Please help my soap is too soft

[Chyeiti]

Hii

Need help.
I am new to soap making. Recently I made soap with
Coconut oil 7.5 oz
Olive oil 25 oz
Castor oil 1 oz
1.5 oz lemongrass essential oil.
I added about 5 grams of citric acid and bars came out of mold quite easily but bars are tooo soft.

 

[penelopejane]

You have to neutralise CA with more sodium hydroxide or it will produce soft soap.

Read DeeAnna’s tutorials on adding CA.
https://classicbells.com/soap/soapyStuff.html

If you used the default lye concentration in your soap calculator then you might have used too much water and the soap will be softer for longer. After it cures it should be fine.

 

[DeeAnna]

Also, how much NaOH and water did you use? Any other additives? What did you do to the molded soap while it saponified?

A list of the oils is a good start, but we need to know all of the recipe and your method to be able to help.

 

[Chyeiti]

Thank you!
penelopejane and DeeAnna
I nutralise CA with additional sodium hydroxide. Instead of 4.82 oz I added 5.1 oz of NaoH and I also added 1 tsp of salt to water before mixing NaoH. I used 9.90 oz of distilled water. As a result soap came out quickly but its too soft.

 

[DeeAnna]

Your numbers look okay -- not too much water for this kind of recipe, about the right amount of NaOH.

A caution -- Your use of grams for the citric acid and ounces for everything else might get you in trouble someday. I'd stick with one set of units (grams!) for everything, if you want my opinion.

My guess is that your soap did not get warm enough during saponification. The soap should improve with time. If you want to help it along, you can warm it in the oven. Here's how I do it -- https://classicbells.com/soap/cpopAfterTheFact.html

 

[Chyeiti]

DeeAnna Thank you !

I am relieved now.I will try CPOP. I will certainly stick to one set of units. Thank you for your word of caution.

 

[penelopejane]

DeeAnna Thank you !

I am relieved now.I will try CPOP. I will certainly stick to one set of units. Thank you for your word of caution.

What DeeAnna is suggesting is “CPOP after the fact” not what is generally referred to as CPOP.

 

[Chyeiti]

Yes I got that..though I have never done it but DeeAnna has provided link where its given in detail how it should be done.I will give it a try.
Thank you!

 

[cmzaha]

I have been told the same thing and still use both grams and ounces I simply cannot think in grams in higher amounts but do use my little gram scale for weighing out my edta, bht and citric if using them. Not saying it is the correct way just what I do

 

[DeeAnna]

Oh, I'd really mess up if I used mixed units (grams and ounces). I'd measure something in grams that should be in ounces or vice versa, and I'd be mad at myself.

 

[penelopejane]

Since I've been on this forum and have had to constantly convert from oz to grams and *F to *C I have realised that I think in metric now.

I'm with DeeAnna on sticking to one unit or I'd go out of my mind! But kudos to you cmzaha for being able to do it.

I can't accurately weight small amounts though so I work out what say 4 x 1/4 of a tsp weighs 4 g and I then know 1/4 tsp of substance A if accurately measured weighs 1 g. I keep that special 1/4 tsp (and a 1/8 tsp that I need for some additives) aside just for measuring small amounts of additives. I've worked that out for all the additives that I add in tiny amounts and it seems to work. Probably not very scientific, but it works for me.

 

[Chyeiti]

Thank you DeeAnna & penelopejane!

I tried CPOP. I kept bars in preheated oven for 1 hour. Bars are not soft now. Usually I keep mold in cardboard box and cover it with cloth but this time I didnt do that. Last time when I covered soap with towel,soap crumbled.I think that happened because I used excess fragrance oil.so I skipped doing that.I hope bars will be fine after curing. ☺

 

[DeeAnna]

What DeeAnna is suggesting is “CPOP after the fact” not what is generally referred to as CPOP.

And maybe there should be a better name for this idea -- suggestions, anyone?

 

[penelopejane]

And maybe there should be a better name for this idea -- suggestions, anyone?

Maybe:
ATOP - after the-fact oven processing
ROPE - rescue oven process exercise
SOAP - safe oven after-the-fact processing

 

[dixiedragon]

I call it twice-baked.

 

[cmzaha]

Oh, I'd really mess up if I used mixed units (grams and ounces). I'd measure something in grams that should be in ounces or vice versa, and I'd be mad at myself.

Fortunetly it has never caused me to mess up, but I am not saying it is the right way, but when used to doing it that way it is not necessarily wrong for some of us, especially when having always done it that way. I probably do not mess up because my little gram scale is next to my big scale. When I first started soaping I was not adding in all the additives and really did not need to weight in grams, so my KD 8000 was fine. My old brain just does not think in grams. I can say I had made many mistakes in my soaping career but never due to weighing oils in oz and additives in grams.

 

[DeeAnna]

Good for you, Carolyn! Like I said, I'd eventually mess up, but everyone is different.

 

[dixiedragon]

I mentally convert back and fourth a lot. I keep in mind that 1 lb is 450 grams, which helps me visualize a batch size when using grams. I am a rebel (LOL) and I measure things like fragrance and preservative by teaspoons vs grams.

 

[earlene]

And maybe there should be a better name for this idea -- suggestions, anyone?

Maybe:
ATOP - after the-fact oven processing
ROPE - rescue oven process exercise
SOAP - safe oven after-the-fact processing

Too funny. Coming from a nurse thinking, 'SOAP for soap'. Nurses will identify with what SOAP means to us. For the rest of you it is an acronym for a documentation method used in the medical field, which stands for:
Subjective Objective Assessment Plan

Anyway I like both ROPE and SOAP.

But how about CPOP-R for CPOP-Repeat or CPOP-Rescue

Or Twice Baked CPOP

Or CPOPx2

 

[cmzaha]

Good for you, Carolyn! Like I said, I'd eventually mess up, but everyone is different.

Yes, and I can understand that. Believe me I have made my share of messes just not that way!! I just think it comes down to what we get used to. I do weigh all lotion ingredients by grams because I agree it is much more accurate. After 8 yrs of this I still look up the conversion of 500 g to oz you would think I would remember. come to think of it I never remember my 59 oz of oil is 1672.62g