Help! Epic newbie fail!

[Misschief]

The picture of the front label isn't too helpful. The word "lye" is a generic term that means any liquid alkali mixture that can be used to make soap. "Lye" could be a solution of water and NaOH (sodium hydroxide) or KOH (potassium hydroxide) or other alkali chemicals. That said, many people use "lye" in a looser sense to mean sodium hydroxide in its dry form as well as when made into a water solution.

So your product could be NaOH, but it's not perfectly clear to me that it is, based only on the front label. Read the back of the label -- it should give the specific chemical name if labels in Canada are anything like labels in the US.

DeeAnna, I'm familiar with the Lye crystals she's using; I use the same brand. It is NaOH, not KOH.

 

[DeeAnna]

That's good to hear, @Misschief

 

[Iluminameluna]

These are all really good points. I attached a photo, the packaging is very limited on details. Would this be used for hard super soft soap? /QUOTE]
Is it possible for you to post a picture of the back of the lye container?
I see that it says 99% purity but it doesn't specify which lye it is. My guess is that it's NaOH but wouldn't bet my house on it!
And boy, do I sympathize with your predicament. My first recipe ever was a mostly olive oil soap as well, without the jojoba, and I didn't find out until much later how long it would take to cure! It was a GREAT batch of soap after 6 months but, oh my.
I'd like to add, do NOT use any kind of metal rack when curing soap. No matter if it's sold as stainless steel or even plastic coated! Use plastic, wood or even cardboard, but NEVER anything metal. I had 3 batches of soap with terrible stains because of the lye/soap reacting with the metal under the coating. Now i just use cardboard because I can't afford wood yet, and plastic doesn't absorb excess moisture when it rains.