Bad lye?

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Val’s5

soapingmomma
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Hello, I suspect that my lye was too old, anyone have this happen before?

Ive never seen this before?

Tysm guys keep soap’n 🥰

Coconut Oil- 450 grams
LYE - 64 grams
Distilled Water - 128 grams
Salt 225g
 

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Your recipe calculates out to be okay for a 100% coconut oil soap with high superfat.

You don't say you noticed any odd visual clues that the NaOH might be bad -- clumping, for example. ANd the soap appears firm, not soft or oily. So why do you think the lye is the problem? How hot did it get when you mixed up the lye solution?

My guess is it might be the salt you used, not the lye. What kind of salt did you use?
 
Hello ladies, thanks for the quick feed back. I have used canning salt before and made this recipe just the day before no issues at all- except that I soaped cooler than normal and used dry milk to anchor the scent (ran out if clay). Did trace a bit quicker than normal (added scent to oils) added salt and poured. Definitely did NOT PASS the zap test, just wondered if the white was lye or simply can be rinsed off… never have seen or tried lye “heavy” soap.

Tysm guys đź’™
 
Actually just tried and zap isnt so bad- so that means it will eventually pass all the way and soap is safe?

Might definitely be salt- again this outcome is new 🤓
 
With that much superfat, it will be tough to make a lye-heavy soap. Cold process soap can be zappy for a few days after making, so it's best to not rush into zap testing -- your soap is an example of why a bit of patience is good --it's too easy to draw the wrong conclusions from zap testing too early. If your goal is to verify the soap is safe for use on the skin, I suggest waiting at least a few days to a week before zap testing.

"...made this recipe just the day before no issues at all- except that I soaped cooler than normal and used dry milk to anchor the scent (ran out if clay)...."

So think about it ... you soaped cooler so it will take longer to fully finish saponifying. And you added milk which means there are milk sugars and protein in this batch that weren't in the previous batch. Two significant changes to this batch compared to the one you made the day before. It doesn't make sense to assume this batch will behave the same as the other batch.

FWIW, clay, activated charcoal, milk, etc. etc. etc. don't work to "anchor" a scent, no matter what the internet says.

To make fragrance last longer in soap, use scents that have proven "sticking power" in soap. And add enough fragrance, within safe use limitations, so it's as strong as possible to start with.

If using EOs, it's important to formulate an EO blend that includes base note EOs, not just short-lived top notes and medium-lived middle/heart notes. Base note EOs are usually resins, spices, and woods -- patchouli is a base note, for example.
 
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