almond milk soap is sticky? day 3!

[deebop]

Im kinda confused!! this is my 6th batch of soap. i've done goats milk, and water based. the other day i went to the store and couldn't find any fresh goats milk so i opted for almond milk (unsweetened) just to try it out. so i used the Lye calc on brambleberry. the usual amount of coconut oil *76 degree (320 grams) to vegetable shortening (200 grams) and avocado oil (100 grams). at 4% superfatting this resulted in a lye calculation of 93 grams and a liquid calculation of 204 grams. So everything was going great. mixed till med trace ( i think the lavender was questionable despite the fact that it said 100% pure essential oil, hubby grabbed it for me at a Walgreens cause it was only 5$ :think: anyway... I molded it... stuck it on the cold porch for the night (wanted it to be as WHITE as possible) and brought it in in the morning. when i got home for lunch I unmolded it (it came out pretty good) and i noticed it was tacky to the touch, so i left it alone and went back to work. came home and couldnt resist cutting a peice and got drag marks. still sticky!!! its now 2 days later.... STILL STICKY! ugh =( (never had this problem with any of my other batches!!) does anyone know if almond milk is notorious for this? thoughts?!!?! ive scoured google but im clueless... i admit!!
(the log is now sitting on a cutting board which is sitting on my heat register. that only gets up to 70 like twice a day.... kinda trying to help it dry out a little...)

thanks ahead for anything you can contribute!!!
dee

 

[Catastrophe]

I haven't soaped with almond milk, but I wanted to comment on your recipe. If that's the whole recipe, that's an awful lot of coconut oil. Over 50%, it may lead to a really stripping/drying bar.

 

[shunt2011]

I would just give it time. Chances are that it didn't gel and can take 2-3 days or more to harden up. I agree that your soap will very likely be pretty drying to the skin. Too much CO strips more of our natural oils from the skin. Generally 15-25% CO is plenty.

 

[Arimara]

Anne Watson maybe the only person I can think of who may have tried to use almond milk. I would personally never use it due to my daughter being allergic to most nuts and all. I'd have to remember to come back tomorrow to help you out but as it stands, I need to get ready for an early shift. night.

 

[lenarenee]

Don't leave lavender eo off of the suspect list. I make a lot of lavender eo soap.
People bring me "their" choice of lavender and ask me to make it in soap.
Many of the soaps stay gooey and soft for up to a week.

When I use my choice of lav. eo, I don't gel, and the soap is soft for about 24 hours longer than any other non-gelled soap I make.

 

[deebop]

Wow!! These responses are so helpful I can't even tell you how happy I am to have joined this board!! How fascinating I had no idea that coconut oil was drying to the skin!! Thank you so much for that info! Any suggestions to what might make a nice lush combo of oils? I have an order from Brambleberry due to arrive tomorrow with shae buttter, coco butter and mango butter. Love to hear some ideas or what combos you all like to use and why!? Also! I would be happy to stay away from soaping with almond milk in the interest of keeping others safe! I hadn't considered that! I only chose it because I felt like making soap and it was available. Also I love it's whiteness! If only you could see how pretty!! I'll upload a pic if I can figure out how. It seems like it's just as tacky/sticky as it was the day I pulled it out of the mold. Uuuuugh!! I obviously didn't gel since I stuck it outside overnight and it's freezing temps here in Massachusetts. So I thought I was protecting it from the possibility of discoloring. But like I said before having brought it in a few days ago it's still not drying up!? Quite maddening...

 

[fuzz-juzz]

It might have something to do with almond milk.
It's hardly natural milk, it's got lots of added stuff so who knows what went wrong.
If you used your regular recipe it's one of the new additives including essential oil.
I drink almond milk regularly, I'm lactose intolerant and prefer it's taste to soy and it's great in smoothies.
Actual almond content in it is surprisingly low so it might not be of huge benefit.when used in soap. Save your money.

 

[deebop]

Wow you are so right... it's not "milk" at all, is it!? It's crazy how much I've learned in one sitting at this forum! Thank you all! That being said I did find a wonderful pic by doing a google search that's showed the colors of soaps using all different types of "milks" and almond milk was one of them (the very WHITEST color!) so I know people do/have done it. Funny to me how I never even thought of the fact that it's basically water and nuts! Not milk at all! Ha! I guess liquid is liquid but you are right.. that IS probobly why it behaves strangely! I hope it dries out... it is just gorgeous! Here is my almond "milk" soap... what do you think? (Minus the little air bubbles...!)

 

[Catastrophe]

Any chance you would swap that veggie shortening for lard? I made a soap from Walmart veggie shortening in November, and it's still really squishy. Soaps I made around the same time with lard are rock hard.

 

[cmzaha]

I have soaped many time with almond milk and it acts no different than many of the other milks. As for veggie shortening I used to use it quite often before changing to lard and tallow and it made a very decent soap. Give it a few days and it should be fine

 

[lenarenee]

Wow!! These responses are so helpful I can't even tell you how happy I am to have joined this board!! How fascinating I had no idea that coconut oil was drying to the skin!! Thank you so much for that info! Any suggestions to what might make a nice lush combo of oils? I have an order from Brambleberry due to arrive tomorrow with shae buttter, coco butter and mango butter. Love to hear some ideas or what combos you all like to use and why!? Also! I would be happy to stay away from soaping with almond milk in the interest of keeping others safe! I hadn't considered that! I only chose it because I felt like making soap and it was available. Also I love it's whiteness! If only you could see how pretty!! I'll upload a pic if I can figure out how. It seems like it's just as tacky/sticky as it was the day I pulled it out of the mold. Uuuuugh!! I obviously didn't gel since I stuck it outside overnight and it's freezing temps here in Massachusetts. So I thought I was protecting it from the possibility of discoloring. But like I said before having brought it in a few days ago it's still not drying up!? Quite maddening...

