She's a little bit crumbly...

[KiwiMoose]

...and he's a little bit rock and roll.

Same recipe as always, but this time I used over half the water content as sea water. Is this why it is a bit crumbly? I have used sea water before, but not in a large mold that I had to cut. I took some of the crumbled bits and smooshed them back into place to try and fix it. Given that it's the underside of the soap, I'm not too bothered, but would just like to why.

Any thoughts?

And here's my smooshed one:

 

[Dawni]

That looks like the confetti soap I'm about to post. I don't usually get that when I HP but this one's a bastille CP.

Mostly on the bottom too, as if the cutter (dough cutter) is causing it. But it's not been a problem before. I wonder if it's the amount of salt? All my soaps have salt. That combined with timing.

Regarding mine, with all the reading I did this morning I'm now confused if I cut too early or cut too late as apparently, either can cause crumbly soap.

Mine was unmolded after about 8hrs, cut after another 6. It wasn't hard, yet it crumbled. I'm sure mine is partly the confetti.

I'm rambling lol, don't think I helped with anything.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Yeah - this wasn't too hard either - it was quite soft in places.

 

[KiwiSoap]

Nice save! I've got this thread tagged to see what advice we get

 

[penelopejane]

I think you are going to have to post your recipe and your process after pouring to get advice on solving this crumbling. It shouldn’t happen. I think it’s more than a timing issue.

You haven’t cut it in these pictures yet, have you? That’s the entire loaf?

Also you said you boiled the seawater. How long did you reduce it for?

 

[KiwiMoose]

I think you are going to have to post your recipe and your process after pouring to get advice on solving this crumbling. It shouldn’t happen. I think it’s more than a timing issue.

You haven’t cut it in these pictures yet, have you? That’s the entire loaf?

Also you said you boiled the seawater. How long did you reduce it for?

Sorry PJ - only just saw this. That is one bar of soap in the photo - not the entire slab. Size of the actual crumbled part is about 6mm wide.
My regular recipe - 20/20/20 soy wax, OO, CO, then 15% RBO, 10% Shea and AVO, with 5% castor
I didn't boil the sea water for long - only about 5 minutes at most.

 

[penelopejane]

Sorry PJ - only just saw this. That is one bar of soap in the photo - not the entire slab. Size of the actual crumbled part is about 6mm wide.
My regular recipe - 20/20/20 soy wax, OO, CO, then 15% RBO, 10% Shea and AVO, with 5% castor
I didn't boil the sea water for long - only about 5 minutes at most.

Did you CPOP it? Or insulate it? No clay or other additives?

Reading your other posts about your soaping temps I think the crumbling and swirl spots are caused by mixing at too low a temperature. With Shea butter and soy they have high melt points anD high stearic and if you don’t melt them and keep them clear while you mix you end up with insonsistently stirred patches and the stearic spots and swirls. If you like the effect then keep doing what you are doing.

If you want to get rid of them soap warmer. That means getting a thermometer and ensuring both lye and oils are 42* when you mix them.