Soap Very Soft

[Christa10]

I got brave and tried my first slab mold soap with the column pour technique, using the recipe below because it said it would be slow to trace, so a good swirl recipe...
I added sorbitol and ROE, sprayed with alcohol, covered with plastic wrap, covered with wood top and then with towels. I intended to take it out in a couple of days but ended up leaving it in the mold for about 4 days. When I took it out to unmold it, it was really soft and some of the soap stayed in the mold. I cut it the best I could and let the soap sit for another week, then trimmed the edges, but it is still very soft. I'm hoping the cure will help but I'm a little concerned that it will take forever to harden or maybe not even harden at all? I usually use a different recipe that hardens more quickly, so this is a first time with this recipe. Is there something about the recipe that could be improved so it is not so soft, but still able to take longer to trace? I am in California and don't use palm oil or animal products because my customers prefer that, so adding those are not options. Or is it usual to happen using a slab mold? Any thoughts?

Avocado Oil 12%
Avocado Butter 5.3%
Castor Oil 5%
Cocoa Butter 12%
Grapeseed Oil 13%
Mango Seed Butter 5%
Olive Oil 24.3%
Soybean Wax Fully hydrogenated 4.7%
Sunflower Oil 8.7%

Superfat 5% and lye 25.8%.

 

[Marsi]

Your recipe doesn't add up to 100% (missing 10% of oils/butters)

There's a lot of Grapeseed oil (13%) and Sunflower oil (8.7%)
(Grapeseed oil at high rates makes soap stay soft, and I believe plain Sunflower oil does the same)
Both oils increase the linoleic acid (too much can easily lead to DOS later)

A lye concentration of 25.8% can take a very long time to unmold (7 days is not unheard of in a recipe with a lot of soft oils).
Reducing your water to 30%-33% lye concentration would still give you time to work with our recipe, although I would take it to emulsion and split it for colouring.

Reducing the superfat to 3% will also help harden the soap.

 

[Jersey Girl]

With 58% soft oils in your recipe and 25.8% lye concentration it is no surprise that this Soap is taking a long time to harden. You might have to leave a soap with this recipe in the mold a week or more in order to remove it and it will take a long time for the water to evaporate. Next time try a lye concentration of 33% or a little higher. Also add some sodium lactate or salt to help with the unmolding. They help Harden the soap and make it easier to release from the mold.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Did you leave something out of the recipe above? You can increase the soy wax to 20 or 25% and that will harden it up a bit. I also concur that your lye concentration is too low.

 

[Christa10]

I got brave and tried my first slab mold soap with the column pour technique, using the recipe below because it said it would be slow to trace, so a good swirl recipe...
I added sorbitol and ROE, sprayed with alcohol, covered with plastic wrap, covered with wood top and then with towels. I intended to take it out in a couple of days but ended up leaving it in the mold for about 4 days. When I took it out to unmold it, it was really soft and some of the soap stayed in the mold. I cut it the best I could and let the soap sit for another week, then trimmed the edges, but it is still very soft. I'm hoping the cure will help but I'm a little concerned that it will take forever to harden or maybe not even harden at all? I usually use a different recipe that hardens more quickly, so this is a first time with this recipe. Is there something about the recipe that could be improved so it is not so soft, but still able to take longer to trace? I am in California and don't use palm oil or animal products because my customers prefer that, so adding those are not options. Or is it usual to happen using a slab mold? Any thoughts?

Avocado Oil 12%
Avocado Butter 5.3%
Castor Oil 5%
Cocoa Butter 12%
Grapeseed Oil 13%
Mango Seed Butter 5%
Olive Oil 24.3%
Soybean Wax Fully hydrogenated 4.7%
Sunflower Oil 8.7%

Superfat 5% and lye 25.8%.

You are right. I accidentally left out coconut oil at 10%/ Thanks for the feedback. I'll modify the recipe and try again.

 

[Christa10]

Your recipe doesn't add up to 100% (missing 10% of oils/butters)

There's a lot of Grapeseed oil (13%) and Sunflower oil (8.7%)
(Grapeseed oil at high rates makes soap stay soft, and I believe plain Sunflower oil does the same)
Both oils increase the linoleic acid (too much can easily lead to DOS later)

A lye concentration of 25.8% can take a very long time to unmold (7 days is not unheard of in a recipe with a lot of soft oils).
Reducing your water to 30%-33% lye concentration would still give you time to work with our recipe, although I would take it to emulsion and split it for colouring.

Reducing the superfat to 3% will also help harden the soap.

You are right. I accidentally left out coconut oil at 10%/ Thanks for the feedback. I'll modify the recipe and try again.

 

[Christa10]

With 58% soft oils in your recipe and 25.8% lye concentration it is no surprise that this Soap is taking a long time to harden. You might have to leave a soap with this recipe in the mold a week or more in order to remove it and it will take a long time for the water to evaporate. Next time try a lye concentration of 33% or a little higher. Also add some sodium lactate or salt to help with the unmolding. They help Harden the soap and make it easier to release from the mold.

Will do, thanks. I was trying for a recipe that I could work with that would allow me to take time and do a lot of swirling without getting thick so fast. I was afraid to add sodium lactate because I thought it would get too thick too fast but maybe I'll try that too.

 

[Christa10]

Did you leave something out of the recipe above? You can increase the soy wax to 20 or 25% and that will harden it up a bit. I also concur that your lye concentration is too low.

Thanks. I'll up the lye and try again. I did have coconut oil in the recipe but missed putting that in the thread.