Aha! I didn't catch that the first time around - leaving it outside in the cold.
That slows saponification. I don't know how long it was outside, but the few times I froze my soap I was not happy with the results....long time before I could unmold, and a slight crystally feel to the cured bar.

And....the soap is beautiful! I wish I'd made it. Air bubbles? I love them and never try to prevent them. Sadly I rarely got them.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

One point to bear in mind - coconut OIL is lovely on the skin. But the bulk of the oils in our recipes end up saponified and are no longer oils at all - they are salts of fatty acids - soap! Saponified coconut oil is drying

 

[deebop]

I absolutely will consider using lard, I like the way lard soaps end up. I only chose the shortening cause a whole vat of it was so cheap from BJ's Wholesale. I'm glad I'm not the only one who had used almond milk. If I use it in the future I might mix it with goats milk to see if I can get the soap to become more white in the end. Does anyone know if titanium dioxide will counteract the goats milk discoloring? I have some on the way. I know I shouldn't use a lot at once but curious what kind of effect it will have. Thanks for the feedback! I'm excited that there is a place for us to bounce ideas off eachother and I so appreciate all the help!

 

[deebop]

Thank you so much!! I love learning from all of you!!

 

[deebop]

Hmmmm so maybe learn to cool without actually FREEZING it. A few hours out in the cold to prevent gel phase instead of all night...

 

[Catastrophe]

I absolutely will consider using lard, I like the way lard soaps end up. I only chose the shortening cause a whole vat of it was so cheap from BJ's Wholesale. I'm glad I'm not the only one who had used almond milk. If I use it in the future I might mix it with goats milk to see if I can get the soap to become more white in the end. Does anyone know if titanium dioxide will counteract the goats milk discoloring? I have some on the way. I know I shouldn't use a lot at once but curious what kind of effect it will have. Thanks for the feedback! I'm excited that there is a place for us to bounce ideas off eachother and I so appreciate all the help!

If you could use lard, a simple recipe that wouldn't be so drying is something like:

65% lard
20% olive or rice bran
15% coconut

If there's other oils you want to use, like your avocado, you could add 10-15% and take it from the lard/olive. If you have other oils on hand, read about the properties they bring to soap, and how shelf stable they are, and that will give you ideas on which you may like in soap.

 

[deebop]

I so love this forum! Thank you for the combo suggestion! I'll try it where does everyone stock up on their lard? Wish I could use some of my own! (Ha! That's a joke. I'm 6 months preggo and feeling huge!) I truly appreciate the help.. as you know there is so much info out there that it's overwhelming so it's great to have help narrowing down the real, true sound advice and have it come from people with experience! Yay!!

 

[Catastrophe]

I so love this forum! Thank you for the combo suggestion! I'll try it where does everyone stock up on their lard? Wish I could use some of my own! (Ha! That's a joke. I'm 6 months preggo and feeling huge!) I truly appreciate the help.. as you know there is so much info out there that it's overwhelming so it's great to have help narrowing down the real, true sound advice and have it come from people with experience! Yay!!

(Totally get wanting to use your own! Congratulations on a new life in your life!)

I wasn't able to find lard locally, but a lot of times it can be found at a grocery store or Walmart. If might be in the cold section, with the Crisco, or in the ethnic aisle with the Hispanic foods. Someone commented in my thread about lard that they have trouble with DOS with Armour, which is what I've mostly used. My oldest soap is only about 10 weeks old, so I can't really judge. I ordered my Armour online to be delivered to my local Walmart, though, so that may be an option for you. I found the Snow Cap I'm using now at Christmas, it isn't something the store normally stocks.

 

[penelopejane]

I absolutely will consider using lard, I like the way lard soaps end up. I only chose the shortening cause a whole vat of it was so cheap from BJ's Wholesale. I'm glad I'm not the only one who had used almond milk. If I use it in the future I might mix it with goats milk to see if I can get the soap to become more white in the end. Does anyone know if titanium dioxide will counteract the goats milk discoloring? I have some on the way. I know I shouldn't use a lot at once but curious what kind of effect it will have. Thanks for the feedback! I'm excited that there is a place for us to bounce ideas off eachother and I so appreciate all the help!

Gelling milk soaps is not what causes the discolouring. It is burning the milk with the hot lye that does that. If you use the split method you avoid turning the milk brown.

 

[deebop]

Hmmmm

Gelling milk soaps is not what causes the discolouring. It is burning the milk with the hot lye that does that. If you use the split method you avoid turning the milk brown.

Interesting! But if you only gel the midddle (accidentally) then the middle looks different than the rest of the soap which I don't find appealing in a goats milk soap... (had this happen once already).
Would you mind clarifying what you mean by "split methothod"?