Need help making my soap harder!!

[JessicaB903]

I've been using paul's walmart recipe with a 5% superfat.

30% Coconut Oil
25% Crisco
23% Olive Oil
10% Canola Oil
7% Safflower Oil
5% Castor Oil

I've given it a 6 week cure time but it still seems soft to me. It also did not last long in the shower so I was wondering if there is a way to make it harder using the same oils or maybe another oil found locally?

Thanks everyone!!

 

[Bukawww]

Are you needing to avoid palm/PKO? Those are nice hardeners as is cocoa butter...I've heard of adding beeswax as well.

 

[JessicaB903]

I'm not really trying to avoid anything more like I still have lots of those oils on hand so I dont really want to order more and wait for the mail if I dont have to. I am thinking of buying some PKO but for the mean time....

What about this?

Coconut 32% (I know most say not to go over 30% but whats a measly 2%) lol

Crisco 30%
Olive 25%
Canola 5%
Castor 5%
Safflower 3%

 

[Hazel]

What about adding some clay? I've heard that this makes soap slightly harder.

 

[xyxoxy]

PKO is very close to CO
If you want to order something that will help with hardness I suggest Palm. That said... the 2nd recipe you posted should harden up nicely.

ETA: Oh and Lard is something that you can get locally and will make for a nice hard bar.

 

[Healinya]

I made that recipe a long time ago... I had one bar tucked away, which i threw out a few months ago when I noticed a small dos spot on it (bar was over a year old at the time though). It was soft for a verrry long time, and I remember noticing the shape being affected after 8 months or so (I may have used more water than suggested though). I never tried changing the recipe and trying again, but I planned to using less water amd switching either the canola or safflower with cocoa butter.

 

[Hazel]

Healinya -

What's a dos spot?

 

[soapbuddy]

I have not had good luck with canola. I got DOS (dreaded orange spots)with it. You can try adding some salt to your lye water or use sodium lactate.

 

[ChrissyB]

How much water are you using? What is your lye solution %?

 

[Hazel]

I have not had good luck with canola. I got DOS (dreaded orange spots)with it. You can try adding some salt to your lye water or use sodium lactate.

Thanks soapbuddy.

What causes the orange spots and why are they bad?

 

[Half Caper Farm]

[quote="Hazel
What causes the orange spots and why are they bad?[/quote]

Rancid oil - yuck!

I have yet to experience DOS (only a matter of time, I'm sure!) but I understand that some oils are more prone than others to going rancid.

 

[Deda]

How much water are you using? What is your lye solution %?

Too much water leaves my soap feeling spongy.
I don't use canola at all, too much risk.
42% of my test samples made with 20% canola developed DOS in a 70% humidity environment in less than 120 days.

 

[Hazel]

Thanks Half Caper Farm and Deda. I appreciate any information since I've just started doing CP and there's so much I don't know.

 

[Healinya]

This showed up after four months. Bad oil combination when I was first learning how to make soap.

 

[RikRaks]

I had DOS on my 2 nd batch of soap using Squalene, Emu, EVOO, and added in some Grapeseed and I think that is what caused it. Expensive Soap RUINED

 

[Hazel]

Healinya - Thanks for the pic. I was trying to visualize what the orange spots looked like and I see that it's very different from what I imagined. What do you mean by a bad oil combination? Do you mean adding in an oil that that goes rancid quickly?

RikRaks - I'm sorry to hear about your soap batch. I'd be crying if that happened to me. I hope it wasn't a large batch.

 

[Healinya]

My bad oil combination was choosing too many oils that spoil quickly at too high a percent. I read up as much as I could about oil selection and basically decided to put it aside and see for myself.. I'm always curious to see things go wrong, I just like learning the hard way.

Wanna see my biggest mistake ever? lol Whipped soap with a ton of Crisco, and other cheap oils (I was trying to get the technique without wasting my other oils)

Looks nice, eh?

I couldn't get it out of the mold, couldn't be cut. Color was already starting to look funny at only a few weeks.

This is the last picture I took of it before tossing it. The smell was nasal abuse.

 

[JessicaB903]

Thanks everyone I'm using 33% lye solution and 5% superfat. I think I'm going to try the following today...

Coconut 32%
Crisco 32%
Olive 31%
Castor 5%

Getting rid of the Canola and Safflower completely hopefully will help! I had not realized canola was so risky (I have 4 batches of the original walmart recipe curing now) Yikes I hope they dont go bad or dos. Anyways wish me luck and Thanks again!

 

[Healinya]

Canola can serve its purpose though. I forget who said it (but probably one of the moderators) 5% canola helps keep charcoal looking black and not greyish.

Obviously it's a great idea to test test test. I find too much coconut drying, and too much crisco can be a bad thing. From my saved notes, linoleic is very moisturizing (older skin supposedly loves it), but a high number in that catagory is more likely produce dos over time, so I would suggest keeping the crisco at the original percent. I have a recipe that I made in July using 20% soybean oil, along with coconut, lard, avocado, castor and shea butter.. no dos as of yet, and I really love that soap. There's nothing wrong with 5-10% canola or safflower in a recipe, especially if you just want to use up some oils and test them out.

(I love your picture, btw, your daughter's adorable, she looks like she makes a good soaping assistant lol)

 

[xyxoxy]

5% canola helps keep charcoal looking black and not greyish.

I had not heard that. I have a friend who bugs me every Halloween to make black soap and I have never had much luck... not that I've tried all that hard. But I'd be willing to try this if it's true.