Crystals forming on soap.

[Tritia]

Hi everyone. I've been soaping for a little over 6 months. Started real slow with an olive oil cp Soap recipe I learned from the how to book that I started with. Became so familiar I decided to branch out into a palm oil recipe I found online.
Here's my question. When I made my first 4 lb batch of the palm oil soap, everything seemed to be going just as expected. It wasn't until I had them cut up and drying on my rack when I noticed small salt like crystals forming on the cut sides of some of the bars. Then to add on to my first bizarre soaping moment, the little scraps I tossed into the olive oil scraps from
previous batches caused (I believe) a glycerin sweat reaction, but only when left touching palm oil to olive oil. I was able to remove easily with rubbing or wiping with a damp cloth.
I'm not too alarmed just curious, how common is this, and can the crystals be prevented?

 

[shunt2011]

Did you zap test the soap. It could just be Fragrance if you used any seeping. If you post your full recipe we would be happy to help troubleshoot.

 

[Susie]

Or it could be soda ash.

 

[Tritia]

ZAP TEST!!!
Why did I forget to do a zap test?
I did use lavender EO. But you're right Shunt2011, it's a little zappy. I had never run into that with the olive oil.
Since this is my first lye heavy batch, would it be okay to keep an eye (or a tongue) on it and see if it corrects itself by the time curing is complete? I made it on 3/30/17.

 

[Dahila]

12 days it should not zap, i think you may forget or mistake the amount of oils. it usually stop zapping after a week but wait maybe is going to be ok'

 

[Tritia]

Thanks!
I'm looking forward to see how this turns out.

 

[lenarenee]

Did you zap test the crystals or the clear soap? Sometimes people mistake the feeling from ash for zap. And lavender eo does tend to ash.

 

[DeeAnna]

Soda ash can form on all sides of a bar of soap, not just the top. The ash can look like a thin coat of white powder or it can be fuzzy or furry or it can even be sparkly like rock crystals. It can feel a bit zappy, but not strongly so. If you want to double-check your soap for zap, find a spot without any ash or scrape off the ash to get a clean surface and test just the soap itself. Here are a couple of bars with ash on the sides and top --

 

[Steve85569]

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=42922&highlight=DeeAnna

Here's a long thread on very high lye and olive oil in a recipe.
If I got the link right....

 

[Tritia]

I didn't even think of that lenarenee, thanks for opening my eyes to that.
After reading DeeAnna's reply I decided to cut a bar in half and zap test it. (Thanks DeeAnna )
Yeah, it's definitely zappy.

 

[Tritia]

Thanks Steve85569, that post was a really interesting read. I didn't read all 600+ replies to it, but a dozen or so was definitely worth it.
I think the lye will eventually level out. I'll keep testing it every week or every other week to see how it comes along.
I guess some soaps you gotta let cure for the water weight and some you gotta let cure for the pH.
Thanks guys!

 

[Susie]

There is far more going on during cure than simply water weight loss and pH decrease. The crystalline structure of the molecules is forming and firming up. This makes the bar harder and the lather improves tremendously. If you get a batch that is not lye heavy, test a bar once a week to see the improvement.

 

[Tritia]

Thanks Susie. Even though I've taken things slowly and read the book, I still feel like I don't know anything.
Thank you everyone for helping me. You guys are proving to be awesome.

 

[ngian]

This phenomenon could also be soap crystals. You can read more here:

http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/education/chemistry/crystal-power.aspx

 

[Tritia]

That was a cool read. Made me think about where I might want to keep my soap while molding during the summer.
Making some silicone molds for the tops might be such a bad idea either.
And I just might be un-molding too soon. 1-2 days after pouring. Need to remember, just because I can doesn't mean I should.
On the upside, the zap test finally passed. Only took 3 weeks.