My Experimental Honey & Beeswax Soap

[Tam3098]

Wow! Those are beautiful!!! Does the beeswax have humectant properties like SL or is it just for hardening the bar? and I’ve always added honey at trace, should I be adding it to my lye water?
Those bars are quite lovely!!

 

[IrishLass]

Thank you, Tam. Although I've heard that beeswax has humectant properties, I mainly use it in this soap for its hardening properties, and also because it goes well with the honey in creating the special themed look for the soap.

You can add honey to your soap any way you like, but I prefer adding it to my lye water because it prevents my soap from overheating and/or separating in the mold, and also prevents 'honey spots' and oozing honey in the finished soap. Those were some of problems I experienced previously when adding my honey to the batter at trace. I can actually CPOP my honey soaps through complete gel without any overheating issues if the honey is added the the lye water. That was never the case for me when I used to add the honey to the batter at trace.


IrishLass

 

[Fireside]

I wrote a long description about the honey soap I made using IrishLass's add-the-honey-to-the-lye technique but for some reason the damn (sorry, I know people don't really swear around here) thing got erased before I could post it. So, lucky you, you get my abbreviated plea for input.

Basically, my soap feels "sticky." Or "gummy." Or "oily." I don't really know how to describe it but I don't like it. This is before even using it: just picking up and holding a bar leaves some kind of residue on my hands and I don't know why or what it is. And it's not going away. I made the soap 10/7, cut it 10/8, first noticed the weird feel 10/20, and it still exists today, 11/3. I've never had a bar of my soap feel this way.

Here is my recipe:

30% Coconut oil
30% Palm oil
20% Olive oil
10% Castor oil
10% Shea butter
2:1 Water : Lye
2.5 Tbsp honey (1 Tbsp ppo) mixed with hot water added to lye solution
2.45 oz Honey Almond Oatmeal EO/FO from Crafter's Choice (I'm not sure why I used so much; might have been what I had left)
Some finely ground oatmeal (I didn't write down how much but it was probably about a tablespoon)

Combined the oils and lye/honey at 105-106F. Poured into a wooden slab mold. Put bubble wrap on top for the cute honeycomb effect. Insulated as IrishLass did with hers. Unmolded and cut the next day. Nice rich color inside, lighter outside, no honey spots or specks. Soda ash on top and bottom of all bars, and on sides of the outer bars (the outer edge of the slab). They are nice-looking bars, even with the soda ash but they feel funny.

I did everything IrishLass did with her recipe, only I used my recipe and I got what I got: a strange-feeling batch of soap. Anyone have any ideas as to why? Thanks in advance!

 

[AliOop]

Sorry I don't have any advice other than to keep letting them cure for awhile. Any time I've added beeswax or honey to soap, the soaps did take longer than usual to feel "right" to the touch and to behave as expected during use.

 

[lenarenee]

I don't have much to add either other than wondering if the 10% castor along with the honey is attracting moisture to the soap. 10% castor isn't unheard of, but beyond that amount castor is known to cause a sticky soap. Since honey is a humectant too, it just might be too much in combination. I don't think it's reason to give up on the soap yet. Give it a good long cure of 3 months minimum and see what happens.

 

[AliOop]

I don't have much to add either other than wondering if the 10% castor along with the honey is attracting moisture to the soap. 10% castor isn't unheard of, but beyond that amount castor is known to cause a sticky soap. Since honey is a humectant too, it just might be too much in combination. I don't think it's reason to give up on the soap yet. Give it a good long cure of 3 months minimum and see what happens.

Good call on that one - I hadn't picked up on the 10% castor, which is definitely high. If I go above 7% on my regular recipe, my bars are soft, tacky, and kind of bendy.

 

[not_ally]

I just used Irish Lass' recipe, or rather her strategy with my own recipe. I used the same amount of honey and beeswax as she did, used lard/coconut/avocado/castor in percentages of 60/20/15/5, and also added colloidal oatmeal like you did, I think 1TB ppo.

My bars were maybe a teeny bit softer than usual (which I attributed to the honey) but not by much. They do not leave any kind of residue on my hands when handling, though.

Like LenaRenee and AliOop I think it might be the high castor/honey combo and would just wait it out. Did it zap early on?

 

[Zing]

I too followed IrishLass's advice. I don't have anything to add except offering my support and sending you some patience for a good long cure. Remember to report back! My recipe is similar to yours. Ditto on lowering the castor.

(Some curse words get translated to kitten-loving. Don't ask me how I know this. )

 

[Fireside]

I was looking at some of my previous posts and re-read this one. People have probably moved on from this since it's been almost a year but I see that Zing asked me to report back, which I did not remember to do. I will report back now. The last note I have on this soap is from 11/26, a month and a half after I made it, and I wrote this: "tried--nothing great [frowny face], but not bad [neutral face]."

I know I gave it away as Christmas gifts so I must have thought it turned out okay in the end.

 

[Zing]

Thanks for the update! Personally, I find that sugar and honey increase the all important bubbles factor.

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