Soap crumbling and breaking

[Aromasuzie]

I made a loaf soap 2 days ago, yesterday removed it from the wooden box yesterday but didn't unmold from the silicone liner as it seemed too soft. Today I tried to cut it using the box cutter, first with the wavy blade and then with the straight blade.
The recipe I used was 950g olive oil, 50g castor oil, 128g NaOH, 2 tsp sodium lactate. I also use tsp charcoal and in total, 1 tsp oxide and a little bit of titanium dioxide.
There was no "tingle" to the soap so I'm assuming it's not a lye issue.

A few people in previous posts talked about heating in oven and trying to cut warm. Suggestions please as I would like to rescue some of it. If it doesn't work out, would I be able to use it for confetti soap?

 

[Cupcakeheartlove605]

I made a loaf soap 2 days ago, yesterday removed it from the wooden box yesterday but didn't unmold from the silicone liner as it seemed too soft. Today I tried to cut it using the box cutter, first with the wavy blade and then with the straight blade.
The recipe I used was 950g olive oil, 50g castor oil, 128g NaOH, 2 tsp sodium lactate. I also use tsp charcoal and in total, 1 tsp oxide and a little bit of titanium dioxide.
There was no "tingle" to the soap so I'm assuming it's not a lye issue. View attachment 53547A few people in previous posts talked about heating in oven and trying to cut warm. Suggestions please as I would like to rescue some of it. If it doesn't work out, would I be able to use it for confetti soap?

I'm not sure about rescuing it, but if it's not a lye issue, it would work as "confetti" in another soap for sure!
Maybe its the sodium lactate? Making it too hard?

 

[Misschief]

You may have left it in the mold too long. I generally unmold within 24 hours. At that point, it's like firm cheddar cheese and cuts easily.

 

[Aromasuzie]

You may have left it in the mold too long. I generally unmold within 24 hours. At that point, it's like firm cheddar cheese and cuts easily.

I didn’t take out of the silicone mould yesterday as the sides were really soft. Within 24 hours it went from soft to rock hard

 

[Wendy90292]

So weird! Was it exposed to any extremes in temperature? Like, freezing?

 

[AliOop]

I agree that you waited too long to unmold. After the first 24 hours, I check every few hours.

You can put it back in the silicone mold and in an oven preheated to 170 degrees. Watch it like a hawk and as soon as it is soft like cheddar cheese, remove it from the oven and cut it.

 

[Aromasuzie]

So weird! Was it exposed to any extremes in temperature? Like, freezing?

No, not to cold but we’ve had some really hot days, summer here. I’m really impatient when unmolding and cutting. I’ve worked with olive oil recipes and using sodium lactate before. The funny thing is that I had a small amount of batter left (50mls) and I’ve cut that ok. You would think the smaller the amount, it would get harder sooner.

I agree that you waited too long to unmold. After the first 24 hours, I check every few hours.

You can put it back in the silicone mold and in an oven preheated to 170 degrees. Watch it like a hawk and as soon as it is soft like cheddar cheese, remove it from the oven and cut it.

Thanks ill try it, fingers crossed!

 

[ilonaliss]

I also think that you left it too long before cutting. From my experience, the window of opportunity with high-olive loaves is quite short before they become too hard and crumble. If you put the 50 ml of batter in a cavity mold then it most likely didn't gel and that's why it's softer than the loaf.

On a diffetent note, castor oil only stabilizes bubbly lather rather than create it, so it may not be useful to add castor to an otherwise all-olive soap without the addition of a bubbly oil like coconut, babassu or palm kernel. Just a thought!

 

[Aromasuzie]

I also think that you left it too long before cutting. From my experience, the window of opportunity with high-olive loaves is quite short before they become too hard and crumble. If you put the 50 ml of batter in a cavity mold then it most likely didn't gel and that's why it's softer than the loaf.

On a diffetent note, castor oil only stabilizes bubbly lather rather than create it, so it may not be useful to add castor to an otherwise all-olive soap without the addition of a bubbly oil like coconut, babassu or palm kernel. Just a thought!

Thank you for that. It’s the first time I’ve made a soap with that much olive and I’m not sure I would bother again, lol. I have a terrible habit of seeing new recipes I would like to try. Note to self, make a small batch rather than a whole loaf!

Hopefully I can incorporate it into make confetti soap