Excessively Soft CP, Lavender & Tea Tree EO in Coconut Oil

[gabrielet]

In need of expert advice:

I made a batch using the following formula, and it came out soft, taking a very long time to harden. So far, after one week, I can still make a depression in the bars fairly easily with my fingertip. My question is, should I increase the percentage of sodium lactate to increase the hardness? or any other suggestions?

~42 oz. (1191g) Coconut Oil
~14.80 oz. (420g) Distilled Water
~6.05 oz. (171.5g) Sodium Hydroxide
~2.75 tsp. Sodium Lactate
~3 oz. Lavender Oil
~1.5 oz. Tea Tree Oil

Thank you.

 

[shunt2011]

I didn’t run your recipe through a soap calculator but your soap should be rock hard. Are you sure you measured your lye correctly. I can cut 100% CO at 3 hours.

 

[cmzaha]

Only issue I can think of is the high EO used. Possibly it could not handle the percentage, and /or overheated causing some of the Essentials to leak and contribute to softening the batch. With the high superfat and high EO maybe.... At 1 oz ppo the fragrance load would be 2.6 oz not 4.5 oz

 

[DeeAnna]

At 6% ppo dosage, you should have added a total of ~2.5 ounces of scent. You added 4.5 ounces total -- about 11% ppo. That is likely part of the reason for the softness. It's also an awful lot of EOs for skin safety.

I realize scent isn't normally included in the total water weight, but I have learned from experience that too much scent can create problems with softness and sometimes weeping -- similar to using too much water.

My calc is also telling me you used something like 25% superfat, and that might be on the upper edge too.

 

[gabrielet]

Thank you all for your replies. I just now found them because, for some reason, I wasn't notified via email when a response was posted.

My original question was if increasing the sodium lactate might make the soap harder? I did another batch, increasing the sodium lactate from 2.75tsp. to 3, but it didn't seem to help. I let it set in the molds for about 5-days, and it still was a quite soft. The original batch, after cutting, seems to be hardening very, very slowly.

My coconut oil soap with only the lavender oil at 3-oz. with 42-0z. of CO, seemed okay, but the addition of only 1.5tsp of the tea tree oil seemed to cause the problem. Without the added EO, the superfatting for this formula was listed a 20% - at least by the person from whom I got it.

 

[shunt2011]

Thank you all for your replies. I just now found them because, for some reason, I wasn't notified via email when a response was posted.

My original question was if increasing the sodium lactate might make the soap harder? I did another batch, increasing the sodium lactate from 2.75tsp. to 3, but it didn't seem to help. I let it set in the molds for about 5-days, and it still was a quite soft. The original batch, after cutting, seems to be hardening very, very slowly.

My coconut oil soap with only the lavender oil at 3-oz. with 42-0z. of CO, seemed okay, but the addition of only 1.5tsp of the tea tree oil seemed to cause the problem. Without the added EO, the superfatting for this formula was listed a 20% - at least by the person from whom I got it.

Did you run it through a soap calculator yourself? As stated the amount of EO alone exceeded the recommended usage rate. You shouldn’t even need sodium lactate in a 100% CO recipe. It should be rock hard.

I cut mine at 3-4 hours or I can’t cut it. It’s still pretty warm when cutting. Something else is going on causing the problem you’re experiencing. As for adding extra SL no it’s not true the more you use will make a difference.