Is this a disaster or what?

[Brionnak]

This is my first batch of cold process soap. I let it sit for 36 hours and them cut it this morning. The inside on some bars looks a little odd(white spots). Could this potentially be lye? I hope the attached picture is clear enough to see the spots.

 

[lsg]

Have you tried the zap test? It is hard to tell with just this photo and no description of your process.

 

[KristaY]

Congratulations on your first CP batch!

It doesn't look like lye pockets. Those are usually wet and weeping. Have you zap tested to make sure? That's the first thing I would do. Since you said it was cut at 36 hours it should be zap-less but it can up to 72 hours to complete saponification. It really looks like something wasn't mixed in thoroughly, like when an FO accelerates so fast you can't stir it all together in time. What was your recipe including any additives?

 

[Brionnak]

Hope this picture will help a little more. I used 8oz each of the following oils. Coconut, Palm & Olive. I did not use any additional additives. I did use an oxide for coloring. I did not do the zap test, as I'm a little nervous about doing it.

 

[snappyllama]

I'm guessing that the palm is your culprit. Did you heat and stir the entire container before measuring it?

For the zap test, no need to worry... first wet a suspicious spot, and rub it a bit to make a lather. Then test that lather. You don't have to lick the whole bar.

 

[KristaY]

I agree with Snappy, it's probably the palm. But if you did melt the entire container before weighing it out, lets talk about the oxide additive. How and when did you add it? Did you mix with water before adding it and at what stage of trace did you add it? If your batter was too thick when you added the oxide, it may not have gotten thoroughly mixed in. You might be looking at uncolored batter along with batter that's colored.

 

[Brionnak]

Yep, I melted the entire bag before measuring. I did add a fragrance oil that I failed to mention. Which as I think about it like KristaY mentioned it did accelerate trace. I was in such a hurry to get it in the mold because it was getting really thick I'm sure it could have been mixed better. What a blessing it is to have a place where experienced soapers are available to those of us that are new and need to ask plenty of questions

Thanks everyone!

 

[KristaY]

Glad you got it figured out, Brionnak! An easy way to avoid this in future is to add your colorant to your oils before the lye. Give it a couple bursts with the SB (to disperse the color) before you add lye and you'll have it all mixed in really well. Then if you have a misbehaving FO/EO you don't have to worry about trying to mix both in. You can add the FO/EO into the oils before lye too.

Don't forget to zap test! Once it's zap-less and you give it 4-6 weeks cure, you'll have great soap. :clap:

Good luck on your next batch!

 

[Cactuslily]

Congrats on your first soap! Just to add, I'm a new soaper too and i had huge acceleration issues in the beginning. soaping at room temp also helps as well as backing off of your SB. Use a spatula with the SB. When going for multiple colors, I just blend to an emulsified state, divide my batter. Then I can either use a spatula or SB to bring up to desired trace.royalty soaps also has a great video on tips, as well as Kenna from modern soapmaking on her blog. Although, the people here help me so much too!