My soap is drying

[abby]

Is it normal that the soap feels drying if its not done curing? I tried to rebatch some but the rebatch feels the same. On youtube vids they say its ok to use after rebatching.

 

[Nevada]

Hi Abby, welcome to the soaping community!
Your soap would be drying with 30% coconut oil.
It will become milder as it ages, > 12 months.

Either use a higher Superfat or lower CO %.

Try this
15% Coconut Oil
15% Palm oil
70% Olive oil
4% SF

 

[Rune]

Or both. Low coconut and high superfat.

 

[cmzaha]

I will warn you that low CO and high superfat does not rinse off well, and I prefer not to have a lot of free oils going down my drains, soap is bad enough going down the drains. That said, CO makes a soap that strips off our natural oils, so many go with 20% or less. I never go over 17% unless I make salt bars, with most of my soaps in the 10-15% range of CO or Palm Kernel Oil. PKO is a cleanings oil and works like CO in soap. Your soap will mellow if given a very long cure but would never end up a soap I could use. Some like high CO and it does not bother them, I am not on that list

 

[abby]

Thank you to all who replied. Is there anything i can do to repair it? Can i add something when i rebatch? Im very new to soap making but i already made a lot of soap. Lol. Im addicted.
Btw, i have castile soap that is 2 weeks cured and i feel it drying too. Will it be ok after 4 weeks?

 

[Rune]

I think 4 weeks is too short. I made a castile that was drying for quite some time, can't remember exactly. But I think you will have to let it cure for minimum 8 weeks. Preferably more. Castile really needs some months to be good enough. Some say 1 year minimum. So if you can, try to hide it away and forget about it for some time, 6 months or more. Mine was drying at first, but became very mild after a long cure. The longer the better and milder it becomes. It will also be harder and lather more.

 

[abby]

Was there something

I think 4 weeks is too short. I made a castile that was drying for quite some time, can't remember exactly. But I think you will have to let it cure for minimum 8 weeks. Preferably more. Castile really needs some months to be good enough. Some say 1 year minimum. So if you can, try to hide it away and forget about it for some time, 6 months or more. Mine was drying at first, but became very mild after a long cure. The longer the better and milder it becomes. It will also be harder and lather more.

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Thanks fo your reply.
Was there some mistake why its drying?ingredients?or thats normal for castile?

Hi Abby, welcome to the soaping community!
Your soap would be drying with 30% coconut oil.
It will become milder as it ages, > 12 months.

Either use a higher Superfat or lower CO %.

Try this
15% Coconut Oil
15% Palm oil
70% Olive oil
4% SF

Thank you!!

How to rebatch, to correct it?

 

[Rune]

Thanks fo your reply.
Was there some mistake why its drying?ingredients?or thats normal for castile?

I don't know. Maybe I did a mistake. It was the first soap I made. But it is normal for fresh soap to be somewhat drying. It needs to cure first.

I made a soap recently that has cured only a week. I was so curious, I had to test it. It was just a little bit drying, almost nothing. So I guess it depends on a lot of things, maybe. But I am way too inexperienced to know.

 

[cmzaha]

100% OO soap is drying to some people, but as with any soap, it becomes personal preference. I always age 100% OO soaps 8-12 months before taking to market. I personally do not like OO in soap so only use it in 100% Castile soap which I make once a year, unfragranced and no color added.

It takes time to nail down a favorite recipe. You can save your drying soap by shredding up your soap and adding it to a new batch of soap, that has been corrected by using less CO.

 

[abby]

Thank you

100% OO soap is drying to some people, but as with any soap, it becomes personal preference. I always age 100% OO soaps 8-12 months before taking to market. I personally do not like OO in soap so only use it in 100% Castile soap which I make once a year, unfragranced and no color added.

It takes time to nail down a favorite recipe. You can save your drying soap by shredding up your soap and adding it to a new batch of soap, that has been corrected by using less CO.

for uour advice

I think 4 weeks is too short. I made a castile that was drying for quite some time, can't remember exactly. But I think you will have to let it cure for minimum 8 weeks. Preferably more. Castile really needs some months to be good enough. Some say 1 year minimum. So if you can, try to hide it away and forget about it for some time, 6 months or more. Mine was drying at first, but became very mild after a long cure. The longer the better and milder it becomes. It will also be harder and lather more.

I don't know. Maybe I did a mistake. It was the first soap I made. But it is normal for fresh soap to be somewhat drying. It needs to cure first.

I made a soap recently that has cured only a week. I was so curious, I had to test it. It was just a little bit drying, almost nothing. So I guess it depends on a lot of things, maybe. But I am way too inexperienced to know.

I want a soap that cures just 1 week. Waiting is such a pain.l, ended up making more and more while i wait but apparently i cant use the first batch as it is castile soap. will wait for the 2nd batch green tea to cure. Another month to wait because its just 1 week old soap. Thanks for your reply. I appreciAte it

 

[cmzaha]

No Soap cures in a week no matter what you read on the internet or watch on You Tube 4 weeks is the bare minimum for cure time

 

[ibct1969]

Hi abby, I know it's hard to be patient but all soap will be drying unless it cures, and curing takes at least 4 weeks (and as mentioned above, castille takes longer). Mark the use date on a calendar and forget about it (just be sure to turn the bars every few days or so.

