Soap feels "tacky"

[FrayGrants]

Hello all, I have been soaping for about a year now and I have never made soap that feels like the one I just made and was wondering if anyone could help me find the culprit. It doesn't feel sticky, but it leaves my skin feeling "tacky" or almost "grippy" feeling. My recipe is as follows:

Castor 7
CO 17
Lard 32
Palm 31
Safflower HO 7
Shea 6
5% superfat

Additives PPO:
1Tbsp oat flour
1Tbsp Goats milk powder
2tsp honey
1.8% citric acid

I suspect that the oat flour could be a culprit, or possibly the citric acid reacting with the GMP or oat flour. Anyone have any ideas what could be the culprit?

 

[KiwiMoose]

Is there anything different about the recipe itself? Or is it your standard recipe? That would help narrow it down.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I was writing/thinking while @KiwiMoose was posting. I use colloidal oats or oatmilk in soap and get lots of bubbles, not a tacky feeling. I use 2-3% superfat, sodium citrate (no lye correction needed), sugar, sorbitol or honey and castor at 3-5%. It would probably help to have your full recipe, including the lye and lye concentration (or the amount of water you used). For example, are those percentages for the fats? They don’t add to 100% when I put them in the calculator. I’m also wondering if you adjusted your lye to account for the citric acid. If not, maybe the soap feels different due to higher superfat?

 

[artemis]

I They don’t add to 100% when I put them in the calculator.

Are you sure? I struggle with math, but it looks alright to me

 

[penelopejane]

I use citric acid with oatmeal and oat milk and it is fine. I use <2% SF.

I can’t use citric acid with goats milk in soap though. It goes weirdly soft.

 

[FrayGrants]

To @Mobjack Bay, yes those are percentages and they do add up to 100. Your comment about lye concentration has me thinking that I figured out the problem.

The lye concentration was 33% and I adjusted for the extra lye after the fact which would raise it. I also used almost half of the water before adding lye to hydrate the oat flour and reconstitute the GMP.

That probably sucked up a good portion of the water making the lye concentration even higher. So I’m thinking that the water discount became too high due to adjustments made on the fly.

 

[penelopejane]

You don’t need to hydrate oat flour or colloidal oats. Just stickblend them in with the oils before adding the sodium hydroxide.

 

[AliOop]

You don’t need to hydrate oat flour or colloidal oats. Just stickblend them in with the oils before adding the sodium hydroxide.

That’s what I do, as well.

 

[glendam]

I would suspect the honey, and would try using less.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

To @Mobjack Bay, yes those are percentages and they do add up to 100. Your comment about lye concentration has me thinking that I figured out the problem.

The lye concentration was 33% and I adjusted for the extra lye after the fact which would raise it. I also used almost half of the water before adding lye to hydrate the oat flour and reconstitute the GMP.

That probably sucked up a good portion of the water making the lye concentration even higher. So I’m thinking that the water discount became too high due to adjustments made on the fly.

Oops, I guess I was doing the math too late in the day, or entered something wrong.

 

[FrayGrants]

I would suspect the honey, and would try using less.

Any other votes that 2tsp honey PPO could be an issue cause I trying to make this recipe again tonight with several adjustments

 

[AliOop]

I think honey is definitely a possibility, depending on your batch size. I also don't use castor above 5% because it can make the bar feel soft or sticky to me, as well.

 

[FrayGrants]

I think honey is definitely a possibility, depending on your batch size. I also don't use castor above 5% because it can make the bar feel soft or sticky to me, as well.

Well it’s not really the bar itself so much as the feel on your skin, but I was going to lower the castor as well as the oatmeal and honey.