Oily soap

[Deborah Long]

Okay, I have a dumb newbie question. I have a 2 lb loaf of soap that I made yesterday that seems a little oily on the sides. I followed my recipe and then did a gradient pour using turmeric in Sunflower oil added a little at a time.
I'm assuming the extra oil is from the colorant.
My question is, do I cut the loaf now (it's out of the mold) or do I wait longer to see if the oil absorbs back into the soap?
No zap, it's a little soft, but not softer than I would expect at the 15 hour mark...

Thanks for all the help that I get here! You are all so forthcoming with advice!

 

[dixiedragon]

Give it time. How much extra oil did you add? I am assuming it wasn't accounted for on the soap calculator?

Generally, if you infuse a botanical in oil to get color, you have to add a fairly significant amount, vs using a teaspoon of extra oil with some oxide or mica.

Here's an interesting article with photos:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...ricks/turmeric-cold-process-soap-color-tests/

Looking at the pictures, to get to what I'd called a medium tan color, they used 8 teaspoons of infused oil per pound of soap. That's a LOT of extra oil for not much color.

Can you post pics?

I've never used turmeric, but I've used alkanet. with alkanet, you infuse your soap-making oils themselves. In my case, I infused all of my liquid oils, so about 40% of the oils. this gave me a light purple color. If you want to do a swirl, you make 2 batches of soap at the same time, one with alkanet oil and one without. To get serious color, I think you're going to need to infuse a lot of oil.

 

[Susie]

You can cut the soap as soon as you can't dent the corner with mild pressure from your finger. Before that, it is easy to damage. After too long, it gets way too hard to cut. You will figure it out given time and practice.

How much "extra" oil did you use?

 

[shunt2011]

Do you use a silicone mold? I sometimes have that kind of a feeling on my soap when I try to unmold it a bit soon. It sometimes feels slightly oily on the outside. If I cut it, sometimes it's still a bit warm in the center. It's fine afterwards though. Good advice above too for the extra oil.

 

[DeeAnna]

An "oily" liquid on a fresh soap might be fat, but it can be water-based liquid too ... and it's even more likely to be a mix of both. Glycerin feels oily. And excess lye will make the skin feel slippery and kinda oily. So I don't think it's a good idea to assume it's just fat.

Wipe off some of this residue onto your fingertips (or maybe gloved fingers would be wiser). Rinse the residue with cool water (don't rub, just rinse). Evaluate the residue that's left on your fingertips. Is there something left after rinsing? If so, it's fat. If your fingertips are clean, the residue was probably water based -- lye, glycerin, and water. If there is less residue after rinsing, but still some (this will be tough to evaluate, I know), it's probably a mix of all of the above.

 

[Deborah Long]

@dixiedragon - I added probably 1/8th of a cup of oil to my turmeric, but didn't use it all. (I used most of it, but not all) Not added into the soap calculator.

@shunt2011 - Yes, it was in a silicone lined mold.

@DeeAnna - I used a glove (more because of the blue color of the glove than anything else. figured I would be able to 'see' better what was happening). Nothing seemed to rinse off at all..

@Susie Thanks! (see above for extra oils! lol)

The stuff on the top of the loaf in the second picture feels like very delicate paper... weird...

 

[DeeAnna]

Did you intentionally make the top of the soap a darker color? Or did this color difference just happen? If the latter, I'm wondering if it overheated slightly and/or there might have been a bit of an emulsion failure. All this is just a guess, however.

 

[dixiedragon]

That stuff on the top is weird! It looks like it would flake off?

 

[Deborah Long]

@DeeAnna - Yep, it's darker on purpose. I don't believe it overheated. It *did* fully gel, however.

@dixiedragon - It *does* look weird, but it doesn't flake off at all! It's rather like a super-thin piece of parchment. Not sure how else to describe it... Or a super-thin layer of skin...

