Chalky crumbly soap

[herekittymeow]

Ok so I know that I am not the first to have this problem, as I have been reading other posts about this. I made a batch of lavender euclyptus soap, I made it as I usually do, only thing I did different was add some dried lavender buds and a little more eo at trace than usual. Did i add too much eo? I tasted it to see if it was "zappy" and I don't think it is, although I have never done the zap test before so I' not too sure what to expect. I have seemed to ruin a couple batches lately and I would hate to have to trash this one.

Thanks for the help!

 

[IrishLass]

Since I don't know the rest of your recipe, I'm not sure exactly why your soap is crumbly, but here are some common causes of crumbly and/or chalky soap:

1) Lye heaviness
2) Too much titanium dioxide and/or other powdered additives
3) Too much sodium lactate
4) Not enough water
5) Waiting too long to cut.

That's all I could think of off the top of my head. Do any of these fit the bill?

If your soap is lye heavy, the zap test will let you know in no uncertain terms. The soap will zap or sting the tip of your tongue, almost as if the soap bit you or something.

HTH!
IrishLass

 

[Sunkawakan]

herekittymeow - you don't say if you're doing cphp, hp, or cp. My experience has been when this happens when I've done cphp is that it wasn't cooked long enough. I suspect the same is true for hp but don't use that method or cp so I'm not much help in those areas.

Good luck, its miserable to lose a batch.

 

[LizRNBSN]

My only crubly batch happened after adding salt 1 tsp/lb so I blamed the salt (I may have just waited too long to cut it since salt can make the bars get harder faster). I still LOVE The soap though but just use it for myself! I ended up making soap patties with my hands and a little water and they dont look good but they still work great. They dont have to be trash!

 

[herekittymeow]

I do cp, the soap didn't seem to have a zap I guess I will start keeping detailed notes with every batch.

 

[Goat Lady]

Crumbly Soap

I put too much lye in one of my first batches. I couldn't stand the thought of throwing it out, so I ground it up in the food processor and added washing soda and borax like you do with Fels Naptha to make laundry detergent. It worked fine and I didn't have to waste all that soap.

I had another batch that just turned out kind of ugly. I'm not sure what I did wrong on that one Anyway, I use it in the outside wash room for the guys when they come in from working on the farm....there's always some use for messed up batches :wink: