Leave it to cure longer the better or?

[alan_ogz83]

Good day!
I'm new to CP soaps and the tutorial videos which I saw were usually saying that after cutting the soaps, they have to left to cure for around a month.

Can someone please explain to me the reason behind it?

I also remember seeing others saying that leaving the soaps to cure the longer the better is it true?

One final thing is so is it better not to fully wrap the CP soaps when packaging?

Thank you for reading my questions.
Cheers!

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome Alan!

Yes- CP soaps benefit greatly from at least a 4 week cure. Six weeks is even better if you can stand the wait. Of course, you can use them right after unmolding and cutting if if you want to as long as they do not 'zap' when the tongue test* is applied (see below), which would indicate that there is still some active lye present and/or your soap is lye heavy, but they won't last as long and they won't lather as well as they will at 4 weeks. They also won't be as mild to your skin as 4 week old soap.

Re: Packaging. It's best not to package your CP soap until it has fully cured, and even then, you will want to make sure to use the right kind of packaging. Choose packaging that will allow your soap to 'breathe', such as boxes with an airhole cut-out, or paper or cloth wrapping. What you want to avoid is fully wrapping your soap in airtight packaging such as plastic shrink wrap. Such packaging can encourage rancidity and/or mold to develop in your soap.

*Tongue Test: Now you may think I'm pulling your leg when you get done reading this, but trust me, I'm not. This is a very real and very simple test with immediate results that many of us soapers use to determine if our soap is safe to use yet or not. You can do it either of 2 ways. One way is to briefly touch the tip of your tongue to your soap. If you feel a stinging or zapping sensation such as you would experience if you had touched your tongue to a 9 volt battery or maybe a jalepeno pepper or something like that, then that means your soap is either lye heavy not safe to use yet. The second way to zap test is to wet one of your fingers and rub it on your soap to get it to lather, then touch the lather to the tip of your tongue. The tongue is a very sensitive organ and is very effecient at immediately detecting lye heavy soap or soap that is still "too green" and in need of a longer cure. If you are not sure if what you are feeling is a 'zap' or not, something that will help you determine is to zap test a commercially made store-bought soap before testing yours, then it will become clear to you. When you are done, just briefly swish your tongue in a glass of water or orange juice and carry on as normal. You don't have to test every single bar of soap from a batch- just one out of each batch will do.


HTH!
IrishLass

 

[IrishLass]

Deleted for double-posting.

 

[alan_ogz83]

Welcome Alan!

Yes- CP soaps benefit greatly from at least a 4 week cure. Six weeks is even better if you can stand the wait. Of course, you can use them right after unmolding and cutting if if you want to as long as they do not 'zap' when the tongue test* is applied (see below), which would indicate that there is still some active lye present and/or your soap is lye heavy, but they won't last as long and they won't lather as well as they will at 4 weeks. They also won't be as mild to your skin as 4 week old soap.

Re: Packaging. It's best not to package your CP soap until it has fully cured, and even then, you will want to make sure to use the right kind of packaging. Choose packaging that will allow your soap to 'breathe', such as boxes with an airhole cut-out, or paper or cloth wrapping. What you want to avoid is fully wrapping your soap in airtight packaging such as plastic shrink wrap. Such packaging can encourage rancidity and/or mold to develop in your soap.

*Tongue Test: Now you may think I'm pulling your leg when you get done reading this, but trust me, I'm not. This is a very real and very simple test with immediate results that many of us soapers use to determine if our soap is safe to use yet or not. You can do it either of 2 ways. One way is to briefly touch the tip of your tongue to your soap. If you feel a stinging or zapping sensation such as you would experience if you had touched your tongue to a 9 volt battery or maybe a jalepeno pepper or something like that, then that means your soap is either lye heavy not safe to use yet. The second way to zap test is to wet one of your fingers and rub it on your soap to get it to lather, then touch the lather to the tip of your tongue. The tongue is a very sensitive organ and is very effecient at immediately detecting lye heavy soap or soap that is still "too green" and in need of a longer cure. If you are not sure if what you are feeling is a 'zap' or not, something that will help you determine is to zap test a commercially made store-bought soap before testing yours, then it will become clear to you. When you are done, just briefly swish your tongue in a glass of water or orange juice and carry on as normal. You don't have to test every single bar of soap from a batch- just one out of each batch will do.


HTH!
IrishLass

Hi IrishLass!

Thank you for providing me with so much useful information!
Erm so is it true that if we can leave the soaps to cure say maybe months will be even better?
Do the soaps have some sort of expiry date?
Thanks in advance!

 

[soapbuddy]

I cure my soaps for about six weeks. I find they get milder, more water evaporates and they last longer in the shower. For castille (pure olive) soaps I wait up to one year.

 

[alan_ogz83]

I cure my soaps for about six weeks. I find they get milder, more water evaporates and they last longer in the shower. For castille (pure olive) soaps I wait up to one year.

Hi soapbuddy,

Thank you for sharing your experience with me!
So why is it that castille soaps have to be left to cure for such a long period of time?
Cheers!

 

[soapbuddy]

I cure my soaps for about six weeks. I find they get milder, more water evaporates and they last longer in the shower. For castille (pure olive) soaps I wait up to one year.

Hi soapbuddy,

Thank you for sharing your experience with me!
So why is it that castille soaps have to be left to cure for such a long period of time?
Cheers!

You're welcome. As you probably know, pure castille gets slimey with use. If I let my castille cure for a long time, the slime factor is less.