It worked! It worked!!

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

Ok, first batch was a bit of a bummer. Went to too thin of a trace, so my swirls just did not happen. And, I think my SB slipped out of the batter for a sec while it was on because I've got all these aweful white dots. (Didn't use TD, what else could it be?)

So here's a pic of batch #1:


Batch #2, I blended longer to get to a thicker trace and was super careful about not incorporating air into it. Much, much better. I'm thrilled!


Yeah!!

 

[Susie]

Good job! Congratulations!

Still trying to figure out the white spots. Did you zap test those white spots? I don't think they are air bubbles. Those are usually just a hole in the soap.

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

The bars are still really zappy. But when you run the recipe through soap calc, the recipe isn't lye heavy, and I got that recipe out of the Anne Watson book. I'm assuming its still saponifying ? The bars are less than two days old. I guess in a few days if they still zap, then that'll tell me it is in fact lye .

 

[summerflyy]

Did you use palm oil in your recipe ? Apparently if you didn't melt down your palm oil before using and giving it a good mix, those white spots might appear. ( i learnt this the hard way, sigh)

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

Nope no palm oil. Recipe #1 was :

298g coconut oil
298g olive oil
227g Shea butter
227g tap water
119g lye
.8 ounces FO
1/2 tsp pigment powder
1/2 tsp dye powder
Small tuft of tussa silk

First 5 ingredients are straight out of the Anne Watson book- her Shea Butter Supreme recipe. I added the last 4 ingredients to make it a bit more interesting.

 

[BMWRTMike]

I have made the recipe from the book and had the same thing happen. I believe that it is soda ash. I also went to a thin trace BTW. I have another batch coming out today. Fingers crossed

 

[Susie]

That shows as 3-4% superfat, depending on lye calculator, so within safe limits.

Does the new soap zap? If not, then there is something wrong with the first batch's numbers somewhere, and you need to consider rebatching. If it does, give them both a couple of more days before retesting.

I have never used silk, pigment, or dye powders, so I can't begin to guess any of those.

No matter where you get a recipe, always run it through a lye calculator for yourself. Human beings put that info in writing. Errors and typos happen.

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

I did run it through soap calc. It had a pretty steep water discount for a first batch, but I thought it would be better to stick with a known recipe for my first run. The second batch is my own formulation, that I got from playing with soap calc. The second batch is a day newer, but already less zappy. I'm not even 100% positive if that one is zapping at all...

 

[jules92207]

Nice contrast! It is really cool to see first hand an improvement on a soap you aren't happy with. Very cool and awesome colors!

 

[seven]

i agree, nice contrast! still a bit confused about the white spots, hmmmm, what could they be?

 

[cmzaha]

Ash?

 

[Susie]

Not ruling it out. I don't get soda ash. But the soap still being zappy concerns me. My soap is usually not zappy when I unmold and cut.

It really concerns me now that I know that the recipe they ran through a soap calculator is less zappy, or not zappy at all. I would probably give it one more day, and if still zapping, I would probably rebatch. The color won't be pretty(probably brownish), but add a tablespoon of cocoa powder PPO to color it darker. You will want to add about 1-2 tablespoons of water when you start cooking the grated soap to help it melt.

 

[dillsandwitch]

You mentioned that you used tap water. could the white spots be from some mineral or something in the tap water reacting to the lye maybe?

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

Dillsandwitch, I'm sure it could be something to do with the tap water. I knew I was chancing it by not using distilled water. But if that's it, why didn't the same thing happen to batch number 2?

Anyway, batch number 1 did finally quit zapping, so whatever the spots are, they apparently aren't lye. I tried it this morning, and it's ok. Doesn't lather very well. Not too oily, not too drying. Other than the lack of lather, I'd say it's incredibly comparable to the Caress brand soap I've always used in the past. Don't really have a lot to compare it to... I don't know that I've ever used cold process soap before. I'll try batch number 2 probably tomorrow.

 

[shunt2011]

Probably ash then. I only get ash when I use individual molds....even sprayed to death with 91% alcohol. Just give your soap 4 weeks cure and you may feel differently about it then. I don't use soap right after being made as I find them all rather harsh but after a good cure=amazing. Congratualtions!!!

 

[HorseCreek]

If you washed with it, did the white go away?

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

Not really. There was definitely quite a bit of ash on it too, and that's gone, but it's still speckaldy with white discoloration.

 

[Ellacho]

Nicely done!!! No soda ash!!!

 

[Jeanea]

Does your color contain td in it? Maybe it needed to be blended more. In the pic the spots occur mostly in the green.

 

[Susie]

Cure time improves lather and conditioning tremendously. Just wait. You won't believe it until you see it.