with just enough water to make a slurry and work out the lumps. Maybe a tbs at most for 2 tsp of charcoal.


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## loriag (Aug 22, 2018)

Obsidian said:


> Try changing the water amount to lye concentration at 33%. You are using a fair amount of water, that might be part of the problem.
> How are.you adding the charcoal? I mix it with just enough water to make a slurry and work out the lumps. Maybe a tbs at most for 2 tsp of charcoal.


I am mixing my charcoal with a small amount of oil from the recipe than adding my batter to it, or mixing the powder in the batter just after emulsion. 

So just so I am getting it right-
Change "lye concentration to 33%" 
with  33%  Water as a percent of oils = (the lye concentration @ 29.7) or 38% Water as a percent of oils  = (the lye concentration @ 26.9) ?

The recipe I used for the activated charcoal single molds had a lye concentration of 32.2%.


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## loriag (Aug 22, 2018)

See the reason I am trying the activated charcoal bar is for me, I am anticipating a rosacea awful breakout possibly coming, and I thought having an activated charcoal bar and a sea salt bar ready, might be helpful if it does happen.


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## Obsidian (Aug 22, 2018)

You need to forget about the water as percent of oils. It gives inconsistent results. You want to choose the lye concentration option on soapcalc

Since you are getting a softer soap, maybe add some salt or sodium lactate. Either will help firm up the soap. I like salt, use 1 tsp PPO and fully dissolve it in your water before adding the lye. Lye will dissolve in salt water but salt will not dissolve in lye solution.


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## amd (Aug 23, 2018)

Do you have any stearic acid? I made a charcoal tea tree soap in June and subbed in 1% stearic acid for 1% of my olive oil. It's a lovely hard bar.


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## NsMar42111 (Aug 23, 2018)

For HP, I noticed it makes the batter gooey-er. What's the total weight of your recipe? 2 tsp might not sound like much but if it's a half pound recipe it is... Personally I dump the charcoal right into the oils and mix, no special handling.


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## dibbles (Aug 23, 2018)

I made some charcoal salt bars with Tea Tree a couple of months ago. I think I used salt at 50% of oil weight. They are as hard as any of my other salt bars. I do get that there might not be enough cure time before you will be wanting to use them though. Just thought I'd throw it out there.


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## loriag (Aug 24, 2018)

amd said:


> Do you have any stearic acid? I made a charcoal tea tree soap in June and subbed in 1% stearic acid for 1% of my olive oil. It's a lovely hard bar.


I do have some, I haven't used it in soap yet.


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## loriag (Aug 24, 2018)

NsMar42111 said:


> For HP, I noticed it makes the batter gooey-er. What's the total weight of your recipe? 2 tsp might not sound like much but if it's a half pound recipe it is... Personally I dump the charcoal right into the oils and mix, no special handling.


Oil weight is 360 g, total batch weight is 530 g. I had read anywhere from 1 tsp to 1 tbsp PPO, what do you suggest for PPO?


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## Magic7M (Aug 24, 2018)

If you can see my profile pic this CP soap has activated charcoal in it. I have used it in HP and CP soap with no problems. I find it better to mix it with a little water or glycerine first if you are using a powder because it can become messy. IMHO for the small batch you are doing I would use only a heaped teaspoon of the powder. Also stearic acid and salt as suggested would harden up your bar somewhat.


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## NsMar42111 (Aug 25, 2018)

I use 1 tsp per pound of oil personally.... becomes a medium grey


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## TheDragonGirl (Aug 25, 2018)

I've never had the problems you're talking about, and I like making a pitch black bar. I dump mine directly into my oils, but I also use vinegar as a hardener for all of my soaps, so that could make a difference.


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## OldHippie (Aug 26, 2018)

Are you using activated charcoal intended for soap?  Is it as fine as dust, or is it more granulated?


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## earlene (Aug 26, 2018)

Did your soaps gel?  The only time I notice soap taking longer to remove from the mold is when they don't gel.  But I have never made a layered AC soap, so cannot address that one.  

With individual molds I'd cover them well and CPOP them to encourage gel.


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## Teapot (Aug 26, 2018)

Check the packaging for your AC, does it contain any other ingredients? I did have this problem once or twice, when I was buying AC capsules, and emptying them out to use the charcoal in my soap. The soaps would be soft and a bit of an odd texture. It turned out the capsules contained other ingredients, one of which was an anti-caking agent. I can't say for sure that this caused the problem, but when I scrapped them and bought some pure stuff, the problem stopped.


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## penelopejane (Aug 26, 2018)

I add less than 1 tsp AC ppo (per pound or oils not batch weight). I’ve worked out how much I can add to make it very dark but so it doesn’t colour the washcloth or make the suds grey. 

I think every AC powder is different so you have to retest when you get a new supply of AC. I soak my AC in a tiny amount of glycerine before making my soap. You can keep it for ages like this. 

