Can't stand soft soap

[Maythorn]

I not only find I needed to reduce the water (I was using water at 30% of the oils not the lye) but I also can't do so much liquid oil. I like 25-30% coconut and palm kernel oil or just coconut and even at 33% olive, castor and almond total I get slimy soap. I calcuate the lye according to Majestic Mountain Sage at 5-6% discount so that's not the problem. How does one add like 40-45% liquid oil? I figure you must use cocoa butter of some really hard amout of other oils.

 

[judymoody]

I use a 33-34% lye solution (roughly 1:2, lye:water) and my soaps typically have 40-45% liquid oils. I also use sodium lactate at 1% of my oil weight to make a harder bar. I don't find my soap particularly soft and I SF at 8-10%.

Do you gel?

Are you sure your scale is accurate?

ETA: If you are expecting that your soap will be as hard as a commercial bar of Dove or similar, CP soap doesn't get there. The commercial stuff is subjected to pressure mechanically to make it harder.

 

[AndreaMakesSoap]

I use soapcalc's lye calculator and it works great. The default is set at 38% water as a percentage of oils. I've used as low as 35% and it worked fine as well. I use 1 ounce of sodium lactate in a 50oz batch, and gelling really helps harden the soap. I've found that CPOPing at 150 degrees for 30-45mins along with the sodium lactate allows me to unmold the soap the next morning and cut it shortly after. Good luck!
I use 60% soft oils and 40% hard (coconut, palm kernel flakes, and a butter - shea or soy).

Good luck!
Andrea

 

[ToniD]

If you are talking about the soap being slimy in use, it may have more to do with your soap dish than your recipe. A well drained soap dish makes all the difference. I know that if I use my soap in conditions where it does not drain so well, I find it gross. That is especially true of a castille or bastille, IME.

 

[Lilahblossom]

Beef tallow makes the hard bar. And long lasting too.

 

[Cosmo]

I use about 75% soft oils. I use a 50% lye concentration and add a tsp. of sodium lactate per pound. My soap is really hard and never slimy. However, before I started us the sodium lactate it was sometimes slimy, but only with certain fragrances.

Also, like someone else said, a well-draining soap dish is really important. But even if I sit my soap on the side of the bathtub and it does get exposed to water more than it should, with the sodium lactate it's still not slimy.

I love sodium lactate! Can you tell?

 

[Yooper]

I don't use sodium lactic, or add stearic acid or anything, and even my 80% olive oil soaps are rock hard once cured. My bars are never slimy, but I do live in a climate that is not humid and some maybe that plays a part.

I wonder if there are several things going on for you, if your bars stay soft even after curing:

As was mentioned, if the soap sits in water it'll get soft so look at getting a soap dish that raises the soap a tad.

Maybe it's not cured long enough? Even my soaps made with almost all liquid oils do get hard (and very hard) once cured. Of course, some of my soaps are 1+ years old. Make sure they are stored in a dry place, and not wrapped, as they will sweat. I have a couple of drawers in my laundry room that is cool and dry.

Recipe formulation- some recipes use oils like safflower and canola, which I believe can make a a softer soap (never used them, though). If you use even 20% of a "hard" oil, like cocoa butter, palm oil, tallow, etc, that can make a nice hard bar.

Have you tried a different lye calculator, to see if that makes a difference? And make sure you use the correct type of oil (olive oil has several different "grades" as an example) in the calculator.

I don't discount water except in olive oil soaps, and I still have a very hard bar in just a couple of weeks for most of my soaps.

 

[Maythorn]

I get that handmade soap would be softer since it's gentler, richer and all that.

Scale is okay, though. I test it regularly by weighing things I know the weight of by grams and oz. Like one small soap pot always weighs 414 grams and that hasn't changed. But I think adding less water will help a lot.

Thank you everyone.