First try at HP...what do you think went wrong?

[keelsoaper]

Yesterday I made my first batch of HP soap via the oven method. I tried to make Lavender Soap. I used 10% apricot kernal oil, 28% coconut oil, 10% meadowfoam oil, and 52% olive oil. After running through the lye calculator I used 11.5 oz distilled water and 5.19 oz lye. Instead of heating the water and putting the lavender buds in I used a lavender tea bag in hot water and let the water cool down. I added the lye to it and it turned dark brown. Brought it to a light trace then put it in my pre-heated oven at 170*F for 20 min. At that point it all hardened at the botten of the pot so I mixed it up as best I could and added my purple clay and fragrance oil. Any suggestions much appreciated!

 

[BrewerGeorge]

It looks relatively as I would expect it to look. The brown is likely from the tea. Did you leave the solids from the tea bag?

Also, just IMO, but that recipe isn't really that great for a first soap. No hard oils will be soft, too much coconut will make it a bit harsh for most people, too much olive will need a long cure, and the meadowfoam is sort of wasted in soap. Don't get me wrong, it's still soap, but you can make better soap, cheaper. It is often recommended to read all the threads on the first 10 pages of the Beginner section as a good starting point, which will give you a good grounding.

 

[keelsoaper]

Thank you for your response BrewerGeorge. I did not put the solids from the tea bag into the soap. The soap texture is firm but I will let is cure for a few weeks. Just wondering if the oven temp was too high or was it the that the lye was too hot when I added it to the rest of the ingredients?

 

[BrewerGeorge]

... Just wondering if the oven temp was too high or was it the that the lye was too hot when I added it to the rest of the ingredients?

Probably not. It doesn't look overheated. Organic stuff like tea will often turn brown when the lye gets to them.

Just judging by the pic, I don't think there's really anything "wrong" with it. Does it zap?

 

[Nao]

I'm thinking the hard soap in the bottom might be gelled soap. How did it look? Darker and sort of half translucent?

 

[keelsoaper]

I did not do the "tongue test". I wanted to pick up some ph test strips because I read they would be a better way to test. What do you think and how do you test?

 

[shunt2011]

I did not do the "tongue test". I wanted to pick up some ph test strips because I read they would be a better way to test. What do you think and how do you test?

Hello and welcome. The only way to know that there is no active lye in the soap is to zap test it. PH strips are wasted on soap. Soap is generally 8.5-12 ph. So, the strips are only telling ph not heavy lye.

 

[keelsoaper]

When I took it out of the oven it was hard on top and cream colored and lighter brown underneath. I think I should have stirred it more during baking. When I took it out of the oven I stirred it a lot until the color became more of an even brown with only a little hint of cream spots. It was never translucent in color.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

What pH will be okay? That is the big problem - all soap is alkaline and a perfectly lovely soap can be very alkaline indeed. The issues come from unreacted lye which a pH test cannot tell you without a benchmark.

To test, wet your finger and get some soapiness on it. Does it tingle? If not, dab it very lightly on your tongue. Does it feel like a slight electric shock? If not, do a longer dab. If all you taste is soap and there is no shocking sensation, you're good to go.

As for worrying about damage, I have had some really bad zaps (from shaving soaps, generally, it seems to me that koh zaps worse than NaOH) and my tongue is absolutely fine. Still as smooth as ever.

 

[keelsoaper]

Thank you all for your help. I will definitely do the zap test.

 

[toxikon]

What pH will be okay? That is the big problem - all soap is alkaline and a perfectly lovely soap can be very alkaline indeed. The issues come from unreacted lye which a pH test cannot tell you without a benchmark.

To test, wet your finger and get some soapiness on it. Does it tingle? If not, dab it very lightly on your tongue. Does it feel like a slight electric shock? If not, do a longer dab. If all you taste is soap and there is no shocking sensation, you're good to go.

As for worrying about damage, I have had some really bad zaps (from shaving soaps, generally, it seems to me that koh zaps worse than NaOH) and my tongue is absolutely fine. Still as smooth as ever.

My soap was leaking fluid and I decided to zap test the liquid... yup, pretty much pure lye water. Definitely learned the meaning of "zap test" that day. I rinsed my mouth out and was fine.

 

[keelsoaper]

Just did the zap test and I didn't get a shock...so guess I'm good to go.

 

[DeeAnna]

pH isn't the best way to test soap to make sure it doesn't have excess lye, especially the way most soapers do their pH tests.

A pH check is not the definitive test of whether a soap has a lye excess or not. You don't know the proper pH for soap made with this recipe, nor will you know that until you make multiple batches of this recipe and test the pH with the proper methods. And even then the pH will only be a rough check, not proof positive.

Just so you know, pH test strips are very often incorrect; they usually read lower than the actual pH, sometimes by as much as 1-2 pH units. That's worse than useless.

Most people most of the time are far better off to use the zap test. It's quicker, easier, and more accurate.

Zap test
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=63199
https://classicbells.com/soap/zapTest.html

pH test
http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/how-to-ph-test-handmade-soap/
http://alaiynab.blogspot.com/2015/05/ph-testing-of-liquid-soap-and-lowering.html

 

[Susie]

Also, if you are doing HP in order to decrease cure time, it does not work...ever. It actually increases cure time.

 

[Kamahido]

Also, if you are doing HP in order to decrease cure time, it does not work...ever. It actually increases cure time.

Indeed. Hot process is generally used if one wants to use a fragrance that would be lost in cold process.

 

[Arimara]

Also, if you are doing HP in order to decrease cure time, it does not work...ever. It actually increases cure time.

Indeed. Hot process is generally used if one wants to use a fragrance that would be lost in cold process.

These facts are true. You can still get the same benefits of HP (which is full saponification and a faster set up for zapless soap) by gelling your soap. You can do that with an oven-safe mold and and your oven or as I like to do, and placing my soap (still in the mold) on top of a heating pad in a 6 gallon storage container.