Discoloration and sweating in organic soap after curing.

[Ohm Organics]

I have been driving myself crazy and at times throwing out whole batches after my organic soap has cured because the edges discolor and/or the soap sweats and becomes sticky and unsellable. I was hoping to cure this problem naturally by adding clay but it has not worked. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[Northland Naturals]

in order to give helpful information, people are probably going to need some, if not all, of the following:

recipes
storage methods
fo vs eo
weather conditions in your region
soaping temps

any details can help the experts nail down the cause.

 

[yoenoess]

the one and only my soap sweatty and small bad is when i put sooo much milk powder and honey
when i should use only 23 grams of milk powder, i put 120 grams.

 

[Ohm Organics]

Ingredients List

Organic Coconut, Soy, Olive, Avocado and Sunflower seed oil and mango and cocoa butters and most recently about 1/4 cup of white clay in a 14 lb batch (and of course lye, water and fragrance or essential oils-it has happened with both). It is definitely more of a problem when it's warmer but can happen even in cooler weather. I usually try to blend around 90-95 degrees. And during curing and storage my soap is allowed to breathe. I keep it in wicker baskets or on serving plates.

 

[carebear]

What color does it turn?

And soap hates humidity. The answer to sweating in high humidity conditions is, sadly, to lower the humidity. You can also wrap your soap in plastic after a long cure in low humidity.

 

[Ohm Organics]

It turns an awful yellow. Sometimes just on the edges, sometimes the whole bar.

 

[Guest]

Are you adding any color to your batch?

 

[newbie]

Can you post any pictures? It sound like DOS, but a picture would help.

 

[AZ Soaper]

We need more info. Please put in amounts or percentages, lye and water amounts, FO/EO used, Temps used when processing, utensils used, etc. There are so many thing that could throw a batch off. Also as said above a picture would help. Also are your supplies OK? Do they do a lot of business? Expecially with organic matterials, you may be getting old product.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

Can you post any pictures? It sound like DOS, but a picture would help.

I agree, it could be rancidity. Are you using high percentages of sunflower oil?

 

[Ohm Organics]

So it definitely is not my oils going rancid. Thank you for the suggestion though. I have already posted the ingredients list...however it will not be one specific ingredient as some batches end up fabulous and some have issues. Your thoughts and comments have lead me to think about another aspect that I may have varied though and that is the mixing temp. Is a higher mixing temp better? I have been doing under 100 degrees-usually around 90-95.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

The percentages are important. You may want to make smaller batches until you get a handle on this. How long has this been going on OHM? :wink: