advice for florals?

[krissy]

i forgot when i was ordering that florals that many tend to accelerate. I bought a new one from WSP and now i dont know how to soap it. i usually soap warm to hot and gel, but is there a better way to avoid some of the pitfalls that florals sometimes cause?


eta: the scent is April Showers from WSP and smells wonderful!!

 

[SudsyKat]

A couple of things that I've heard may help:

1. Keep your temps lower (maybe around 100 degrees or so)

2. Add your FO to the oils so it's well blended in before you add your lye water. (It doesn't slow down trace, so I don't completely understand why this is done, but I guess this helps because if your fragrance is already well mixed into your oils, you don't have to worry about that aspect of the process when you're feverishly trying to get your soap into the mold)

And I'd say don't try to do anything too fancy (depending on how badly your FO accelerates trace).

 

[soapbuddy]

I would also use a whisk instead of a stick blender.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

If I know that I'm using an FO that will accelerate trace, I use full water. Not all the florals are culprits and it seems to depend on the recipe too.

 

[agriffin]

I would also use a whisk instead of a stick blender.

This.

Low temps and a recipe high in olive/lard and other slow tracing oils help.

 

[madpiano]

I don't like adding difficult FOs to the oils before the lye. A seizer will seize instantly. If I add the lye last, there is a chance I may get lye pockets, if I cannot mix properly.

I take out some of my oils into a cup, add the FO to that and put aside. When my soap is ready to go in the mould, I add the cup to the soap batter and stir with a fork or a whisk. If I get a small FO pocket it wont hurt anyone, a small lye pocket could be very painful.

Full water and soap as cold as possible (depending on your hard oils). Reduce the palm in your soap as much as possible.

 

[soapbuddy]

I don't like adding difficult FOs to the oils before the lye. A seizer will seize instantly. If I add the lye last, there is a chance I may get lye pockets, if I cannot mix properly.

I take out some of my oils into a cup, add the FO to that and put aside. When my soap is ready to go in the mould, I add the cup to the soap batter and stir with a fork or a whisk. If I get a small FO pocket it wont hurt anyone, a small lye pocket could be very painful.

Full water and soap as cold as possible (depending on your hard oils). Reduce the palm in your soap as much as possible.

A fragrance pocket could hurt someone. They are not meant to be used straight on the skin.

 

[madpiano]

Irena, it could, but by far not as bad as a lye pocket. Most FOs aren't too bad directly on the skin, but lye can really hurt.

 

[soapbuddy]

Irena, it could, but by far not as bad as a lye pocket. Most FOs aren't too bad directly on the skin, but lye can really hurt.

That's true, but neither one should touch skin as is.
If you know that a particular fragrance will accelerate trace, if you add some liquid lecithin, that will slow things down, so you are able to mix everything well.

 

[TessC]

The liquid lecithin is awesome, I picked up a bottle of soy lecithin from the local health food store and it really seemed to make a difference with the fast movers I've tried it with.

 

[carebear]

Tess, how much do you use? Both times I tried lecithin I ended up with soap that took about 2 months to harden - and of course both had spectacular swirls so I waited...

 

[TessC]

I used 3/4 tsp PPO with Daystar's Salty Sailor and it slowed it down quite a bit, that one didn't seize on me but it zipped right along the first couple times I soaped it. I used a full teaspoon PPO with DS's Patchouli Dusk because it always wants to rice and accelerate like mad, it still riced a tiny bit but was sooooo much easier to cope with with the lecithin.

 

[madpiano]

oh wow - lecithin it is - will have to pop round a health food store asap, as I am about to soap a FO which is known as instant concrete.

Thanks for the tip!!

 

[krissy]

soooo.... i just made the floral soap and i followed all of your advice and did everything cool. used a whisk (at first) and mixed in my FO last.

this is the most well behaved floral i have ever heard of! i whisked for 15 mins and then used the stick blender for 30 more mins. i finally got to a thick enough trace to attempt a swirl and poured it in the mold. now it is in the oven and i am hoping my colored part morphs back to the pinkish purple it was supposed to be, instead of the orangey red it is now.

 

[c.a.p.]

Liquid lecithing is awesome! I used it the other day to slow down trace with a difficult eo and it worked like a charm. And the soap is hard; it did not come out soft. I used 1 tsp ppo.

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

I used Egyptian Rose Geranium EO with a water discounted recipe once and that was almost a disaster! I put the EO in at trace and almost INSTANTLY my batch riced! I hadn't added the color in either so I was beating my hardening soap with a whisk to break up the ricing and mixing in the color.

wowza...I learned to use that and my other florals with full water in my recipe. thankfully, it soaped nicely and no zap of lye or pockets. There were air bubbles from where we glopped it in the mold.