Soap changing during use

[Cookie]

Hi,

My soap is five weeks old and I'm curious about some things. It is cut about 2cm (nearly an inch) thick. I try to be careful to make sure it doesn't sit in water. About two thirds the way through using a bar it seems to have become sort of sticky and there are suddenly a lot more bubbles. I'm interested in understanding what's happening and how to stop the sticky feeling. This is my recipe

Thanks

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

At that much olive, unless it can really rest between uses you can see some funny stuff going on.

 

[Cookie]

This was a recipe from the teacher at the soap making workshop that I went to. The very first batch I made I stuffed up, don't know if you remember, it was back in late November and I had all sorts of problems. My scales died, I hadn't checked if there was enough olive oil so I had to adjust my recipe on the go and I thought my temps should be close to 100 Celsius

It eventually cured and was finally zap free after about three weeks (lye heavy because of the scale malfunction) and the soap was better than this new batch. Consistent hardness, good bubbles. Think I might have to use this 'mistake' recipe again even thoug the soapcalc qualities aren't in the average ranges

 

[TRBeck]

Don't worry too much about the Soapcalc numbers, but if the soap isn't behaving how you'd like, try changing your recipe. I still recommend keeping it simple, 2-3 oils. Maybe consider a hard oil in place of the sunflower and/or some of the olive oil. There are lots of tried and true recipes here and elsewhere to use until you get your sea legs.

 

[shunt2011]

I would drop some of the OO or Sunflower and add some Palm or Lard. That would probably help the stickiness quite a bit. And last longer too.

 

[Susie]

If you don't have an issue with lard or tallow, your soap really could use some. I would also look to use some castor oil at about 5% to lend some lather stability.

Maybe try something like this:

Coconut Oil 20%
Olive Oil 20%
Lard or Tallow 55%
Castor Oil 5%
Superfat 5%

That should give you a good hard bar with decent lather and conditioning that does not misbehave. Castor oil should be near the laxatives in the pharmacy if you can't find it anywhere else.

 

[Cookie]

Thanks, I will try some lard, it seems to be produced in a no better or worse way than other animal product. I eat dairy, meat and use leather so I personally would feel hypocritical to not use it on ethical grounds. It's obviously an individual decision

Susie, thanks for the recipe suggestion. I'm planning a honey and oat this weekend so I'm going to give it a go with that. Is it best to add them at trace?

 

[Susie]

If I were you, I would get a good base recipe down before adding complications. For example, the honey is a sugar, which, while it will increase bubbles, will also increase the heat in the soap and may lead to soap volcano. Or a cavern in the center, or a couple of other yucky things. Oatmeal has to be extremely finely ground or you need to make oat milk from it to avoid scrubbing skin off.

Get a good base recipe that behaves like you want it to, THEN add ONE additional ingredient at the time. This way, if things go wrong(and they will at some point in time), you know EXACTLY which ingredient is the culprit.

If you want to make this something other than a plain soap, how about infusing that Olive Oil with some(15g) paprika(not hot or smoked) or some ground annato. Either one will give you a lovely orange color without changing the basic nature or behavior of that soap.

And yes, lard is wonderful in soap. It is also a by-product of the pork industry, not a primary product. No one is raising hogs for lard.

 

[Logansama]

What everyone said, plus set it aside to cure longer.

 

[Cookie]

Thanks, I will leave aside the honey and oats a bit longer and allow a longer cure. If I play with Micas and swirls that doesn't change the basic nature of the soap does it? I understand that EOs and FOs do. Cheers