Botched batch? Should I cry now or wait?

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Sweet T

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So I made my second batch of soap yesterday afternoon (face soap for acne prone skin). I was so excited I even took pictures (I will post later, even if it turn out to be a complete fail). I thought I was very careful with my recipe, I ran it through the lye calculator and checked the EO recommendations ( I learned from my first STINKY batch that it is indeed possible to have too much of a good thing: IE- patchouli + clove. Although I must say that after curing for 16 days the stench has mellowed and is almost actually NICE. But, that's not my current problem).
This morning I checked on my new soap, which had been insulated all night, and it is still quite sticky and squishy. My first batch (smelly as it was) set up much faster but I did not have it covered. Does covering it slow down the hardening process? Logic tells me yes, but I'm still not sure I understand the whole covering, gelling, insulating thing yet. obviously.
My recipe is as follows:

10oz olive oil
5.5oz sweet almond oil
4.3oz shea butter (it was all i had left or I would have used more)
1.5oz caster oil
3.5oz jojoba oil
5.2oz sunflower oil
.6oz sodium lactate
10oz water
3.6oz lye ( 6% discount)
.3 oz cedarwood eo
.15 oz tea tree eo
2tbs french green clay

Did I do something wrong or do I just need to wait?? I'm not good at waiting.
Thanks for your wisdom, it's always appreciated :)
 
it's hard to say what is going on yet. covering typically speeds things up as it encourages gel by holding the heat in. you used a reasonable amount of water so the evaporation of water is not an issue.

is there oil separated out of the soap or is the mass just still soft?
- if there is a layer of oil that means the mixture never emulsified, so you would want to make sure to mix to trace next time. if there is just some oozing it could be overheating.
did it gel?
- if not it might just need more time in the mold.

I don't soap with jojoba oil, but I know it has a very high level of unsaponifiables, so perhaps that's the problem - 11.7% might just be too high. Hopefully others who do soap with it will chime in.
 
Thanks...I don't know if it gelled (how do I tell? sorry if that's a dumb question), but it did NOT separate. I thought before I touched it that it looked nice and solid, no oozing or oiliness, just squishiness. hmmm... I also thought that using the sodium lactate would help harden it but maybe that comes later. I'm hoping that all it needs is more time, because it LOOKS good. :/ If not, maybe I can pass it off as some sort of face paste. haha.
 
Most of your oils are soft; it may take a little longer for the soap mass to harden. You are also using a lot of olive oil... that also causes setup to take longer. Also, your Iodine count in the recipe is a little high... this will soften the end product a little and make it take longer to cure.

The recipe itself looks good... it just needs time.
 

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