CP soap forms oily substance after first being used? Need help.

[BattleGnome]

This discussion makes me think a castille swap might be interesting. We have some who swear by the slime and those who never see it. What would we see if bars were swapped post cure based on ambient temperatures of someone else's shower?

It would be a huge undertaking of a swap since castille cures are (comparatively) super long.

 

[Scooter]

It would be a huge undertaking of a swap since castille cures are (comparatively) super long.

When I first read this I thought, oh yeah, we would not mail them out until they had cured for a year. Alternatively, however, there could be a swap right after they have cured just a few weeks and then we could test them intermittently throughout the year to see how they evolve while curing.

 

[lenarenee]

Got something else to add to the mix - what about commercial castile? It just so happens someone gave me one today (Olivella, she bought a few, and can't stand them) and gave me the rest to give to pass on.) No indication from the ingredient label that there's anything other than olive oil, lye, water and fo.
So I could "waste" a bar to see how it compares....

 

[Makayla]

I have to say reading everyone's responses was very interesting. I didn't expect to get so many replies discussing this topic, and because I am very curious about it - I'm thankful to everyone who posted.

@IrishLass

Reading your post was so amazing. Not to mention how funny it was (especially the comparison with the Cujo dog - I know what you mean!), but also because it made me feel a lot better about my own soap. All the time I thought that something probably went wrong (and maybe it does judging from this thread because some people don't seem to get this slime) and was worrying that I might not have the ideal curing conditions for it which would prevent me from making any kind of soap if this was something not normal.

Also this is exactly the reason why I wouldn't feel so calm gifting it, haha:

What's even funnier is when my teenaged (at the time) son also used it in the shower. I guess should've warned him beforehand to not use the pink soap, but it slipped my mind. The telltale sign that he had chosen to use it instead of the other bars in the shower was the loud bellow wafting through the house asking what on earth kind of horribly disgusting soap was this! lol

@DeeAnna

Thank you for explaining that; I still have lots to learn on when it comes to soap and how it works so your description on what happens was very helpful.

Also to add to discussion - I cure my soap in a pretty cold place (probably colder than I should) simply because I just don't have any other choice. I'm not sure about humidity in the room, it is ventilated though. This is the part of what is making me unsure about my soaps - I worry that the room just might be too cold for them to cure which I read isn't ideal. And also, I thought that water hardness might have something to do with the slime maybe. But the water at my vacation house is much softer than the water I have in my apartment in the city. But I tested the soap with both and the results are exactly the same. Just after a few seconds after contact with water, the slime forms!

Again, thanks to everyone who commented.

 

[Seawolfe]

I think it also varies person to person - I have a 12 month old castile that I just love as a gentle facial bar. I detect no sliminess from it. I made a soaper friend try it and she went "ew slimy". I just think of it as really slippery

 

[Makayla]

So, I have an update and a new question on the same soap.

After using it for a while, the soap started to become very white-ish and strange looking. Small flakes of it fall apart when I take it in hands. Here are the pictures:

http://imgur.com/a/7rLtH

Does anyone know why this would happen?

 

[Susie]

It is in a well drained soap dish or something? It looks to me like it is staying too wet between uses.

 

[Makayla]

No, it's really not in any kind of well drained soap dish. I don't have one, so I can't really think of a way to keep it dry between uses that isn't too complicated. So it is because of it being wet constantly? I wonder why this kind of thing doesn't happen with commercial soap?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Because they make it very differently to how we make it - it's a lot drier and denser than our soap.

 

[artemis]

No, it's really not in any kind of well drained soap dish. I don't have one, so I can't really think of a way to keep it dry between uses that isn't too complicated. So it is because of it being wet constantly? I wonder why this kind of thing doesn't happen with commercial soap?

I buy the little clear one with bumps on them. You can get them for a buck or two at Walmart, or I have found even smaller ones at the Dollar Tree, and those fit inside my pretty soap dish.

 

[IrishLass]

I wonder why this kind of thing doesn't happen with commercial soap?

Ditto what the good Gent said. The way we make our handmade soaps is very different from how commercial soaps are made. Although commercial soap starts out pretty much the same way as we do soap (oils mixed with a caustic solution), from there it takes a different turn: first, the glycerin is removed from the soap, and then it is dried and processed into flake form. The below video shows what then happens after that:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el8TCTmr_dM[/ame]


IrishLass


Edited to add- I use the same well-draining soap dishes as Artemis. It's hard for me to find them locally, so I buy them from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KNWY3Z8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Makayla]

Oh, wow, I had no clue the commercial soap was made so differently!

I found out that the soap dish I use actually does have the "draining function" (wow I'm a newbie), but it doesn't look like it would drain too well.

Also, regarding the original question of the topic, I just used my second soap which was made with 40% lard, and other oils which were again high in oleic acid, and there was slime all over it again. But to be fair, I did only cure it for 2 weeks. So I'm thinking maybe the curing time really does affect the slime a lot? I was just impatient and wanted to try the soap, but I'll let the other bars cure even longer than a month.

(P.S. I made 4 more batches of soap since my first one, and I plan to make the 5th tomorrow, I have so many ideas and tons of lard (at least) and essential oils to use and I think I'm getting addicted to soap making!)

Thanks to everyone for their answers. It's amazing how fast people respond here.