Newbie Questions

[Elle2014]

Hello everyone!

I can't thank you all enough for this wonderful website. I've been spending a crazy amount of time reading past threads and getting helpful info. I am a total newbie - I've made only two batches of cold process soap. Neither exploded, I didn't get chemical burns, and they are in bar-shaped pieces, so I'm satisfied with both attempts :shifty:

I have a few random questions that I hope someone would be kind enough to answer.

First, my initial batch was a simple honey oatmeal soap with 16 oz coconut oil and 40 oz olive oil. I used two rectangular plastic trays for molds; as you can see in the first picture, the very corners were much whiter than the dark center. They aren't caustic at all - they are hard and not powdery and don't burn - but they look quite different from the rest of the bars. Is this an incomplete gel? It appears to be the top corners only. Should I just wrap the molds better in the future? I added honey, so I was scared of overheating. I think I didn't heat enough....

Second, my second batch was a lemongrass soap that I made with chamomile tea. For this one, I used 28 oz olive oil, 22 oz coconut oil, 8 oz sunflower oil, and 4 oz castor oil. This one gelled better - I loaded a picture of it in process and two pictures of finished bars - but the lather is very...slimy? I'd say this one doesn't lather quite as much as my first batch, but the bubbles that do form are bigger. However, it never feels like I've washed all the soap off my hands. We have treated water, so it's fairly soft, but I'm not used to walking away from the sink feeling like my hands are still soapy. How can I adjust the oils to make it more clean-rinsing?

Thank you so much in advance; I'm new to this but I'm already addicted!

 

[CaraBou]

Yes, that is partial gel. Kudos on capturing gel/partial gel so well in your pictures -- and for two successful batches of soap! I think you made the right decision in being conservative and trying not to overheat your honey soap. Now that you know what resulted in partial gel with that recipe and mold, you might try it again but with covering lightly and a careful eye on things. It's one of the funnest things about soaping -- you learn so much by experience even if you screw up a little along the way.

As for the slimyness... Your recipe is about 65% in soft oils, which may be a little high for you. I like a minimum of 50% hard oils, 60% even better. Try subbing some lard (cheap and readily available locally in the US if that's where you are), or tallow, shea butter or cocoa butter. But there are tradeoffs with everything so you just have to experiment. You might also find that the amount of coconut oil you used (29% in first batch, 36% in second) is drying. Try getting it down to 15-20% of the total and compare it to your first two batches. Maybe something like 35% lard, 30% olive, 20% coconut, 10% sunflower, 5% castor. You'd have a nice spread of coconut oil and olive oil between those three batches to see what the difference is.

Congrats again on your soaps, and welcome to the addiction!

ETA: Thought I should clarify that I didn't mean to imply that you messed up when I said "even if you screw up along the way." Actually, I think the opposite -- your soaps are beautiful and 100% successful! And that's part of my point too - things we don't plan for, like partial gel, too much/too little colorant, etc -- usually turn out functional and greatly serve to make us better soapers. Cheers!

 

[lsg]

I think washing with soft water, you will have much more lather than with hard water.

 

[Elle2014]

Yes, that is partial gel. Kudos on capturing gel/partial gel so well in your pictures -- and for two successful batches of soap! I think you made the right decision in being conservative and trying not to overheat your honey soap. Now that you know what resulted in partial gel with that recipe and mold, you might try it again but with covering lightly and a careful eye on things. It's one of the funnest things about soaping -- you learn so much by experience even if you screw up a little along the way.

As for the slimyness... Your recipe is about 65% in soft oils, which may be a little high for you. I like a minimum of 50% hard oils, 60% even better. Try subbing some lard (cheap and readily available locally in the US if that's where you are), or tallow, shea butter or cocoa butter. But there are tradeoffs with everything so you just have to experiment. You might also find that the amount of coconut oil you used (29% in first batch, 36% in second) is drying. Try getting it down to 15-20% of the total and compare it to your first two batches. Maybe something like 35% lard, 30% olive, 20% coconut, 10% sunflower, 5% castor. You'd have a nice spread of coconut oil and olive oil between those three batches to see what the difference is.

Congrats again on your soaps, and welcome to the addiction!

ETA: Thought I should clarify that I didn't mean to imply that you messed up when I said "even if you screw up along the way." Actually, I think the opposite -- your soaps are beautiful and 100% successful! And that's part of my point too - things we don't plan for, like partial gel, too much/too little colorant, etc -- usually turn out functional and greatly serve to make us better soapers. Cheers!

Thank you for all the great information - I appreciate it! I will look at decreasing the soft oils in future batches. Thus far I've been (mostly) following recipes, but I'll start modifying and finding my own mixes in the future.

I love the later with the first soap, but I know lots of people use more than just olive and coconut oils, so I was trying to experiment. I'm going to put both recipes back in SoapCalc and look at the values table. I think maybe what they consider "conditioning" is too high for my personal tastes (with the second, "slimy" batch), so I'll definitely adjust and add one of your recommended substitutes.

Thanks again!

I think washing with soft water, you will have much more lather than with hard water.

Very true, we do get a lot of lather in general. I guess until now I never gave much thought to the different properties or types of lather, but now that I can compare two batches I definitely prefer the outcome of my first one.

 

[shunt2011]

Congratulations on your first batches of soap. Looks like you were very successful. I have found that with soft water it does sometimes feel like it's not rinsing off. My parents have a water softener and when visiting it feels like i'm still a bit soapy after showering though I know I've rinsed well. But once dried off all is well.

 

[Seawolfe]

When I see my soap gelling in the middle, but kind of stall on the corners, thats when I put the lid on, or insulate, to sort of push it all the way. But my house is quite warm right now, and overheating is more of a concern. The soaps look wonderful How long has the "slimy" soap cured? I find that a longer cure solves many things.

 

[Elle2014]

Congratulations on your first batches of soap. Looks like you were very successful. I have found that with soft water it does sometimes feel like it's not rinsing off. My parents have a water softener and when visiting it feels like i'm still a bit soapy after showering though I know I've rinsed well. But once dried off all is well.

Thank you - they were lots of fun! I'm used to that soft water feeling, but this was something...different. It does go away once I dry them, though

When I see my soap gelling in the middle, but kind of stall on the corners, thats when I put the lid on, or insulate, to sort of push it all the way. But my house is quite warm right now, and overheating is more of a concern. The soaps look wonderful How long has the "slimy" soap cured? I find that a longer cure solves many things.

That's a good point - it's not fully cured. I had leftover trimmings from the soap and I was using a small chunk of that. I know bars get harder as they cure and that makes them last longer - does curing also affect the oils and how they lather, etc? That gives me hope for the actual bars once they're fully cured.

 

[Susie]

Yes, there is a huge difference between a 2 week bar of soap and a 6 week one. Try the soap once a week so you know how it cures.

 

[Elle2014]

Oops.

I'll dry out my partial bar and use it once each week to track. Thank you!

 

[CaraBou]

I'm a fan of long cures -- I rarely take a soap seriously for at least 3 or 4 months. It sounds like a long time but if you keep a rotation going (read: soap regularly!), it's not difficult at all. You may find that unnecessary but do check it out so that you know.

 

[CanaDawn]

I, too, dislike the feel of a very conditioning soap, and I actually like high coconut oil soap because of that dislike. I have found that a longer cure helps, and my next goal (which I forgot this last soap batch with the same recipe) is to try a 0% superfat with the conditioning oils.

It is interesting to use a soap at different points in its lifetime and feel the differences that happen along the way. Tough to do at the start, when you don't have enough soap to tuck it away for months, and it's too exciting to see bubbles to want to not use it!