Help! Soft sticky soap!

[lth1]

Hi,

I can't figure out what's making my soap soft and sticky. It hardens really nicely, but when I use it, it becomes soft and the edge where it comes into contact with my sink becomes slightly transparent. It's also pretty pliable and dissolves very quickly after a few washes.

My unscented batch is totally fine and hard but my two batches with lavender and teatree added are much softer than the unscented batch. Does anybody know whether essential oils make soap softer? What can I do?

 

[judymoody]

If you post your recipe, it would help to figure out what happened.

 

[lth1]

Here's the recipe I used for this soap

7.5 oz coconut oil
1.25 oz castor oil
16.25 oz canola oil
3.5 oz lye
8.25 oz water
1 oz essential oil

Somehow the unscented batch and scented batch acts very differently when used!

 

[ewenique]

How long has the soap cured? Does it sit in water between uses?

 

[JenniferSews]

Just from looking at your recipe in soapcalc, it's a softer bar. It will dissolve faster. You also have a higher percentage of unsaturated to saturated fats, which will generally result in a softer bar. Any moisture will make it even softer. Even if it's not sitting in moisture after use, it's just not going to last very long.

 

[lth1]

ewenique: I let all batches cure for 4 weeks, and the soaps don't sit in water between use.

Jennifer: Thanks for checking the recipe out! I didn't know about soapcalc, or the proportion between unsaturated and saturated fats! What's a good "hardness" level on soap calc I should aim for? Any suggestions on how I should modify my recipe?

What I don't understand is that I made all three batches the same way, but somehow the unscented version is hard and doesn't dissolve fast, unlike the scented ones.

 

[newbie]

Here's a lick to Soapcalc

http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

The hardness of a bar is very personal and there may be other characteristics that you want from your soap that could be more important than hardness. I like soap that is 44 or above on the soapcalc scale, although I've made soaps that I liked with a hardness of 38. One of the other soapers that posts here (Jerry) likes a really really hard bar that may be well into the 60's or 70's because that's what he likes. It's always worth a few 1 pound recipes with different characteristics to compare and contrast. More excuses to make soap!

 

[judymoody]

You might try to substitute a different oil for the canola? I have heard that it produces a softer bar and also is more prone to rancidity than some other unsaturated oils. A basic olive/palm/coconut mix makes a nice hard bar.