hi! made 4 kinds of soap and at least 4 mistakes!

[orangeu]

hello!

this all started because of shampoo bars. rather than just buying a bar, i became convinced i needed to MAKE one....so after spending a bunch on supplies, i've made 4 kinds of soap ( 1 pound batch) so far with some oops.

using cp method and then putting it in the oven (pilot on with no additional heat) rather than insulating with blankets.


1. castile soap. 60% olive oil. took forever to even slightly light trace. i gave up, poured and after 24 hours in the oven, it became a medium solid, easy to to cut and after 4 days, has some white chalky powder that was exposed to air in the oven.

2. coconut salt soap- so far no problems, traced well and cut when medium solid, minimal cracking.

3. beer shampoo bar- kind of jelled during tracing. made with avocado, castor, coconut, jojoba, olive, palm, cocoa butter and shea butter. after 4 hours in the oven, more of a medium jell, able to cut and now airing.

4. beer oatmeal honey soap. this stuff is still in the oven. and soft like the castile was. my biggest issue was when the container slipped from my hands and 1/3 of it went all over the oven floor!

i wiped it up best i could, but not sure how its going to be when i start cooking for thanksgiving!

and i forgot to put on glove when cleaning up the spill so my hands feel very dry.

question- is using the oven (pilot light no heat) vs insulating with blankets ok??? after it sets, i take it out to cut and air out. am i compromising the soap somehow?

totally obsessed. going to make 3 lb batch castile soap and avocado soap. saddest part is they won't be ready for christmas.

 

[soapbuddy]

Did you use a stick blender? At what temp did you pour your oils and lye water together? Are you familiar what trace or gel is?

 

[carebear]

question- is using the oven (pilot light no heat) vs insulating with blankets ok??? after it sets, i take it out to cut and air out. am i compromising the soap somehow?

that's fine.

and rub some shea butter on those hands.

 

[orangeu]

hi soapbuddy,
i am using a handheld mixer with one blade on. i read they can create more air but that's what i have right now. it is not a stick blender.

thinking over what i've done so far... i have a metal thermometer, but not sure if its stainless steel so i didn't use it.

for the castile soap, i forgot to heat the liquid oils when i added it to the nuked butters. the lye water was slowly poured into oil mix when the lye plastic cup cooled down from hot tea feel to warm bath water feel.

trace is the no turning back state when lye and oils combine to make soap?

gelling is an optional step after trace? either insulate- to get gel (?) or freeze or leave at room temp- no gel(?)

i wrote "gel" when describing the beer soap b/c when i was pouring it into the mold, there was a portion at the bottom ( using a large plastic drinking cup) that was a thicker and gel like vs the rest of the trace.

is it ok to unmold and cut new cp soap if its solid enough or must i wait at least 24 hours before cutting ( excluding salt bars)?

i put it in the oven after pouring and noticed some solidify quicker. confession- i did cut the beer shampoo after about 4 hours in the oven... and now just want reassurance that i didn't ruin it.


thanks.

 

[orangeu]

"that's fine.

and rub some shea butter on those hands.[/quote]

thanks, and yup i did rub some shea butter after the oops- feels much better now!

 

[soapbuddy]

Trace is when the oils and lye begin to look like thin pudding. If you have any thrift stores near you, you might find a stick blender there for cheap. I would leave the hand held mixer for other things.

Yes, gelling is optional unless you work with a fragrance that can heat up your batch, or if you add sugar or honey. I would gel for now til you get the hang of it. If your soap gelled and cooled off and the soap is solid enough, then you can cut.

 

[Babette]

Oh, thanks for the explanation of gel. Have been a little baffled by that one - also for info about fragrances heating up some batches, but not others. First two batches did not heat up (lavender e.o.) and the last two did (spruce e.o., Siberian fir)....hmmm? Also, I added blue-green FD&C and it did not color the soap. IT turned out a little pinkish tan...?

Also, I just made a bad batch with pumpkin puree added at trace, along with cedarwood and fir essential oils and cinnamon oil. I know its a bad to use cinnamon oil, but I'd had some luck in past with rebatch if cinnamon is small amount. Ahhyyy. Did I add too much oil?

Am loving reading about your soaping adventures. As for me, back to the basics for a while.

Good luck everyone!

 

[soapbuddy]

Rebatch with cinnamon works because the soap has already saponified. Adding it to a new batch is a whole different story. I would stick with basics for now, so you don't waste your ingredients.

 

[judymoody]

Welcome!

I also became seduced into soapmaking by the idea of CP shampoo bars. I tried beer & honey (the best one thus far), superfatted CO salt bars.... Sound familiar?

They work fine for my husband but not for me. Either my hair gets staticky or by the end of the day it feels like dirty straw from residue. I'm going to try to formulate a syndet bar and see if that works better.

Don't be discouraged. If it doesn't come out exactly as you want, you will learn even more than if it came out perfectly.