Scratchy soap help

[shunt2011]

I’ve used Red Devil and Rooro with no issues and so have others. I still use it on occasion when I run out.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

Have you ever been able to resolve this scratchy soap issue. After years of soaping I am starting to get this. One batch will have it then the next one, maybe a day later with same supplies, won’t. I don’t gel. I add sodium lactate. I soap at about 110 degrees.

I have been soaping quite a lot this past week since i want to figure it out, so far i have tested several end cuts of the soaps I’ve made. Keep in mind this are only week old soaps and i honestly dont know of the scrstchy things developed right away or after a few weeks cure (the scratchy soaps were 3 weeks old when i first testes them so i dont know if they were always like that or if it happened after). So anyway.


One batch was coconut oil, palm, olive, cocoa butter, and castor. Colored with mica and cocoa powder. No FO nor EO. Half water half coconut cream. It has the scratchy things but not that very many. I fished out maybe 3. I lathered the soaps a lot to really make sure. This was a 600 gram batch (of oils). Didnt gel.


Batches 2, 3 and 4 were all the same recipe i posted at the begining of this thread: coconut, olive, palm, castor and almond. Those have FO and 100% coconut milk. They also have ground oats. They all gelled fully and then left to cool down without insulation. They dont appear to have the sceatchy things. The oats feel kinda different than the weird thingys so I am pretty confident the scratch i felt was the oats and not the... things. Will test them again soon to make sure cause i cant believe they dont have the issue.


Batch 5 was the same recipe but with 100% coffee instead of plain water. This one i *think* didnt gell. The FO was different and looks like instead of accelerating does the oposite. It was quite sticky when i unmolded it and had to wait another 12 hours to cut it. It does have coffee grounds in it and when i tried it I felt the coffee and i could see it coming off. The top doesnt have coffee grounds and felt silky smooth. No bumps, no scratchyness (other than the coffee, obviously). Again will try it soon because i cant belive it.


Finally batch 5 are salt bars. 80% coconut oil 20% avocado oil. FO. 100% coconut milk. Rock smooth. No scratchiness as of yet. No bumps.


What gives? I have no clue. I am mostly sure all of them were made using the same batch of lye. Mostly because i need to check my notes and see when I made the first batch (cocoa butter) and compare it to when i started using a new lye (same supplier, diferent lot) and i still need to test one i made before the cocoa one which has the more chances of being made with the last lye batch and not the new one. But then again the coffee soap pictured in page 2 i think, was made with the same lye than the white scrarchy soap also of page 2.


Conclusion? I am confused.



No, we definetly are not using the same lye brand. I am in México and get my lye from a very local supplier and they get their lye also from a local supplier. By the way, all the batches were made one after the other (october 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14)


I really have to test those soaps again cause i really really cant not believe they are not scratchy. Plus i made another batch yesterday that i also need to test.

 

[BattleGnome]

Weird test. Can you try melting down the things in a double boiler and see what temp they melt at? If you can figure out what temp they melt at then you can compare it to a chart of melt points of fatty acids and see it it matches somewhere. If it matches you may have your answer, no match and you’ve eliminated something.

I’m still thinking it’s steric or another fatty acid. This may be one way to compare. If it works we can help you figure out what you need to do to consistently insulate or CPOP

 

[Lin19687]

2 things I would do. Melt oils fully to clear, to make sure there is nothing in there.
Strain the Lye water to make sure there is nothing in there.
Did you say the one with the Cocobutter was really the only one that had the scratchies ?

I agree with BG, that is a great test !

I get steric spots but there are not scratchy, nor do they come out like that. They are usually round

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

@BattleGnome you mean the “scratchies”, right? I dont own a thermomether so i cant measure the temps but i can try first and see if they melt at all in the first place and figure out the thermometer part later i guess.

@Lin19687 this last few batches i did soap a bit hotter than usual. Not super hot but i made sure all the oils were completelly melted and the container was warm to the touch (not hot!) i am also thinking about straining the lye, though it does look completelly clear with no visible specs of anything.
Because all this might be getting a bit confusing even for me I am gonna make a list of the batches.

