Questions About Rebatching CP Soap

[MissE]

Holiday is over and I'm back to contemplating recipes and soaping! Well, first soapy thing I did this year was rebatch a citrusy soap that I piped into little floral disasters last November into sugar scrubs. It turned out beautifully (I got new silicon heart-shaped molds, yay!) but it doesn't lather-- nearly at all! It was a 100% coconut oil recipe with something like 20% sf.

So, I wanted to turn some of it into a sugar scrub and my recipe was something like this:

Grated soap - 150g
Olive oil - 100g
sugar - 300g


My first question is, which of these additives is likely responsible for my soap not lathering? I personally suspect it's the oil, so my next question is, does oil (any particular oil) kill lather in rebatch? Well, I did look online for answers and I noticed where someone added castor oil to their rebatch so I'm also wondering does castor oil enhance lather in rebatch the way it does in cp?

I really wish to learn more about oils in rebatch: How they affect the soap coming out the second time and what oils are particularly good for rebatch and which oils aren't, or if it matters at all, or if one can use only oils in rebatch with no water?

As always, I trust I'll get help here and thanks in advance!

 

[Saffron]

Hi there. As far as I know, any oil in rebatch will inhibit lather. That's because there is no excess lye in the rebatch to help saponify the oil, so it will just stay there as oil. Castor oil in a rebatch will make your soap soft and sticky and not bubbly. Whilst you can add some oil in a rebatch, it would be better to keep it under 5%, depending on the original superfat content of your soap. Taking into consideration your initial superfat of 20% and then an additional 100g of olive oil, I would say that is way too much oil for a rebatch. Hope that helps

 

[earlene]

Try this link and read the two sections on boosting and sustaining lather: https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/secret-to-the-best-soap-recipe/

High SF can inhibit lather, and you started with a high SF soap that you grated up. So I would reduce the SF in the re-batch by mixing your re-batch with a new batch of 0% SF and make the new soap batter with the lather enhancing oils (see the link above) including some SL. But I wouldn't add any more sugar. It sure looks to me like you have an awful lot of sugar already.

When you do an 'Old and New' soap like that, you can melt all the grated soap in with the new soap as in HP, OR you can do it as a confetti soap. Once cured, either will perform in the same way, so it doesn't really matter which you choose if your goal is to improve lather rather than to create a certain look.

EDIT: But as Saffron says, you have way too much extra oil already. It might not be worth it other than for experimental purposes. If it were me and I insisted that I absolutely must do this, I'd make the new batch at a -5% SF and melt them all together as HP just to be sure the lye used up as much of the SF in the old soap as possible.

 

[MissE]

Hi there. As far as I know, any oil in rebatch will inhibit lather. That's because there is no excess lye in the rebatch to help saponify the oil, so it will just stay there as oil. Castor oil in a rebatch will make your soap soft and sticky and not bubbly. Whilst you can add some oil in a rebatch, it would be better to keep it under 5%, depending on the original superfat content of your soap. Taking into consideration your initial superfat of 20% and then an additional 100g of olive oil, I would say that is way too much oil for a rebatch. Hope that helps

You make a lot of sense and it does help! Now what if for next time I didn't superfat at all and then I added the superfat amount during the rebatch, would this oil inhibit my lather still?

The reason I ask is that one of the things I'm hoping to address with my soapmaking is my scent fading or not being strong enough. I've not done very satisfactorily in this regard and I would like to either try hot process (which I've never done before) where I can add the scent last or rebatching.

Thanks again for the perspective!

 

[MissE]

Try this link and read the two sections on boosting and sustaining lather: https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/secret-to-the-best-soap-recipe/

High SF can inhibit lather, and you started with a high SF soap that you grated up. So I would reduce the SF in the re-batch by mixing your re-batch with a new batch of 0% SF and make the new soap batter with the lather enhancing oils (see the link above) including some SL. But I wouldn't add any more sugar. It sure looks to me like you have an awful lot of sugar already.

When you do an 'Old and New' soap like that, you can melt all the grated soap in with the new soap as in HP, OR you can do it as a confetti soap. Once cured, either will perform in the same way, so it doesn't really matter which you choose if your goal is to improve lather rather than to create a certain look.

EDIT: But as Saffron says, you have way too much extra oil already. It might not be worth it other than for experimental purposes. If it were me and I insisted that I absolutely must do this, I'd make the new batch at a -5% SF and melt them all together as HP just to be sure the lye used up as much of the SF in the old soap as possible.

I appreciate your help, earlene. Very useful, thank you!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Hp is not the silver bullet for scent sticking. If your scents are sticking in cp, there is an issue there. It might be an issue that won't be solved by hping

 

[Susie]

In addition to everything above, I think my sugar scrubs foam better when I use the classic 1:2:3 proportions. 1 part oil, 2 parts grated soap, 3 parts sugar. However, they do not foam a whole lot then either. They make a small lather, depending on what oils were used in the soap.

 

[MissE]

Hp is not the silver bullet for scent sticking. If your scents are sticking in cp, there is an issue there. It might be an issue that won't be solved by hping

I didn't know this! Can you tell me more?

 

[MissE]

In addition to everything above, I think my sugar scrubs foam better when I use the classic 1:2:3 proportions. 1 part oil, 2 parts grated soap, 3 parts sugar. However, they do not foam a whole lot then either. They make a small lather, depending on what oils were used in the soap.

I will certainly keep "123" in mind for next time! Thanks, Susie!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I didn't know this! Can you tell me more?

You might be using too little scent, or scents which don't stick, or scents not meant for soaping.

 

[MissE]

Thank you, TEG!