Everything Melted!

[JasmineTea]

Everything that was supposed to, anyway.

Out of half a dozen or so syndet shampoo bar batches, I could never get everything to melt completely. The SCI was generally the culprit, l believe. The final bars had unmelted bits in them.

I was determined to overcome this. Perhaps those with a microwave do not have this problem? I don't have a microwave.

My winning combination was heating the ingredients in a Kiva silicone bag (mentioned in another thread: www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/kiva-silicone-bag-for-heating.70413/) and mashing the hot ingredients on the counter (still in the bag) with a wooden dough roller. I was so excited to have a lovely, thoroughly-melted shampoo bar - still lumpy, of course. My next challenge is to make a press to get a smoother bar.

 

[DeeAnna]

Thanks for the tip, JasmineTea. I've been using the microwave to make syndet shampoo bars, and I get lumps too.

I'll give your idea a try soon -- I HAVE to make more shampoo this week. I've been shampooing this past week with hotel shampoo and that's just plain ... ughly ....

I think the real problem with the usual process of making syndet shampoo bars is evaporation of water while the mixture is being heated and stirred. Melting and mixing the ingredients in a sealed bag eliminates evaporation, and that looks like the key to success.

The SMF challenge for Sous Vide soap (a couple of months ago) explored this idea of making HP soap in a sealed bag. I thought it was interesting how I could use less water in a sous vide soap batch -- the exact amount of water as for CP soap -- and get a nicely fluid soap with no dry crusty bits.

 

[JasmineTea]

DeeAnna (and anyone else),

One piece of advice with the silicone bags: be prepared to scrape the contents out as soon as the bag is removed from the hot water. Otherwise the batter begins to harden and is harder to remove. I use a silicone spatula.

 

[DeeAnna]

Thanks for the tip, Jasmine. I don't have silicone bags at the moment. I was planning to melt the poo bar ingredients in a single-use heavyweight bag meant for vacuum sealing. For soap, I have clipped off a corner of the bag and piped the product into molds or containers. I'm hoping this will work okay for poo bars too. I'll try to remember to update this thread after I give it a try. It might be a disaster. I appreciate that my method wouldn't work with your nice reusable silicone bags.

 

[JasmineTea]

I appreciate that my method wouldn't work with your nice reusable silicone bags.

 

[JasmineTea]

This post goes with the one before it.

 

[cmzaha]

I grind up my sci in a coffee grinder, unless I have the powdered sci, mix all my oils and sci together in the micro and I do get it all melted. I know Susan in one of her tutorials states to melt the sci first, but I find mixing it will the liquid oils and any waxes it melts down much better. It does take a lot of stirring and watching it in the micro. I watch it until it just starts to expand take out and stir, repeat process until smooth. It takes me at least 30 min depending on batch size

 

[earlene]

So, it seems like grinding it first is the key. You're one smart cooky, Carolyn!

JasmineTea, I bet that would help to get a more homogeneous batter inside your Kiva bags, too.

 

[JasmineTea]

I'll try grinding it. Thanks, cmz. I'll have to pass on the microwave, though.