Question about soap 'shelf life'
- Thread starter Dalziel
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
cdwinsby
Well-Known Member
All recipes are different and it depends on how you store them. You will need to have the soap completely cured before wrapping (for CP soap) and stored in a cool dry location - preferably dark. If your soap is high in unsaponified oils it will have a shorter shelf life.
Your best bet is to keep some of your soap and see how it holds up under various conditions and then make your decision from that data.
Your best bet is to keep some of your soap and see how it holds up under various conditions and then make your decision from that data.
cdwinsby
Well-Known Member
Saponification is the chemical reaction between lye with the fats or oils to form soap.
When you make soap, you calculate the lye to be less than needed to saponifiy all of the oil. This gives you a cushion for error. You will have unsaponified oils in your soap. This is a good thing as it will make your soaps more moisturising. But as with all good things there can be a down side. Too many and you leave your soaps open to spoilage.
Before considering selling soap, it may be a good idea to do some more research on the soap making process. It is a large topic and I find myself learning new things everyday. It really is a long road between first learning how to make soap and selling it.
The learning process is a blast though and I encourage you read everything you can find.
Good luck
When you make soap, you calculate the lye to be less than needed to saponifiy all of the oil. This gives you a cushion for error. You will have unsaponified oils in your soap. This is a good thing as it will make your soaps more moisturising. But as with all good things there can be a down side. Too many and you leave your soaps open to spoilage.
Before considering selling soap, it may be a good idea to do some more research on the soap making process. It is a large topic and I find myself learning new things everyday. It really is a long road between first learning how to make soap and selling it.
The learning process is a blast though and I encourage you read everything you can find.
Good luck
Dalziel said:
I think you need to do some research on basic cp soaping. You will need to know about super fatting percentages & how they affect shelf-life, about rancidity & DOS.
Oils will go rancid over time. Different oils have different shelf-lives. We make cp soap with a minimum of 5% super fat, so there will always be a little extra oil in our soap. That oil can go rancid.
I think there has to be at least a 6 month period from learning to selling cp soap, otherwise, you have no way of knowing what your soap will be like once the customer takes it home.
Don't assume they'll use it right away. Lots of people think it smells so good, they just leave it sitting for months to enjoy the scent. Sometimes, they hang onto it for months before giving it as a gift & the gifted person hangs onto it for another few months before using it. You have to know your soap will be good after all that time.
I store my cp soaps in cardboard boxes. CP soap needs to breathe, so never store it sealed up tight in plastic of any kind. Each scent has it's own box.
I don't do M&P, so I can't address that.
M&P will last indefinately unless you add something to it that might spoil or go bad.
With that being said, your colors & scents will fade. Some scents may hold for years, others may fade in 3 months. That's just hit or miss & experimentation. I like to sell M&P w/i a month of making it so the colors & scents are crisp & strong.
With that being said, your colors & scents will fade. Some scents may hold for years, others may fade in 3 months. That's just hit or miss & experimentation. I like to sell M&P w/i a month of making it so the colors & scents are crisp & strong.
Similar threads
