Soap looks like wax...

[Hans_Hanssen]

Hallo soapers

I currently try out my first soap recipes and repeatedly I find this phenomenon: First everything looks well, then the soap is becoming dark like wax. It starts on the inside, soon spreading all over the soap block to the outside as well. Is that because the soap is overheating? Does altitude have an influence? Can I still use the soap or do I have to melt it?
Here is a picture of a slice of vanilla soap and I am looking forward to receiving your advices!

 

[zanzalawi]

it looks like only the middle went through gel phase and the surrounding stayed too cool to gel
i generally have a hard time avoiding the center gelling so i try to force gel phase by insulating my mold and keeping it nice and toasty.
it should still be safe to use, just a cosmetic issue, but i know in my partially gelled soaps- the texture of the two areas is different- dry and crumbly outside the ring, and lovely inside

 

[shunt2011]

It looks like it partially gelled. It’s only cosmetic. The soap only got hot in the center. You can insulate your mold to hole in the heat and it will help it gel all the way. Just wrap it in some towels.

 

[IrishLass]

What you are observing is the 'gel phase'. The soap is not overheating, but just going through a normal stage of saponification. Many soapers (such as myself) desire all our batches to gel completely all the way to the edges, while other soapers prefer their batches to skip the gel stage altogether. In order to skip the gel stage, many put their freshly poured soaps in the freezer or refrigerator (it's not 100% foolproof, though- some soaps still gel anyway).

Some differences between gelled and un-gelled soaps and why I prefer my soaps to gel:

1) gelled soap reaches full saponification quicker and can be unmolded and cut sooner than un-gelled soap
2) colors in gelled soap turn out more vivid/brilliant compared to colors in un-gelled soap (un-gelled turns out more pastel colored)
3) my gelled soaps cure in 4 weeks instead of the 6 weeks it takes for my un-gelled soaps to cure.

Hopefully those to like to prevent/skip the gel-stage will chime in with why they like to prevent/skip it.

Edited to add- your soap is perfectly fine. No need to melt it or anything like that.


IrishLass