If you want to use soap that you have made sooner than four weeks, than that you'll want to go with melt and pour. You can be super creative with that soap and there's no waiting time required...

 

[Rune]

I have read in an ebook I bought (Castile soapmaking by Anne L. Watson), that castile will be better if it is done hot process than cold process. I have not tried myself, so I don't know. But the idea is that when it is made hot process, it will lather better and have less slimy lather. And cutting it with a crinkle cutter will make the lather even better, she says.. But what I know, is that cold process castile is not very good. Mine did not gel, so it might be that. Mild, yes, but still not something to die for. It might not be better done hot process, but I'm just mentioning it. But I think it does make sense, sort of. Worth trying, at least. Not that I will try, because I have a great recipe with sort of only two ingredients - 30% olive oil and 70% Flott Matfett (a Norwegian deep frying fat for baked goods like donuts, consisting of shea, coconut and rapeseed. I think it is supposed to be vegetable lard. The name means "great food fat"). Those two ingredients makes really fabulous soap. But, mine have not cured more than a week either. So I'm just as unpatient like you, hihi

 

[penelopejane]

I make and like cold processed 100% OO soap.
Ensure gel and try dual lye. I don’t use pomace or refined OO.
It needs a long cure one year or more when it becomes very hard and mild.

As you Increase your soap supply you will have soap ready to use that is well cured so you won’t be so anxious to try soap that isn’t cured. High OO soaps need 12 weeks cure to bring out the best qualities.

Most of my soap recipes are without CO. I generally don’t go above 10% CO when I use it.

 

[ItsForrest]

I am another one who finds soaps with high percentages of coconut oil too drying for my skin. It's a bit frustrating because the vast majority of recipes I find in books and online call for 30% or more CO. I have found that long cure time does help some but I have recently been using soap I made almost 10 months ago with 32% CO and it is still more drying than I would like.

One of the most frustrating things about learning to make soap is the waiting time. There simply is no way to properly judge a lye-based soap recipe without waiting several weeks and testing it several times over weeks and months. I made a few batches back in early March that, when tested at 4 weeks, I didn't like at all. The soap felt a bit sticky and was too drying. I thought I was going to have to use it in a confetti soap to keep from wasting it. I pushed it to the back of my curing cabinet and tried not to worry about it. I tried the same batch again after about 4 more weeks and it was much better. The sticky feeling is now gone and it is a fairly decent soap.

 

[Rune]

I find coconut oil drying too. I made one with 20 or 25% coconut and the rest olive. A little too drying, even with high superfat. The one I made last, with olive and Flott Matfett, has only 13,6% coconut and also high superfat (I use high superfat because of the harsh winters here that makes my dry hands even worse, and to counterbalance the drying coconut) That one is not drying, even as uncured as it is.

Drying coconut, yes, but nothing is really as bad as store bought liquid hand soap. That one is nasty. The only acceptable are the cheapest one, so cheap and dilluted that it is mostly water and thickeners. So cheap that they could not even afford fragrancing it. That one can do without stripping your hands like white spirit or acetone.

 

[abby]

I think 4 weeks is too short. I made a castile that was drying for quite some time, can't remember exactly. But I think you will have to let it cure for minimum 8 weeks. Preferably more. Castile really needs some months to be good enough. Some say 1 year minimum. So if you can, try to hide it away and forget about it for some time, 6 months or more. Mine was drying at first, but became very mild after a long cure. The longer the better and milder it becomes. It will also be harder and lather more.

Hi Rune, i decided to follow your advice to hide the castile soap. Haha. It’s been 4 weeks and nothing changed, i was hoping deep inside me that it will change somehow after 4 weeks. Will check it again after a year. Just a quick question, can i put it in a close container or it has to be in an open air?thanks.

 

[penelopejane]

Hi Rune, i decided to follow your advice to hide the castile soap. Haha. It’s been 4 weeks and nothing changed, i was hoping deep inside me that it will change somehow after 4 weeks. Will check it again after a year. Just a quick question, can i put it in a close container or it has to be in an open air?thanks.

You can put it in a cardboard box (eg shoe box with a lid) after 9-12 weeks.

You really are better off never storing soap in a closed plastic container.

 

[abby]

You can put it in a cardboard box (eg shoe box with a lid) after 9-12 weeks.

You really are better off never storing soap in a closed plastic container.

Ohhhh ok. Will do it now! I want to put the castile soap out of sight asap. Lol. Thank you penelopejane!!

 

[Obsidian]

As already mentioned, some people just don't do well with Castile or high OO soap. I can't use more then 25% OO, regardless of sf or other oils used.

I also can't use more then 20% coconut and even that is pushing it.

My basic recipe is:

Lard or palm 50% I prefer lard
OO or similar 25%
Coconut 20%
Castor 5%

Sometimes I lower the coconut and add more lard