# Soap keeps getting stuck in silicone molds



## Walt H (Aug 15, 2012)

Hi... I'm stuck on a problem... rather my soap is stuck. I checked the forum and I didn't see where anyone else is experiencing these same issues.

I use both wooden box molds and silicone molds for my CP soap. I don't have any problems with the wooden box lined with freezer paper.
Everything works fine, but when I use silicone mold shapes the soap gets stuck, breaks, or looks ugly.

Several things happen.
1. The top cures and hardens properly, but because the silicone doesn't allow for evaporation, the soap at the bottom of the mold stays soft.
When I remove the soap about 24hrs later the soft part tear away from the bar and ruins the final product.

2. Or I leave the soap in the silicone mold for two or three days. It's definitely hardened and cured. I pop it out and it sticks to the silicone mold tearing away part of the shape. If the shape comes out perfectly, the surface is mottled with a dusty whitish haze.


I've done a few things with changing the percentage of water and sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. I'm not changing the oil recipe
so there is some consistency. 

I'm covering the soap to let it cure. I'm wrapping it in towels. I even put a heating pad underneath the molds to maintain a high enough heat to 
assist in the soaponification process. I've coated the molds with vegetable oils. I've coated the molds with vaseline. With every batch I change one variable. Nothing seems to work. I've gone through a couple dozen failed attempts with silicone molds.

I can't get a good result. Is there a "mold release" product I need to be using?


Using the freezer creates condensation between the mold surface and the soap which causes the finish to look ugly. The scent degrades a little.
Using heat allows me to pop out the soap, but again it sweats and the scent evaporates due to the heat.

And when I do get the soap out of the mold in one piece, the surface where it touched the silicone looks chalky.

I'm out of my mind. Since no one else seems to be having issues, it's got to be something I'm doing. Can anyone give me some ideas on how to
get good results with silicone molds? I know it's not supposed to be this hard. I'm losing 80% to 90% of my batches to these problems. That translates to 20 +/- pounds of wasted soap over the past several months.  The soap can be used, but it's not visually appealing enough to be sold.


Thanks,
Walt H


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## IrishLass (Aug 15, 2012)

Two things that might be of help:

1) Have you tried a thin coating of mineral oil? That's what I use whenever I pour into my decorative Milkyway plastic molds.

2) Adding a little sodium lactate to your batch goes a long way in helping to make unmolding easier. I like to use 3% ppo (roughly 1 tablespoon ppo) of a 60% sodium lactate solution. I add it directly to my lye water and soap as normal.

IrishLass


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## Moonblossom (Aug 17, 2012)

I do the same as Irishlass 

and would recommend either way also..


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## sosocal (Aug 17, 2012)

IrishLass said:
			
		

> Two things that might be of help:
> 
> 1) Have you tried a thin coating of mineral oil? That's what I use whenever I pour into my decorative Milkyway plastic molds.
> 
> ...


This exactly. If I don't use mineral oil, mine always sticks. Badly. Get it from Wal Mart or the drug store. Sodium lactate definitely helps a bunch too.


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## soapcakes (Aug 17, 2012)

I used to have the exact same problem, and sodium lactate worked wonders for me too. Since I've started using it, I can now make soap and easily unmold it and cut it within about 12 hours of making it. I use it at about 1.4% for CP soap.


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## AndreaMakesSoap (Aug 18, 2012)

Oh, I'm glad someone posted this...  I'm also new to soapmaking, and have just started using Soidum Lactate in my recipes.  I use it at 3%-ish, usually 0.5 oz per lb.  I'm still having major sticking issues.  Are you supposed to discount water based on how much SL you use???


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## sosocal (Aug 18, 2012)

AndreaMakesSoap said:
			
		

> Oh, I'm glad someone posted this...  I'm also new to soapmaking, and have just started using Soidum Lactate in my recipes.  I use it at 3%-ish, usually 0.5 oz per lb.  I'm still having major sticking issues.  Are you supposed to discount water based on how much SL you use???


Do you gel? Un gelled soap is usually not ready to unmold for me for some time. Gelled - next day, whether or not I use SL.


