Hi All,
I've been happily making soap these past few weeks with no issues - until I used a FO with vanilla (8%) in it. I knew it would turn brown but I thought if I used enough TD (I actually thought I would see glycerin rivers bc I thought I used too much TD), it would still be a pretty color. When I first cut the bars, everything was dandy, but 24 hours after the cut, I am seeing random brown spots all over. Is this normal? Will these spots just grow and eventually turn the whole soap this color? (I'm fine with that). Or is this the dreaded DOS (although I feel like it's too early for it). You can see the original cut and how it looks like now in the photos. It smells normal (coconut coast from nature's garden).
It is currently curing on a wax paper lined cookie cooling rack and none of the bars are touching the metal. I used a 16 oz silicone mold that I've been using this entire time and soaped at 117 degrees oil and 109 degrees lye.
My other question is regarding SF and soap scum. I have been SF-ing at 5% because that's just what I assumed was a safe place to start, but now that I'm reading more about SF, I'm realizing it can create soap scum with hard water and that's what we have here in NYC and at our tiny home in the catskill mountains. I'm not so concerned about NYC, bc I can just use drain cleaner, but in our tiny home, we have a cesspool (house was built in the 50's), and we are very cautious of what we put down the drain. How quickly would I know that my soap is clogging the drain? I'm going to test my recipes all again at 3% SF so I can test the difference in the way my skin feels (but i'm going to need to wait until 6/11 to test the first batch).
Thanks in advance for all your help!
I've been happily making soap these past few weeks with no issues - until I used a FO with vanilla (8%) in it. I knew it would turn brown but I thought if I used enough TD (I actually thought I would see glycerin rivers bc I thought I used too much TD), it would still be a pretty color. When I first cut the bars, everything was dandy, but 24 hours after the cut, I am seeing random brown spots all over. Is this normal? Will these spots just grow and eventually turn the whole soap this color? (I'm fine with that). Or is this the dreaded DOS (although I feel like it's too early for it). You can see the original cut and how it looks like now in the photos. It smells normal (coconut coast from nature's garden).
It is currently curing on a wax paper lined cookie cooling rack and none of the bars are touching the metal. I used a 16 oz silicone mold that I've been using this entire time and soaped at 117 degrees oil and 109 degrees lye.
My other question is regarding SF and soap scum. I have been SF-ing at 5% because that's just what I assumed was a safe place to start, but now that I'm reading more about SF, I'm realizing it can create soap scum with hard water and that's what we have here in NYC and at our tiny home in the catskill mountains. I'm not so concerned about NYC, bc I can just use drain cleaner, but in our tiny home, we have a cesspool (house was built in the 50's), and we are very cautious of what we put down the drain. How quickly would I know that my soap is clogging the drain? I'm going to test my recipes all again at 3% SF so I can test the difference in the way my skin feels (but i'm going to need to wait until 6/11 to test the first batch).
Thanks in advance for all your help!
