Aged soap?

[sabon]

On my recent visit to my sisters place, I fell in love with a soap which had a very nice smell, lather and was a hard soap bar( didn't melt quickly). I asked her the source and she replied with a smile that it was one of the few soaps remaining from the batch of soaps I made and gifted to her 5 years ago!

All my recent batches of soap smell good and feel good too but nothing compared to the one I made then. No wonder she always compares my soaps to 'that' one batch.

Anyone else with similar experiences? I guess older the soap better it is( if it has not turned rancid) for use.

 

[ClaraSuds]

My first batch of soap has just turned the 3 week mark and what a stunning difference that makes to the bar. My soap is tallow based and these three week old bars lather up like shaving soap and cover my body in the most divine thick, creamy lather that's like bathing in whipped cream. I'm loving this new development. So I can only imagine what some serious aging might do for my bars. Unfortunately I won't ever find out as I stagger my soap making exploits to ensure I don't end up with a large stockpile of soap. Although if my soap gets better with age I may revise my 'no stockpiling' policy.

I'm wondering though, could it also be that your simpler formula in the beginning also actually produces a better bar? I found with my skin cream formulating that after developing these incredibly complex and quite good formulations, when I actually paired them right back to the original recipe (slightly re-phrased) they were even better. Sometimes in our drive for continuous improvement we pass a point of development and actually start making an inferior product.

 

[sabon]

ClaraSuds, you could be right, I should try my initial recipe and I also decided to keep at least one soap per batch of my 4 pound soaps and let them age for at least an year to see if there is a change in the qualities.

 

[hoegarden]

Did you use SheaButter in that soap?

I have read in a book before, it seems that if the formula contains shea butter, the moisturising effect of Shea Butter will only be effective after 6 months of curing. And it get more n more moisturising as time goes by.

 

[Seifenblasen]

I'm wondering though, could it also be that your simpler formula in the beginning also actually produces a better bar?

I really like the way you think! Having said that, you can definitely tell the difference between my 6-week old and 6-month old 100% castile even though they are made out of the exact same things. Now I am tempted to save three bars and try one at 12, 18, and 24-month cure.

 

[soaptrotter]

great idea to keep at least one bar per batch, Im gonna do that too, for comparison along with some detailed notes, thanks for the great idea!!!

 

[unclejonssoap]

I too find that my soap with the more simple recipe is actually a better soap. I now keep the same old recipe going only to change certain EO's, clay, etc... Sometimes, we make things so complicated that quality (at least longevity) tends to suffer.

I like simple

 

[RockinRodeoChick]

I have a couple bars from when I started soaping... I think it's been about 3 years ago now. They do seem to get better with age.

 

[judymoody]

I just unearthed a two-year old bar. It's in perfect condition and lathers very nicely.

For me the sweet spot is 6 months to a year. The scent is usually still at a nice level and very unlikely that any rancidity will have set in.

 

[Hazel]

Did you use SheaButter in that soap?

I have read in a book before, it seems that if the formula contains shea butter, the moisturising effect of Shea Butter will only be effective after 6 months of curing. And it get more n more moisturising as time goes by.

What book did you read this in? It's interesting to hear because I've never cared for butters in soap. Then one day I took out an old bar (at least 10 months) in which I had used cocoa butter. I didn't like it when I tested it at 2 months but later it was so much nicer.

Has anyone else noticed soaps with butter in them are better with at least a 6 month cure?

@Seifenblasen

I've said this before but I had never cared for castile soap. I made a bastile (100% OO with buttermilk) and thought it was much better after it was a year old - creamy but not much with bubbles. However, I really like it now that it is 20 months old. I was surprised that the lather is now producing bigger bubbles. I'm a bubbles fan. I don't know if all 100% OO soap does this or if it has something to do with the buttermilk.

 

[Seifenblasen]

I've said this before but I had never cared for castile soap. I made a bastile (100% OO with buttermilk) and thought it was much better after it was a year old - creamy but not much with bubbles. However, I really like it now that it is 20 months old. I was surprised that the lather is now producing bigger bubbles. I'm a bubbles fan. I don't know if all 100% OO soap does this or if it has something to do with the buttermilk.

We shall see. I am saving some of my plain castile for testing later. My 6-month old is still slimy and not producing many bubbles, but it leaves my skin SO soft. I went from having to put body lotion on twice a day to once every other day. Perhaps the lather you get is indeed from the buttermilk.

As to butter soaps, the milk chocolate soap I made with 35% cocoa butter at 8 months old is aging gracefully I used 50% full-fat cows milk and 50% water in the lye solution. The butyric acid smell is long gone. Nice, creamy, hard bars with great lather. I also have a 10% shea butter soap but I have not noticed any difference in moisturizing quality between 3 months and 6 months. The overall quality does improve with age, like all other soaps I got.

What would be really interesting is to make a whole bunch of simple three-oil soaps with different kinds of oil and make a plot of the time vs. improvement/deterioration.

 

[hoegarden]

Hi Hazel,

I read about it in a soaping book written by a Taiwanese Soaper.

The contents is in the book basically mention her experience on her shea butter soap in which she distributed out to her friends for use and testing. One of the friends do not like the shea butter soap so keep it after using 1 bar. However few months later, the friend ran out of soap and thus took out the shea butter soap to use and discover that it was much better than before and inform the author immediately.

After several rounds of testing, the author came to the conclusion that soap bar containing shea butter needs to be cure for longer timing inorder to get a even more moisturising soap bar. She estimate 6 months would just be correct and even longer curing make sheabutter soap even better.

 

[Hazel]

Thanks for the replies. Hmm...I've learned something new. I have one skinny little bar left from my very first batch in which I used shea butter. I should get it out and try it. I made it in Jan or Feb 2010 so it should be quite lovely now.

 

[sabon]

by Hazel » Wed Oct 24, 2012 3:01 am
Thanks for the replies. Hmm...I've learned something new. I have one skinny little bar left from my very first batch in which I used shea butter. I should get it out and try it. I made it in Jan or Feb 2010 so it should be quite lovely now.

True, learned many new things and will learn many more interesting facts from this wonderful forum! Just made my first shea butter soap yesterday, do let us know of your aged shea butter soap.

 

[Hazel]

sabon - the aged shea butter is the one I mentioned earlier with about 30% shea. It was so hard I had a terrible time cutting it. The lather is awesome! It lathered up very quickly and was both creamy and bubbly! Lots and lots of bubbles - both small and big. It felt silky on my skin; however, I still found it a little bit drying because I made it before I found out I preferred a lower CO percentage. I'm assuming the shea contributed to the silkiness since it only had shea, olive and coconut in it. I probably should try shea in another batch burt I'm sure it won't be as bubbly since I'll use a lower CO amount. :wink:

 

[sabon]

Hazel,did you feel the soap better than when you used it two years ago (if you remember) or do you feel there is no much difference?

 

[Hazel]

I think the lather is much, much better. I don't remember it having all this fluffy, bubbly and creamy lather. I do want to say I'd never make this exact recipe again because I wouldn't use shea and coconut at such high percentages.

 

[sabon]

I have decided to age for at least a year one soap a batch.

 

[unclejonssoap]

That's a lot of patience! But, it would be cool to see what our soaps do as it ages.

 

[booboo]

My experince is the older the bar is the better, I have had OO at two and a half years, the best bar of soap I have ever used, no slim! I was so shocked by this I ended up giving it away so others could experince what I was talking about and now I have none left .There really is no comparison!