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## soapcakes (Aug 18, 2012)

Yes, good point about the gelling. If I stop it from gelling, it needs an extra day in the mold.

I find 3% SL in my CP soap makes it very crumbly, I use it at 1.4% based on oil weight


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## AndreaMakesSoap (Aug 18, 2012)

Well, I didn't wrap it up, and put it in my cool basement, so it probably didn't gel.  I just now unmolded it (after a day and a half) and the corners all stuck to the silicone loaf mold.  Next time maybe I'll pop it in the oven at 170 for an hour (I've done this before and it worked great) to CPOP it.  I didn't the other day because it has embeds that stick out of it, so I couldn't cover it.  Next time it'll go in uncovered! Haha.  I might be able to salvage a few bars from the middle of the loaf.
I just made another batch (in a wooden lined mold) and it's in the oven.  I again used 3% SL.
Maybe I'll get some mineral oil as well and see how that works.


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## IrishLass (Aug 18, 2012)

soapcakes said:
			
		

> I find 3% SL in my CP soap makes it very crumbly, I use it at 1.4% based on oil weight



You bring up a good point. I use 3% ppo all the time in my batches if my lye solution % is no higher than 33%. I found that using the SL at 3% in batches with a higher lye concentration would cause crumbling at my edges when I went to cut. When I dropped my lye concentation back down to 33%, I got no crumblies. So, whenever I use higher lye concentrations now (which I only do for my 100% Castile's), I just lower my SL amount a little.


IrishLass


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## Dorado (Aug 20, 2012)

I would like to know, is the 60% solution better than the 100% powder  :?:  
The solution is only water and 60% powder isn't it  :?: 

When do you add the SL, to lye, to oils or at trace  :?: 

I've read , that 1 kilo SL powder is the same as 3 liters SL solution 60% - (makes shipping cheaper)
I've also read, to add 1% powder or 3% solution !

(sometimes I find it very hard to understand what I read)  :shock:


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## AndreaMakesSoap (Aug 24, 2012)

Dorado said:
			
		

> I would like to know, is the 60% solution better than the 100% powder  :?:
> The solution is only water and 60% powder isn't it  :?:
> 
> When do you add the SL, to lye, to oils or at trace  :?:
> ...



Interesting, I haven't yet heard of the powder.  I use the solution, and have read to add it to the lye water/solution.  That's what I've done so far.  However, I've watched numerous YouTube vids where it's been added at trace, so I don't think it really matters.


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## Dorado (Aug 25, 2012)

From UK, http://www.gracefruit.com/cosmetic-ingr ... owder.html

Have seen it in another onlineshop, but don't remember where. Maybe in Germany.

Baught the solution 60%, will try to add at trace first time, and se how it works.


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## SoapAddict415 (Aug 27, 2012)

I'd add the sodium lactate to the lye water. Not paying full attention, I accidently added it to my oils last week           . My HP fresh cucumber soap has cracks in it and it is still soft like play-doh! I've had the same problem with the white coating on my silicone mold soaps. I think I'll try the mineral oil in those too. Up until now I've only been using it for my plastic molds.


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## Walt H (Aug 29, 2012)

So I wanted to post an update. The verdict is: It Works!!

I used the Sodium Lactate in the Lye/Water and the mineral oil in the molds and everything went better than expected. I started at 1% 
for the first trial and it went so well I'm going to stay with that amount for now.

I swear I had never run into anyone discussing Sodium Lactate before. It's like the best kept secret for molding soap.

I want to thank everyone for their feedback. This solved the problem.

Walt H


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## soapcakes (Aug 29, 2012)

Thanks for the update, so glad it's working for you! I wish I had discovered sodium lactate earlier, it would have saved me so much frustration.


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## AndreaMakesSoap (Sep 29, 2012)

Walt - thanks so much for posting an update!  I'm glad to hear it worked, and I will continue using it as well.

BTW: I tried a coating of olive oil because I didn't have any mineral oil, and I don't think it helped much.  I'll have to invest in some mineral oil.


