Did I ruin my LS?

[soapgirltami]

I've been making cp and hp soap for several years, but this past year, trying to perfect my LS. This time, my intent was a shampoo. So I formulated my recipe, took -5 in the oils, being a lye excess. Cooked it with the 50/50 glycerin/water method and got a gorgeous clear soap. Added my essential oils, being 1
.40 lavender
,20 roman chamomile
.20 coriander
.05 ginger
.10 benzoin
It immediately turned cloudy. Then I made the BIG mistake. I somehow got a brain fart and put the citric acid for neutralizing, directly in my warm soap without dissolving in water. So, I reached for the handy stick blender and got it completely emulsified and dissolved. I super fatted with glycerin, but since the EOs and citric acid, it's no longer clear. I'd i ruin it?


Tami

 

[Susie]

I don't think you ruined it, but it is going to take a little fixing.

First off, glycerin is not a fat, so you don't superfat with it. So, that is one thing that is not going to affect the outcome a whole lot.

Second, did you dilute it yet?

Now, we need to see whether that soap separates or not to know where to go from here. If it does separate, that is one fix, if it does not separate, then you are going to need to check the pH.

 

[soapgirltami]

Yes, I diluted it and sequestered it last night, here's a photo


Tami

 

[soapgirltami]

Yes, you're right, glycerin isn't a for super fatting, I guess I just thought it would be a good humectant. I don't have any water soluble castor at the moment, but have it on order. I've never added it this late in the game, but could I?


Tami

 

[Meganmischke]

I usually dilute my whole batch of paste and then scent and add the turkey red castor oil as I need to refill bottles. Works fine for me.

 

[Susie]

OK, that's not so bad. Do you have any way of measuring the pH? I am leaning towards it is a tad superfatted in the top, but knowing for sure would help.

It would also help if you could post the whole recipe, including how much KOH, water, and citric acid you added.

I don't think you are ever going to get that crystal clear, but that is not the end of the world. Some EOs just cloud soap.

If your soap continues to only have that much opaque on top over the next couple of days, then you can add 0.5 oz KOH to 2 oz H2O and adding 1 tablespoon at the time to warm soap(put in the crock pot or double boiler and get warm, not hot.) Wait about an hour between additions to see if it will go back together. (Our chemistry guru DeeAnna taught me this.)

 

[Susie]

We sort of need to figure out what is going on with this recipe before adding more oils and such. My thought is that you are a tad over superfatted(over neutralized).

 

[soapgirltami]

Ok, thank you so much. I don't have any separation, those are bubbles from mixing in the glycerin, they're gone now. It's the cloudy factor. It was so perfectly clear it tested out at 9.3 in the ph realm. Here's the recipe


Tami

 

[Susie]

Jojoba and cocoa butter will give you cloudy soap. It is not bad soap, just not crystal clear. If the pH is 9.3, you have perfectly marvelous soap! Good job! Go and wash your hair!

 

[soapgirltami]

Thank you! It was clear til the EO, but I guess I'm gonna just have to let that go


Tami

 

[lady-of-4]

Since I see you said the soap was clear prior to Additives, this is what I see has happened, and it has nothing to do with the soaping oils used:

Certain essential oils, and even fragrance oils, cloud soap. It's even more so if you add them to cold soap, rather than warmed, to allow better dispersement. You can use a solubilizer to consistently guarantee they don't cloud, but it's not necessary.
Since you used Citric Acid in the soap to neutralize without checking ph, that will also cause issues as well. Always check ph prior to using any Additives that also act as a neutralizer, whether you choose to zap test as your primary mode of safety testing or not.

You can try to use natural solubilizers, such as concentrated sugar water, Glycerin or alcohol, to clarify the soap. Or you can try any one of the available solubilizers on the market.