Re-heated soap

[daisy8]

I made some bentonite clay soap which was taking a long time to harden. (Probably a recipe problem) Thinking that it might harden more quickly, I put it in the oven at 80 degrees C for 45 mins. It did the opposite. It almost turned liquid again.

My question is, did the oils not saponify properly in the first place? They certainly looked as though they did. Would this liquefying happen to all cp soap?

 

[pamielynn]

Are you talking about hardening in your mold, or while it's still in the pot?

 

[adoptapitbull]

I made some bentonite clay soap which was taking a long time to harden. (Probably a recipe problem) Thinking that it might harden more quickly, I put it in the oven at 80 degrees C for 45 mins. It did the opposite. It almost turned liquid again.

My question is, did the oils not saponify properly in the first place? They certainly looked as though they did. Would this liquefying happen to all cp soap?

Are you sure you didn't just see it as it was gelling? When soap goes through gel, it looks like it is completely liquid again, even if it was a gloppy mess at trace.

How much clay did you use? Typically 1 tsp PPO is more than enough. I've used it a lot in soaps and never had any setting issues.

What was your recipe?

 

[daisy8]

I made the soap about 3 weeks ago. At the time I added too much water to the clay and had not discounted the water for the lye. So I thought it might be problematic. (I had used the recipe before but did not record the amount of water. The soap turned out fine.)

I put it in the oven, as per my first post, the day before yesterday. As the time in the oven almost turned it to liquid again, I wondered if the same thing would happen to all cp soap? - (make it, cure it, heat it up again and it becomes liquid?)

 

[DeeAnna]

"...As the time in the oven almost turned it to liquid again, I wondered if the same thing would happen to all cp soap?..."

Um, yeah, properly made soap will turn liquid upon heating. That's pretty much the point of rebatching soap by heating it in a crock pot, double boiler, oven, etc.

Soap is a complicated mixture of liquids (water, excess fat, etc.) and soft solids (the soap molecules themselves) arranged in a layered or crystalline pattern. It "changes state" fairly easily from solid to liquid when heated, although the "liquid" version tends to be more gelatinous and gloppy than watery and runny.

But there ya go....

 

[daisy8]

Thank you DeeAnna. I have never rebatched soap, so that information is new to me. I've read about rebatching, but never actually looked into how it works.

My thinking had been that if I heat it up it may cause the excess water to evaporate and allow the soap to harden faster. It actually is harder now that it's cooled down, but it's lost it's square shape. Oh well

 

[Marieke]

I did the same thing yesterday. I made goatmilk soap and put it outside after pouring. Twelve hours later I put the mold in the fridge and took it out 4 hours later. On room temperature it became quite soft so I put it in the oven at 70 degrees C for 3 hours. It turned soft but I knew that would happen. It only very slightly changed the oval shape of the soap.