please please please be stearic spots

[Sarah B]

Hi everyone! I made a chamomile soap yesterday (adapted from a recent formula Tanya Anderson shared on her website--love her ideas!) and have a sinking feeling this morning in my gut after taking a look. I used chamomile tea (made with distilled water) for the water fraction, and had trouble dissolving the lye--some white crystals remained at first, so I strained it through a fine-meshed strainer when adding to the oils (though at that point didn't see any visible crystals). I have a bad habit of over-stick-blending, so made a conscious effort to restrain myself this time. I soaped at 111 F--maybe should have bumped it up a bit given the percentage of shea. It traced quickly (I use pomace, so am accustomed to that). Anyway, I'm really hoping these white spots are stearic and not lye, but because of the trouble dissolving the lye I'm worried.

Lye conc: 33%
Superfat: 5%
Coconut oil: 25%
Castor oil: 5%
Olive oil: 45%
Cocoa butter: 8.5% (was supposed to be 10%, but it's way too pricey)
Shea butter: 15%
Kukui nut oil: 1.5% (just for funsies)
Essential oil: 1g roman chamomile per 5lb oil added at trace

Can't zap test for a few days, and there's likely no good way to be sure without it, so mostly I'm worrying out loud and would welcome any thoughts! It smells gorgeous so I'm sure hoping it's just stearic. Thank you!

Edit: CPOP'd at 170 F (turned off oven and left overnight)

 

[AliOop]

Since you strained your solution when pouring it in, it is very unlikely that those are lye crystals.

If the spots are soft when you scrape at them with your fingernail, they aren’t lye crystals, which will be hard and kind of crusty.

Hopefully you won’t mind if I share a few other thoughts?

Kukui nut oil is way too pricey for soap, which is washed off the skin and down the drain. Save it for leave-on products like lotion bars.

Most EOs need to be used at much higher rates in order to smell them in soap. They also tend to fade rather quickly. Per EOCalc.com, 2.4 oz would have been a medium usage rate for chamomile for a 5lb batch.

Anyway, please let us know whether those spots are crusty or soft. We are rooting for you!

 

[Sarah B]

Since you strained your solution when pouring it in, it is very unlikely that those are lye crystals.

If the spots are soft when you scrape at them with your fingernail, they aren’t lye crystals, which will be hard and kind of crusty.

Hopefully you won’t mind if I share a few other thoughts?

Kukui nut oil is way too pricey for soap, which is washed off the skin and down the drain. Save it for leave-on products like lotion bars.

Most EOs need to be used at much higher rates in order to smell them in soap. They also tend to fade rather quickly. Per EOCalc.com, 2.4 oz would have been a medium usage rate for chamomile for a 5lb batch.

Anyway, please let us know whether those spots are crusty or soft. We are rooting for you!

Ooooooh, great suggestion! I just tried scraping with a (gloved) finger, and they're soft! Woot!

Always appreciate other thoughts! I knew when I was typing in my formula that being honest was going to invite commentary. Ha! Agree re: kukui nut oil--I was playing around adding it at trace (I know, I know, magical thinking at best). I generally do reserve it for lotion bars.

For the EOs, I'm often using my own from my own distillations, so I use far less than recommended usage rates because....dang that's a lot of EO. And in my experience, the smell comes through just fine at a far lower usage rate, while also reducing chances of skin irritation or other negative effects from EO hitting skin. I only use EOs, never synthetics (migraine trigger for me), and do wonder if part of the problem people have with EOs is the prevalance of diluted products that are on the market (big topic of conversation in the distillation community--know your supplier!) I agree completely that EOs tend to fade--3-6 months for some, while others are still hanging in there from soaps I made 4 years ago. (I'm looking at you, clove.)

In this batch, I ran out of roman chamomile, and would normally use twice that amount (2g/5lb oil) because I find it to be just the right amount in my soaps. The chamomile in this batch is pretty strong, to say the least. I love chamomile because it has such a clear note that comes through, even in blends, and sticks longer than other EOs in my soap. But this is so strong that the tea has to be contributing quite a bit.

On the tea topic, I've been pretty cautious using plant decoctions/infusions in the water fraction because of an early-on um....learning experience event, in which I was playing around with jewelweed and had a very exciting lye volcano in my kitchen. Always wear your full PPE, folks! And no dogs or kids in the kitchen when you soap. So I am particularly wondering if anyone has trouble dissolving lye into plant infusions--but guess it would really depend on the chemistry of the particular plant.

So that was a long, wordy response. Thank you SO much for the thoughtful comments and great advice!

 

[AliOop]

You are so welcome, and I'm very glad your soap is ok. To avoid/reduce stearic spots in the future, try heating your solid oils/fats up to at least 150-170 before letting them cool down to your desired soaping temps.

That's so wonderful that you can use your own EOs and still get enough scent from your soap. I have to be very careful with all scents as well. EOs tend to be a little less troublesome for me, but no guarantee. Floral or spicy anything, whether EO or FO, is usually a no-go for me. Fruity FO sends me straight to barfville followed by migraineville.