Finally Made my First Soap!

Babyshoes · Apr 4, 2021

Brilliant! You certainly don't have a partial gel so I'd say you were successful.

earlene · Apr 4, 2021

F_Drip said:
It looks to me like the soap went through a successful gel phase but since this is my first batch of soaps ever, I’m not sure exactly. What do you all think?

They are lovely. I particularly like the second soap with the white swirl.

Possibly a tad bit of partial gel is showing on the lighter soap, but I suspect that will fade enough that you won't be able to see it unless you know to look. It's visible in the first soap at the front of the line on the right, just below the white swirl. It's imperceptible in the first photo, so maybe that one I see it in is from the very center of the loaf? Sometime partial gel doesn't show up in each and every bar, depending on how far it reaches.

IF you want to complete the gel, it's easy to do. Here's how: Put all the bars back in the loaf. Pre-heat your oven (or use a heating pad) to about 150-170°F, put the filled soap loaf into the oven (turn the oven off) & keep it there for about an hour or two, then remove and let cool. It works. See also: Rescue oven processing | Soapy Stuff

VikingChick · Apr 4, 2021

They look fantastic! (My first soap was definitely not that pretty!) Great job!

dibbles · Apr 4, 2021

Great job - I especially like the one with the white swirl. So pretty!

F_Drip · Apr 4, 2021

earlene said:
They are lovely. I particularly like the second soap with the white swirl.

Possibly a tad bit of partial gel is showing on the lighter soap, but I suspect that will fade enough that you won't be able to see it unless you know to look. It's visible in the first soap at the front of the line on the right, just below the white swirl. It's imperceptible in the first photo, so maybe that one I see it in is from the very center of the loaf? Sometime partial gel doesn't show up in each and every bar, depending on how far it reaches.

IF you want to complete the gel, it's easy to do. Here's how: Put all the bars back in the loaf. Pre-heat your oven (or use a heating pad) to about 150-170°F, put the filled soap loaf into the oven (turn the oven off) & keep it there for about an hour or two, then remove and let cool. It works. See also: Rescue oven processing | Soapy Stuff
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Oh my! I didn’t know I could put it back in the oven after it’s been out and cooled. So what I understand from you is that if I ever do have a soap that has a partial gel ring in the center, I can just pop it back in the oven for a couple of hours and it’ll complete the gel phase? Thanks so much for the nuggets