Are these stearic spots?

talewi · Apr 10, 2023

I made this soap three days ago. I soaped closer to room temp (my lye was already cooled and I don't feel comfortable trying to reheat it) but the oils and lye were close in temp. It seemed to take a very long time to come to trace and is still very soft. I did not force it to gel. When I cut it, I noticed these spots. Are they just stearic spots from the butters or are they something bad like lye pockets? The lye was fully dissolved when I poured it into the oils.

Recipe:
Olive Oil 58.93%
Coconut Oil 25%
Mango Butter 5.36%
Shea Butter 5.36%
Coco Butter 5.36%

Additives: Honey Powder (0.11 oz per lb of soap)
Fragrance: Oatmeal and Honey 660 from WSP (6% vanilla content)

Thanks for your help!

KiwiMoose · Apr 10, 2023

I think it is probably air pockets. You don't really have enough stearic in your recipe to get stearic spots I wouldn't have thought.

mx5inpenn · Apr 10, 2023

Was there any liquid oozing from the pockets when you cut it? If not, I'll second air pockets. Could you post the full recipe used including lye and water amounts?

talewi · Apr 14, 2023

Sorry, it has been something of a week for me! There was no liquid oozing from the pockets when I cut it. I also poked a few of the bigger white spots a little bit ago and it caved in so I'm thinking it's the air pockets as well. Just in case, though, here's the recipe I used:

10.64 oz distilled water
3.90 oz lye
16.5 oz olive oil
7 oz coconut oil
1.5 oz mango butter
1.5 oz shea butter
1.5 oz coco butter
1.5 oz honey powder
.96 oz FO

mx5inpenn · Apr 15, 2023

Not sure if that's a typo for the amount of honey powder (the amount in your original post makes more sense) but if not, that's a lot. I still say air pockets. It may have overheated a bit but that alone won't hurt anything.