Soap too soft and I can't understand why. Advice on recipe?

[someguyonearth]

Hi everyone, I have a soap that produces a very nice lather and is very moisturizing, but it is one of the shortest lasting soaps I've ever used. It just turns gummy and dissolves so quickly.

Everything I understand indicates that the recipe should make a very hard bar:

20% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
30% Coconut Oil
20% Palm Oil
15% Palm Kernal Oil
10% Castor Oil
4.5% Beeswax
0.5% Shea Butter
Superfatted to 8.5%

Wouldn't you think that with 70% 'hard' oils this would make a nice hard bar?

I'm thinking of cutting down on the palm oil, castor oil and beeswax (I read somewhere it can be 'gummy') and adding cocoa butter.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Deda]

How long are you letting it cure?
How much water are you using?

 

[someguyonearth]

Hi Deda, the cure time is months, and the soap is still gummy after a year. The water & lye = 31%

 

[Deda]

Did you make other batches with this recipe?

Sounds like an error somewhere. Miscalibrated scale? Transposed numbers?

 

[carebear]

Nothing in that recipe points to a soft bar so perhaps you mis-measured?

It needs to dry completely between showers and not be in the spray when the shower is running. Otherwise it gets used up fast. And not to get too personal, but when rubbed directly onto a hairy body the bars get consumed more quickly as well. Get thee a washcloth or pouf.