 

[Obsidian]

A additional 1/8 cup of oil is a lot for a 2lb loaf. There is a chance it will stay a bit oily.

You can cut it now, waiting won't make a differance in whether or not it absorbs the oil.

 

[Deborah Long]

@Obsidian - Thanks! I'm on it!

 

[Donee']

@Obsidian - Thanks! I'm on it!

I make quite a bit of tumeric soap for the indian target market and I add the tumeric to the lye water mix same as coffee soap.
BUT
I do have a batch that is soggy and oily and runny and generally disgusting so instead of throwing it away I am going to experiment with it.

 

[penelopejane]

Okay, I have a dumb newbie question. I have a 2 lb loaf of soap that I made yesterday that seems a little oily on the sides. I followed my recipe and then did a gradient pour using turmeric in Sunflower oil added a little at a time.
I'm assuming the extra oil is from the colorant.
My question is, do I cut the loaf now (it's out of the mold) or do I wait longer to see if the oil absorbs back into the soap?
No zap, it's a little soft, but not softer than I would expect at the 15 hour mark...

Thanks for all the help that I get here! You are all so forthcoming with advice!

Next time take oils out of the recipe oils to account for the turmeric oil that you add. If you are not sure how much you are going to add take more out of the recipe and add some back in if necessary. The amount of oils added has to be accurate or you won’t get a consistent result.

You can work out the SF you’ve ended up with by adding 1/8 cup of oil by guessing what percentage of your 2lb loaf you coloured and putting it into soap calc. I think it will be pretty high.

 

[Deborah Long]

@penelopejane - I think I ended up with a superfat of 8%. At this point, the bars have absorbed all the oils and are on the rack curing. I guess we'll see in a few weeks how it turns out! lol

 

[cmzaha]

I am glad to hear the oils absorbed, soap is so good at correcting itself with time, maybe not always but many times. Just a little side not, you can buy turmeric essential and it works fantastic for coloring so you do not have to worry about infusing it, and you still gain the label appeal of turmeric soap

 

[Deborah Long]

@cmzaha - thanks! I had no clue! I was mostly trying to do an ombre soap in a loaf, but that didn't happen so much! lol

 

[penelopejane]

@penelopejane - I think I ended up with a superfat of 8%. At this point, the bars have absorbed all the oils and are on the rack curing. I guess we'll see in a few weeks how it turns out! lol

SF 8% just in the top?
Glad to hear the oil reabsorbed.
It will be interesting to see what it is like after cure.
I find turmeric added directly to the oils a bit scratchy so I like oil infusions even though it seems to take a lot of turmeric!

It’s easy to account for the oils in the different sections in a soap but it takes a bit of maths if it’s not 50/50 coloured/uncoloured!

If you have problems ask here.

I make an ombré Activated charcoal soap but mix the AC with glycerin so it doesn’t have to be accounted for. I’ll try and find a link to the method for you.
The less colour you add to each pour the less obvious the lines between the colours will be.

 

[Deborah Long]

@penelopejane - Wow! YES! That's the look I was going for, but ended up with only the top looking like it had color in it. I added a turmeric in small amounts through multiple pours...

Glycerin is the answer? That is just amazing! So, will glycerin work with *all* natural colorants?

 

[penelopejane]

@penelopejane - Wow! YES! That's the look I was going for, but ended up with only the top looking like it had color in it. I added a turmeric in small amounts through multiple pours...

Glycerin is the answer? That is just amazing! So, will glycerin work with *all* natural colorants?

Yes it does but with turmeric and paprika it will be grainy.

SBing AC into the batter will give you a darker colour than hand blending the same amount. This will probably apply to other natural colourants too.

Probably the best bet is to infuse the oil and strain it and weigh your batter as you add the same amount of oil each time. To your first pour add the same amount of just plain oil. Either take the extra oil from the batch or start with a 0% SF.

 

[Deborah Long]

@penelopejane - Thanks for the awesome tips!