Doesn't pure olive oil soaps take long to set?

Guest · Jul 1, 2011

I made a batch of pure olive oil soaps last night. Took awhile to trace even with a stick blender. The thing is, I've always read that olive oil soaps are soft, so you might need to wait alitte while longer before u can unmold it. But mine seems to have set really quick. It's only been about 11 or 12 hours, and it's harden up enough that I could get it out of the mold. I'm finding it pretty strange cos it contradicts what I read online. And it's my first time making pure oo soap, so I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing that it set so fast...

adoptapitbull · Jul 1, 2011

Wait a few weeks and then you'll really see what hard is! I'm 2 months into a cure with 80% OO and it's very, very hard! It's OK that yours was ready in 12 hours, I believe mine were too.

IrishLass · Jul 1, 2011

What was your lye solution %? I ask because 100% olive oil soaps can actually set up nice and quick if you use a high lye solution %. I usually use a 33% lye solution instead of a 'full water' amount, and my 100% olive oil soaps are firm enough to be unmolded and cut within about 12 hours. The one and only time I ever used a 'full water' amount with my 100% olive oil soap, it took a week to unmold and a few weeks on top of that before I felt it was safe to cut it without it falling apart. :lol:

Never again!

IrishLass

carebear · Jul 1, 2011

It depends on what grade of olive oil you use, the concentration of the lye solution, and if the soap gels. But it's just fine.

newbie · Jul 1, 2011

It can also depend on the FO. I've found that accelerating FO's will make the bar much harder much sooner. I've been able to unmold after 8-12 hours with very firm if not hard bars when using accelerators like Plumeria or Cool waters or one like that, even without a gel.

Guest · Jul 1, 2011

Thanks guys! I was just surprised cos I thought I would need to leave it for like 48hrs before I would be able to unmold it. So when I could unmold i earlier on, I wasn't sure if everything was ok with my soap!

But if that's pretty normal, then it's all good. lol

I didn't use any FO's, and used Extra Virgin Olive Oil cos that's what I could find. And when I was looking through this site to see if anyone else experienced this b4 starting this thread, I read that most ppl prefer to use Olive Oil instead of EVOO for soaps. Any reasons for this besides pricing? Cos I can't find Olive Oil here, it's either EVOO or Olive Pomace.