So impatient! What's the soonest I can try my HP soap

[Sonya-m]

It's 2 weeks old tomorrow and was:

50% olive oil
30% coconut oil
20% Palm oil

SF 6%

 

[seven]

you can try it now. with hp, essentially it is safe to use right after you finished cooking. the cooking process made sure all lye has been used up. after 2 weeks of curing the soap may not be ready (as in: hard, long lasting), but it is definitely safe to use.

 

[Sonya-m]

Ok think I'm gonna try it!!

 

[IrishLass]

You can try your soap as soon as you'd like, as long as it doesn't zap. Well, you could try it even if it zapped, but I wouldn't recommend it. lol

If it were me, I would try it out now as long as it's tongue-neutral, and then I'd continue to test it out at different intervals over the next days/weeks to get a good feel for the changes going on inside of it. Don't forget to take notes!


IrishLass

 

[dixiedragon]

Try it now! But with hold your final judgement until it is 6 weeks old.

 

[AMyers]

I try all my soaps as soon as they are hard enough to be cut, and have no zap. (I've always got scraps that drop off, or an end piece that is small or whatever) Then I try them as I feel like it through their cure, and beyond. I figure it's all learning experience.

 

[JustBeachy]

I test all new recipes at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks and at 1 month. Then test every month to see how they age. I'm no where near patient enough with soap to just look at it for a month.

 

[Sonya-m]

Right, tried it. It's a little drying but I expected that after finding out on here that CO can be drying.

I used it in the bath and there's a lot of soap scum now on the bath which was completely clean before so know it's only from this bath - is that normal?

 

[Sonya-m]

The skin on my legs feels a little itchy too

If this is just dryness from the high CO %, what % CO would you suggest in future and what SF%?

 

[JustBeachy]

yeah the 30% coconut is going to be highly cleansing, without a high SF. Good thing is, save some of those bars to compare with other recipe's you make in the future. You'll get a great comparison.

No idea on the soap ring. I'm usually taking showers and don't notice it though.

Yeah the itch could very well be the cleansing of all the oils in your skin, from a high cleansing soap.

With the exception of salt bars, I never go over 15% on Coconut. Lots of people seem to have no problems up to 20%

 

[IrishLass]

The dryness could be from the coconut oil, but there's also a chance it might be because the soap is still quite on the young side. Don't make a final judgment until it has had a full cure of at least 4 weeks, I always say.

I took a look at the specs of your formula on SoapCalc, and comparing them to one of my own favorite formulas, I personally would be quite happy with your formula if it were superfatted by at least 8%.

As for the ring of scum, it's a very common thing to see if you use lye-based soap in hard water. Someone once explained to me that the sodium in the soap does a chemical swap with the minerals in the hard water- the most common of which is calcium- and you end up with calcium soap residue which is insoluble and shows itself as scum.

IrishLass

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I've added a new term to my handy guide:

Safe to use - when it doesn't zap
Ready to use - whenever you want
BEST to use - depends on the recipe

As for the scum, keep it in mind for when planning the next batch and we might have something to help