Possible Milk Soap Flunk

[DramaQueen]

Hey, so I made soap yesterday but I think something might have gone wrong. Here is what I did.

I froze the homemade oat milk. When I went to take the frozen milk into my bowl for the lye it turned out not to be frozen all the way. So I spilled and I lost some milk. But I only lost about 2 oz of liquid so I continued on. But, when I slowly mixed my lye in, it did turn a light orange color. And, it was kind of chunky, like spit. But, I kept on going. I soaped at about 115 degrees, which I now know it to high. Then, I added the ground oats which I had strained from my homemade oat milk. Then, I mixed for a fairly long time ( 10 minutes) and it only reached a light trace. I put it into the mold and sprinkled some hole oats on top. I took it out of the mold today and cut it. It smells a little but I cannot place the smell. It may just be that the oats give it a smell? And it has a spotted look to it with light brown crums ( I am thinking that it is the crushed up oats) and white spots which are a little bit bigger. I do not care about the looks, I just want to make sure that it will be safe you use. Any thoughts? There should be some pics of the soap attached. Thanks!

 

[Marsi]

What was your starting water weight (for your recipe) and lye concentration?
2 ounces of your water/liquid should not be a problem, looking at your loaf size, but it is worth checking that your lye concentration didn't exceed 50% ... if it didn't, then it's fine.

Light orange is normal (it fades), brown flecks are normal for most larger pieces of botanicals and chunky (spit) bits will be the starch gelatinizing in the hot liquid ... you might have some starchy bits in your mix, but with 10 minutes stick blending, I doubt they'll be that big

Your soap looks normal for an oat milk and oats soap (nice)

 

[KiwiMoose]

It looks normal - and the oat milk with lye added always goes gunky like snot.
Here's my oat milk and oatmeal soap:

 

[DramaQueen]

Thanks so much! I am glad that it should be safe. The lye was only 3 oz so it was below 50%. What do you guys think that the white spots are? Are they also oats? And does anyone have a thought on why it only reached a light trace? Its just so interesting!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Zap test them to be sure - but mine always has white spots too - maybe oats or starch?

 

[DramaQueen]

What does zap them mean?

 

[dmcgee5034]

It looks normal - and the oat milk with lye added always goes gunky like snot.
Here's my oat milk and oatmeal soap:

That’s a great photo of your soap, @KiwiMoose - it’s very photogenic
I love the background and accessories with it.
Just beautiful

 

[KiwiMoose]

What does zap them mean?

Here you go: Zap test | Soapy Stuff
This is by our very own @DeeAnna

 

[DeeAnna]

I can't add to the good advice already offered, but I do want to add a caution. The oats on top of the soap are at risk of turning moldy. ALso if the oats in the soap are in larger chunks, they too may become moldy as the soap is used.

And larger chunks of oats in the soap can become uncomfortably lumpy and scratchy as the soap washes away and exposes the oat fragments on the soap's surface. (I bought a bar of handmade soap once that was like this, and eventually discarded it -- the hard lumps on the surface made the bar too unpleasant to use.)

TL;DR -- A small amount of finely ground or pureed food mixed into the soap is fine. Larger chunks of food on or in the soap are not a good idea.

 

[cmzaha]

I agree with DeeAnna, I do not like anything chunkier than Oat flour or Collodial Oats.