Layers falling apart

[Sweetie J]

Has this ever happens to anyone??? This is M&P. I used goats milk w/ coffee grounds on the outer layers & clear glycerin w/ cocoanut oil, olive oil & sweet orange essential oil for the 3 inside layer. I put it in a small loaf & put it in the freezer for 30-45 mins until each layer was hard. Then when I cut it this happened. Why is it not staying together???

 

[kikajess]

You're supposed to spritz the top of the layer with rubbing alcohol before pouring the next layer...did you do that?

P.S. Gorgeous colors!!! You can probably pull each layer off, spritz them, then put it back together. Let it sit for a few hours...maybe put some heavy books on top of the loaf. See if that does it.

 

[Sweetie J]

Yes, I did spritz with rubbing alcohol.

 

[Sweetie J]

I'll try the books. I'm wondering if this happened b/c I put each layer in the fridge to harden then poured hot soap on top of the cold soap. That maybe why it didn't adhere to each other. Not really sure?

 

[jblaney]

I had problems with this as well. Here are my tips that work for me:

Do not refrigerate the layers. You want the soap to be slightly warm to almost room temp when you pour your second layer.

Use 70% alcohol. I find it works best.

Wait about 12 hours before you cut the soap. This has made a huge difference to me. It all seems to cool down and bond better with time. If I try to cut it even an hour later when it seems completely cool I have separation.

After spritzing the alcohol, I rub it into the soap a little bit. I'm not positive this helps, but I think it does. Kind of dissolves the layer on top slightly and I think the next layer can adhere better.

I find the low sweat bases want to separate more than regular bases so I do not use them.

Hope this helps.

PS: Pretty colors! Those are all my favorite colors!