Then I add it to the oils before the lye and SB. This makes it darker for less AC.  Be careful because AC accelerates. 

If you add water to AC then use it in part of your soap (especially at low % lye concentrations) you will find your soap is softer in the AC parts. So don’t use water to mix AC.


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## MickeyRat (Sep 3, 2018)

I think Teapot may have something.  I've been making charcoal facial bars using a slight modification to a recipe I got off of Soap Queen (Yeah I'm a noob.).  The one with tamanu oil.  I'm putting a tablespoon per 18oz at trace.  No problems.  Just have to stir it in carefully if you don't want a cloud.  I'm using pure activated charcoal not capsules.

BTW the extended family loves this soap.  I can't keep it around.


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## homesteaders (Sep 4, 2018)

I add a little beeswax (1% - 2% of oils) to my CP soaps that tend to be soft. I've read that beeswax in CP soaps prevents ash. I always spray with alcohol, so I've not had a problem with it. When I make hot process soap with activated charcoal, it hardens very quickly. With HP, I stir the AC into a little of the soap batter, then stir it back into my pot of soap. For a really black soap, I use about 1 TBSP ppo. If I want a more fluid soap for swirls or layers, I stir the activated charcoal into yogurt, then stir into the soap after the cook. No matter how I use charcoal, it has never caused my bars to be soft. They always become quite hard much faster than my other bars. I, too, wonder if there is a small amount of another ingredient in your charcoal. I have used different brands, but all are pharmaceutical grade in bulk containers rather than capsules. 

I just realized you started this thread last month. Have you figured out the problem?


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## shunt2011 (Sep 4, 2018)

If I remember correctly I used 2 tsp ppo in my last batch and it's pretty black.  It does rub off on my scrubby but the suds are not grey.  It doesn't stain anything.  Just washes out in the laundry.


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## loriag (Sep 4, 2018)

OldHippie said:


> Are you using activated charcoal intended for soap?  Is it as fine as dust, or is it more granulated?


Yes it’s fine,  I get it from my soap supplier.


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## loriag (Sep 4, 2018)

earlene said:


> Did your soaps gel?  The only time I notice soap taking longer to remove from the mold is when they don't gel.  But I have never made a layered AC soap, so cannot address that one.
> 
> With individual molds I'd cover them well and CPOP them to encourage gel.


I do gel. I just might do coop.


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## Maria Morando (Sep 5, 2018)

loriag said:


> I have been struggling working with activated charcoal. I am hoping for some tips on what I can do to make this work. I tried my regular recipe 50% OO, 4 Castor, 22 CO, 21 Palm and 3 Cocoa and 2 tsp of activated charcoal in single cavity molds. It took 3 to 4 days to unmold as it was so soft. I made the mistake of using 4% lemongrass EO and don't like the smell. The hubby said he doesn't mind it so he will use it.
> 
> Second attempt with activated charcoal-  I used same recipe with black cherry FO at 3%, with water as percentage or oils my normal which is 33%. I had just 1/4 inch layer of activated charcoal at the bottom of the soap loaf (with mica line on top but not too much as I have done plenty of mica lines without issues) and after 3 days in the mold when I un molded it the charcoal separated from the loaf. It was so much softer than the rest of the loaf.
> 
> ...



I have never had a problem with activated charcoal except when I layered it as you have experienced. I have used it in my goat milk soaps, and my water based soaps dozens of times. My recipe is always predominantly Olive Oil, then Coconut and Palm Oil, with an added soft oil, as well as Castor Oil and some sort of butter. I add the activated charcoal powder right to my batch at light trace and mix it in by hand. I don't make any modifications or changes in my recipe for charcoal additions. It always blends beautifully and saponifies just fine. As far as your separated mica line, I have had that experience with charcoal soaps having a separation between layers as well. I don't know why that is, but it has happened to me twice when a charcoal layer with a mica line has separated. I would recommend a good gel stage with some added heat to make the layers stay together, but that is not a guarantee. It could also be exacerbated by the fragrance oil used. I have experienced that as well. I can understand that a 1/4 inch layer at bottom would separate. But as far as the soap being soft with charcoal, I have only experienced that one time in a loaf mold that did not go through gel stage. The rest of the time, it unmolds quite nicely. Even the goat milk soap (which does not go through gel stage), unmolds just fine, but I unmold it as soon as I take it out of the refrigerator. I use a slab mold for milk soaps. As far as my water based soaps, I use loaf molds. I have always added some heat to make them gel. They firm up quite nicely. I hope this helps.


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## loriag (Sep 16, 2018)

Obsidian said:


> You need to forget about the water as percent of oils. It gives inconsistent results. You want to choose the lye concentration option on soapcalc


Thank you @Obsidian I have done a little more reading and have now started using lye concentration, it makes sense. I am thankful for all info I pick up from asking questions and reading posts.


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