August 3 made a soap using lard, coconut, olive, castor and avocado. No scratchy things. All the soaps up till this one were fine. This one was made with plain water and colored with mica, Td and cocoa. FO. (It was a cake soap i posted a picture of some time ago)
August 7 first scratchy soap. Same recipe but using aloe gell insted of water.
August 10 salt bars using 80%. Coconut 20% avocado. Aloe gell. EO. Colored with mica. Again: scratchy.
August 21 same recipe (lard, co, oo, castor and almond) mica and td. FO. Aloe gell. Scratchy.
August 27 same recipe as above. Confetti soap using store bought soap. This one has the most scratchy things. No FO just Td. Aloe gell.
September 4 same recipe, coffee soap. Coffee insted of water. No mica, just td. Non scratchy. (And here i am thinking: its the aloe!... wrong). FO.
September 10 same salt bars recipe. Aloe instead of water. Mica. Scratchy. Is the heart soap at the begining of the thread.
September 13 first soap using palm (so palm, oo, co, castor and almond). Mica and td. FO. Coconu cream and water. Scratchy.
September 14: same recipe, diferent FO, still half coco cream and water. I just noticed i have not tried this one so i cant say if its got the scratchys. EDIT: completelly smooth save the ground oats it has. I finished an end cut of that and really had zero scratch.
September 24 another coffee soap same recipe with palm (the one pictured before) no scratchy things besides the coffee. Used coffee instead of water, different coffee FO and td for the top. Really... not scratchy.
September 26: same recipe as the last one, different FO, half coconut cream half water. Pictures before with purple top. Need to check again if the top is scratchy cause i cant recall.
September 27 second confetti soap also pictured (the small one where i circled the spots) same recipe, only td and fo, half coconut cream half water. Scratchy.
October 2 mostly same recipe but used cristco instead of part of the plain palm because i wanted to finish it. Half water half coconut. FO. Mica and td. Have not check it yet. EDIT: absolutelly smooth bar, just like the ones before his started happening.
October 10: cocoa butter soap. Half coconut cream half water. No fo. Mica and cocoa for color. Minimal amount of scratchies. Need to try again to make sure. EDIT: yes, some scrstchy things but not very many though they are noticeable.
October 11, 12, and 13 same recipe with palm. 100% coconut milk. Just td. FO. No sceatchies? Wut? EDIT: not scratchy.
October 14 more salt bars same recipe but with 100% coconut milk. FO. Again no scratchies? Need to try again. EDIT: nope not scratchy.
October 15 another coffee soap. No scratchies again? 100%. Coffee water.

So to reiterate: if its the coconut cream then the soap of october 2 should be scratchy but still need to try it. But then why would the aloe ones would be scratchy? Specially because prior to that date all my other aloe soaps were fine (same batch of pureed aloe leaves, i freeze them for easy storage). And i can see the chunks of the aloe which are different (usually yelowish/reddish) and the scratchies are more translucent.
This is gonna sound super gross but here it goes: have you ever scratched a pimple? There are some when the stuff that comes out is white and not at all firm but some are more like.. dry? Thats how the scratchies look and feel. Like oval shaped and kinda translucent. And about that size. Sorry to gross you out but thats the way i can think to discribe it. So if its something in the soap is the coconut cream and the aloe or the lye but the lye is non consistent in all the scratchy batches. If its the temps then half the last october soaps were made with not to warm oils and half with warmer temps but they dont appear to be scratchy but i am gonna double check. Confused? Cause i am.

 

[Plschrader]

I have also been adding a very small amount of beeswax to get a harder bar and to get it out of a silicon mold. I am going to soap today and leave out the beeswax.

 

[MKLonestar]

I think I used to use Red Devil Lye. I am going to look around tomorrow and see if I can find a brand other that Rooto.

I get mine off Amazon from Molly's Products and have had absolutely no problems at all with it. Food grade lye is much better for soap making than household lye because you don't run the risk of having metallic pieces in it.

5 Lbs of FCC /99% Pure Food Grade Sodium Hydroxide Lye Micro Beads https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YPKD3Z0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

Update: i tested the soaps i was missing and also retested the most recent one. None of them are scrarchy so that rules out the coconut cream? Oh except the cocoa butter one that does seem to have the scratichies but as noted before, not very many of them.