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## faithandco (Jul 23, 2013)

The white haze on top is caused because of the change in temperature when insulating it. To get rid of it you should hold it in front of some steam ie. a vaporiser or kettle. Hope this helps


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## TerD (Dec 27, 2022)

I have read that sodium lactante can cause problems in body, but have to do more research but in meantime don't want to use it. What else can one use to avoid soap stoicking in silicone molds? Tried mineral oil, fridge, freezer . Soap too soft even after 3 days. I can only assume it is the silicone abd will try looking fir other type molds. Anyone know if Anyone makes wooden or other "breathable" substance? Have 1 tree of life mold made in Poland that works well most of time.


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## Mobjack Bay (Dec 27, 2022)

TerD said:


> I have read that sodium lactante can cause problems in body, but have to do more research but in meantime don't want to use it. What else can one use to avoid soap stoicking in silicone molds? Tried mineral oil, fridge, freezer . Soap too soft even after 3 days. I can only assume it is the silicone abd will try looking fir other type molds. Anyone know if Anyone makes wooden or other "breathable" substance? Have 1 tree of life mold made in Poland that works well most of time.



There are useful threads on the forum about additives that will increase initial hardness for unmolding, for example this one. However, initial hardness does not necessarily equate to longevity of the soap in use. I’m mentioning that because it sounds like you might be using a recipe that is high in liquid oils. To increase hardness and longevity, you need to use hard fats that are a bit resistant to dissolution.  Recipes with enough hard fats (lard, tallow, palm, butters, soy wax) to yield 28% or more of palmitic + stearic fatty acids in the recipe will usually unmold easily within 24 hours and perform well in use after a 6-8 week cure.  If your recipe is high in soft oils, and you like the recipe, you may need to leave the soap in the mold longer before attempting to unmold.  Some recipes may require days to firm up, especially if a lot of water is used. If you want help with troubleshooting, start a new thread and include your recipe, batch size, the water and lye amounts used and your process.  It may be possible to avoid additives altogether by adjusting your recipe.


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## TerD (Dec 29, 2022)

My recipe is: all in ounces:
7.5 water
5 coconut milk
15 olive oil
O coconut oil
4 lard
3 apricot kernel oil
2 sweet almond
4.7 lye
And 1 oz essential oil.
Perhaps not enough hard fats?
Thanks so much for listening

Don't understand really how to do forms ir  new thread, so repkied instead . T


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## Mobjack Bay (Dec 29, 2022)

Okay, we will stay here for now.

Yes, this recipe is very high in liquid oils.  Are you making cold process soap?  You are using an usually high amount of water for cold process, and even for hot process, and by my calculation, more lye than needed.  Is this a recipe you developed using a soap [email protected]?  I noticed that you had coconut oil in the list, but at 0 oz.  Did an earlier version of the recipe have coconut oil?   If so, did you re-calculate the lye needed after removing the coconut oil?  Here is your recipe again:

for 24 oz. of oils:
15 oz. Olive oil
4 oz. lard
3 oz apricot kernel oil
2 oz sweet almond oil

Your lye amount: 4.7 oz
Your liquid amount (water + coconut oil): 12.5 oz.

According to the calculation I did based on your oil amounts, the amount of NaOH needed to saponify the oils, with a margin of safety (superfat) is:
3.13 oz NaOH (for 5% superfat)

Now, how do you calculate how much liquid to use?  The weight of water used to dissolve the lye usually ranges from about 1.5x NaOH weight to a little over 2x the NaOH weight.  For a 33.33% lye concentration (2:1 or 2 water to 1 NaOH), you would need 6.26 oz. of liquid (water + coconut milk) total. Your recipe has double that amount.  There are reasons why using a large amount of liquid to make soap, and especially soap that is high is liquid oils, is not a good idea, but that’s for another day.  Note: coconut milk is mostly water, with some coconut solids and fat.  While it is possible to correct for the fat in the coconut milk, for troubleshooting, the small amount of solids and fat can be ignored.

With mostly liquid fats in the recipe and so much water, I’m not at all surprised that this soap is very soft and possibly even mushy.  In order to advise you further it would help to know why you are making this particular recipe and also if you know how to use a soap [email protected]


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## TerD (Dec 29, 2022)

Oops, 9 of coconut oil and have made many times with no problem in wooden mold. Definitely never mushy. A nice firm CP soap


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