Slimy Soap

[Milashka]

Hello Soapmakers,
I need your advice. I am making a cold processed soap using 87% of olive oil and 17% of soft oil. The bar is hard before its actual usage, and it also slimy. Any advice on how to get rid of sliminess? Tank you so much.

 

[shunt2011]

Olive is a soft oil/liquid Its slimy because of the high olive. You need a better balanced recipe. I wouldn't exceed 50%. Some of your sliminess will go away with a long cure.

 

[snappyllama]

This is going to sound snarky, but I really don't mean it to: Use less Olive Oil and make a balanced bar.

This is a variation of recipe most folks post as a balanced one:
20% OO
5% Castor
20% CO
55% Lard, Tallow or Palm

Here's the thing... olive oil (and many soft oils) is very high in Oleic fatty acid which makes it very mild/conditioning on the skin. But, that's where your slime comes in. You have to balance that out with Palmetic & Stearic (lard, palm or tallow from the recipe above) for hardness, longevity, and lather stability. You have to balance it with Lauric for hardness and lather (coconut oil from the recipe above). You want to enhance it with Ricinoleic for lather stability (Castor from the recipe above). There are other fatty acids of course, but I'm just hitting on the big ones that are most prominent in the recipe I mentioned that I think you're missing out on.

Of course, there are tons of other excellent recipes out there. But the bastille you're making is going to want to grow up into a slimer.

If you absolutely want to keep the current recipe... Use something with sugars (goat milk, coconut milk or similar to replace some of the water) or add some sugar itself to help it bubble a little more and help cut through the oleic slime. Let it cure for at least 6 months. Use it with a shower poof. Don't let it sit in standing water and make sure your bars can fully dry before using them.

 

[kchaystack]

You can start making a dual lye solution. 95% NaOH and 5% KOH. Details are in this thread

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=59747

 

[earlene]

I second the dual lye method. It's kind of fun, too.

Just curious, though about your soap. How old was it before you attempt after using it?

 

[Milashka]

Thank you

Thank you everyone for your advice. I will certainly try playing with KOH.
I cured my soap for almost 2 months but it still had this slimy feeling. By the way, I discounted water 30%, but it didn't help with sliminess.

 

[ibct1969]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I will certainly try playing with KOH.
I cured my soap for almost 2 months but it still had this slimy feeling. By the way, I discounted water 30%, but it didn't help with sliminess.

I made a soap with a pretty high amount of olive oil and it's almost a year old and still slimy. I wish I knew then what I know now, mostly thanks to this board!

 

[Dahila]

my 75% is not slimy at all

 

[cmzaha]

my 75% is not slimy at all

You're lucky in my opinion. I have some 100% olive that are 23 months old and they are still snotty

 

[DawninWA]

I stumbled on some long lost 100% olive oil soap I made 2.5 years ago and it is covered in DOS and still snotty/slimy. I didn't hate it, you get used to it. I didn't give it to other people though . What did work (back when I made it, not now that it is gross ) was making it into liquid soap. Doesn't work for everyone, but I found that as long as it's 100% olive oil, it liquifies just fine for me (most regular bar soap turns to jello snot when liquified - I blame the palm/tallow/lard). I use a mason jar, fill it just past 1/3 full of grated soap, and fill the rest with hot water and let it sit for a few hours to melt the soap.

Like I said, it doesn't work for everyone, probably subtle differences in oil or water chemistry. But if it doesn't work, you wasted a half a bar.

 

[Dahila]

You're lucky in my opinion. I have some 100% olive that are 23 months old and they are still snotty

Jeez I just made two mould of them, I hope I am still lucky, next time I will add 20 % of palm so OO goes down to 55% .
Now i will keep my fingers crossed

 

[techiemeka]

I make a 75% OO with cocoa butter and castor oil (with sugar for added bubbles). It's not at all slimy

 

[madison]

My 100% OO soap is made with 50% lye solution, it's not snotty or slimy. The only way to get a very tiny snot out of it is when I soak it wet, didn't I'll try the dual lye yet, it's on my list to do.

 

[Steve85569]

I thought olive oil soaps were supposed to be slimy.
Unless somebody sold me the wrong oil - like a "blended" olive.
Not that a large chain store would sell oils that weren't what the label said.

 

[madison]

When I first started making soap I used to make castile soap with 28% and 30% lye solution, I wasn't happy with it at all until I started using 50% lye solution , it dries out fast but it gets even better with long time cure.
It's really nice, the snot doesn't show like the ones I made before unless I soak it wet, otherwise I love it.

 

[IrishLass]

My 100% olive oil soaps were/are always slimy, no matter how young or old. Here's one of my older 100% olive oil Castile bars- it was 5 years old when I snapped this picture. I barely got it wet just to wash my hands, and it slimed up right away:

IrishLass

 

[techiemeka]

My 100% olive oil soaps were/are always slimy, no matter how young or old. Here's one of my older 100% olive oil Castile bars- it was 5 years old when I snapped this picture. I barely got it wet just to wash my hands, and it slimed up right away:

IrishLass

Yuk! I make mine )75%OO) with 20% water to oil ... Gets hard fast and never slimy. Wonder if there is another reason for slimy ... ?

 

[penelopejane]

My 100% olive oil soaps were/are always slimy, no matter how young or old. Here's one of my older 100% olive oil Castile bars- it was 5 years old when I snapped this picture. I barely got it wet just to wash my hands, and it slimed up right away:
IrishLass

It's strange because the older my 100% OO soap gets the whiter it gets.
I don't get the snot. Don't know if it's because I use EVOO or if it is our water.

 

[IrishLass]

The slime comes from the high oleic acid content that's naturally present in olive oil. In soap, the highly water-soluble oleic acid quickly acts to form a colloidal suspension/gel (or slimy goop) whenever the soap gets wet.

For whatever it's worth, I normally make my 100% olive oil Castile's with a water discount that rests anywhere between a 33% lye concentration to a 45% lye concentration (depending on the FO), and they all form a layer of slimy/goopy gel on the surface as soon as they touch water (it's fairly instantaneous), regardless of which lye concentration was used. When dry, though, they are all quite smooth and hard. Also for whatever it is worth, my home is piped with hard water (although I use distilled water to make my soap).

I thought olive oil soaps were supposed to be slimy.
Unless somebody sold me the wrong oil - like a "blended" olive.

Good point. Sometimes I wonder if those whose 100% Castiles don't produce any slime had unbeknownst to them used unmarked tainted olive oil, which if you believe the all the reports that abound, is supposedly pretty rampant in the olive oil business (labeled as 'Olive Oil' when it's really not 100% olive oil). The olive oil that I use (and have always used) in my soap is Costco's in-store Kirkland brand, which is one of the brands of olive oils that's reportedly untainted (from what I've read). I tend to believe that it is indeed untainted because of how my Castile soaps act.


IrishLass

 

[madison]

My 100% olive oil soaps were/are always slimy, no matter how young or old. Here's one of my older 100% olive oil Castile bars- it was 5 years old when I snapped this picture. I barely got it wet just to wash my hands, and it slimed up right away:

IrishLass

This is how my castile with 28% and 30%lye solution looked after one year cure, I am not sure if I still have the photos, it was few years back.