Oopsies

[MasterGiff]

Hey Everyone,

*I didn't see the mistakes thread before I posted this.*

I figured I'd share a story today about soap making disasters. I was going to make a batch of Lavender EO soap (32 oz loaf) and I didn't do a good enough prep.

So I started out by setting up all my equipment, oils, etc. Then I went straight into measuring and heating my hard oils. For this recipe I was using Shea butter, mango seed butter, coconut oil as my hards. I would have also added castor oil and olive oil as my main base. Unfortunately disaster struck. I ran out of Lye. Or ran short rather. My recipe called for 4.4 oz of lye but when I opened my container, I already knew I was in trouble. Turned out that I only had 2.3 oz of lye. So I shut off the crockpot (which was already heating my hard oils) and ran to the hardware store to find some more. As chance would have it, my local hardware store is apparently closing it's doors permanently and they had already sold everything on clearance. So I left and ran to home Depot hoping they would have caustic soda in the drain cleaning isle. Again, no luck. So I gave up and went home.

I felt utterly defeated and was convinced I was going to have to just trash the batch altogether. But then I got to thinking...

What if I adjusted my recipe utilizing the hard oils that were already mixed and melted and just adjusted it to meet the amount of lye I actually had. So I played with the recipe on soapcalc until got to the exact amount of lye I had in weight. Basically I just added some of my castor oil to the recipe to try to reduce the hardness and meet the lye weight I had.

Well I came up with a thing and I went ahead with it. Everything was running smoothly until I added the EO/mica at the end which caused ricing (like massively). Otherwise I think this would have worked out perfectly if I had just left it out. I got a good smooth trace but the EO turned it into think pudding/jello.

Either way I still poured it in molds and I'm going to let it cure to see what comes out. I'm sure it won't be great soap with those numbers but hey, like I told my wife "this went from soap making to science experiment real fast". Lol

I hope you all enjoy my story.

Lessons learned - Check all your ingredients prior to start. If you have a problem and you correct the recipe to adjust, leave the extras out (EO) and just make the base soap to see what you get.

**The posted recipe is the adjusted one using what I had to meet my on hand lye amount**

~MG

 

[dmcgee5034]

Such good advice to double check you have what you need in the quantities you need. Been there, done that, too. Thanks for sharing - I think it’s good to read all the good, bad, ugly, challenging, and learnings. Post a pic when you unmold.

 

[AliOop]

Isn't soaping fun??

Which EO did you use? The thing is, even if you had done everything according to the original recipe, an accelerating EO would have accelerated your batch no matter what.

Oxidized or adulterated EOs will often accelerate your soap batter, too.

 

[Zing]

I like to blame my incompetent inventory guy. He especially likes to ignore the lye supply. Good luck!

 

[MasterGiff]

Isn't soaping fun??

Which EO did you use? The thing is, even if you had done everything according to the original recipe, an accelerating EO would have accelerated your batch no matter what.

Oxidized or adulterated EOs will often accelerate your soap batter, too.

Yeah, I was already aware the EO that I have in lemongrass and lavender both cause ricing. I'm a full batch I can usually get the ricing to reduce by continuing to mix for a little while before pouring. These ones are especially bad about it. Way more than other EOs I've used in the past. They smell good, but it's probably like you said in the way they are manufactured that's causing it.