lumpy spots and very fast hardening

[cascarral]

Hello!

I made this soap yesterday and today when I cut it I found all these weird spots that look like stearic but I'm not sure. The bottom half that has the spots was colored with 2 tsp zinc oxide ppo.

Also I could barely cut it after 20 hrs of pouring and some corners broke from it's hardness, last time I made this recipe I cut after 48 and it has soft enough! Which variables could affect the cutting time? Maybe temp? I soaped at room temp.

The only crazy thing I could think of is that I meassured the lye wrong? But I've never done that before so it'd be really weird. Is there any way to prove if it's lye heavy?

Here's my recipe:

OO 60%, CO 25%, Cocoa Butter 15%. Sodium lactate 1.5%, oatmeal (blended and strained) and zinc oxide.

 

[AliOop]

I've never used zinc oxide in soap, only titanium dioxide, so I don't know how or whether it works in soap.

But I can say that the lower portion that was colored with the ZO looks like it has glycerin rivers. Those show up often in soaps with TD, especially with lower lye concentrations (more water). Maybe ZO does the same thing?

Temp and humidity can definitely affect cutting time. That includes the ambient temp, not just the temps of lye and oils. The ZO might have affected that, as well, but again, I don't have any experience with that. Maybe someone else here does.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I'm the queen of glycerin rivers, so i know 'em when i see 'em

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Jealousy! I got glycerin rivers with neither zinc oxide nor titanium dioxide.
Your soap also looks like you have quite a lot of water (low lye concentration), with full gel and increased chances for glycerin rivers. Auntie Clara's is a great resource to better understand under which circumstances they form. In short: low lye concentration, high saponification temperature & slow cooling, and mineral colourants (in your case zinc oxide).

The only crazy thing I could think of is that I meassured the lye wrong? But I've never done that before so it'd be really weird. Is there any way to prove if it's lye heavy?

I hope not! That'd be a bummer. The easy and reliable test for lye excess is the zap test, find instructions here:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-to-properly-safely-conduct-the-zap-tongue-test.63199/

 

[cascarral]

Jealousy! I got glycerin rivers with neither zinc oxide nor titanium dioxide.
Your soap also looks like you have quite a lot of water (low lye concentration), with full gel and increased chances for glycerin rivers. Auntie Clara's is a great resource to better understand under which circumstances they form. In short: low lye concentration, high saponification temperature & slow cooling, and mineral colourants (in your case zinc oxide).


I hope not! That'd be a bummer. The easy and reliable test for lye excess is the zap test, find instructions here:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-to-properly-safely-conduct-the-zap-tongue-test.63199/

Thank you! That article is very interesting! I find it weird, though, since I used 33% lye concentration. Isn't this pretty low?

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I'd say so, yes. So I'm not too surprised that you got glycerin rivers. (But I was surprised that I didn't get them at my 29% lye concentration, which is quite exactly Clara's 1:2.4)