Soaps are very soft after unmold even after 3 days

[beautifulsoaper]

As long as your are using Palm Oil and NOT palm kernel oil or palm kernel flakes (also known as PKO), there is no impact of over-cleansing (which is what causes the itching, I think) in combination with Coconut Oil. PKO is like Coconut Oil (and so is Babassu Oil), but Palm Oil is more like the animal fats, such as tallow, lard, and Hydrogenated Soy Oil (also known as Soy Wax, even though it is not a true wax.) Unless a person has an allergy to palm, and that could be pretty bad considering it is added to so many food products worldwide, subbing Palm Oil (a hard oil because in cool temperatures it is solid) for the soft oils (which remain liquid even when cooled) should not produce itching after using the soap.

As far as recommended percentages, it's all over the chart if you do a search for "the" recommended percentage in soap. I have seen sites that suggest "up to 33%", but there are plenty of soapers who use larger percentages and some who make 100% palm soap. So it's really up to the discretion of the soapmaker.

Here is one of many 100% palm oil soaps that one can find with an internet search: 100% Palm Oil Soap Recipe - HerbAlcochete

And here is a thread about palm oil percentages used by some of our SMF members: High palm oil soap question

Read through the links that @earlene provided as there is information there that will be helpful to you. I have never used sesame oil in soap, so I don't know anything about it, but you might try something like this as a start:
View attachment 66740

Am I the only person who have used sesame oil in soap? is it considered bad? not good output? whats the issue?
The soap calculator perfectly tells everything so I thought it was not an issue. Could you tell me pls if I should change?
Also Im using palm oil around 30%

 

[dibbles]

I think other people have used sesame oil, I just wanted to point out that I have not and have no personal experience with it. If that is what is available to you and you like it, go ahead and use it. If you search for sesame oil in soap I'm sure you will find what others have experienced using it. Sesame is more expensive for me than high oleic sunflower.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

Thank you! Your help means a lot. Love this community

 

[TheGecko]

Am I the only person who have used sesame oil in soap? is it considered bad? not good output? whats the issue?

There is nothing 'wrong' with it. It has some nice properties, but my understanding is that you don't want to use more than 10% as it has a natural, distinctive aroma kind of like neem oil so some folks may not like it.

In the US at least, it's not a common oil to begin with. When I do a search for "cooking oil" at my local grocery store, we have vegetable, olive, coconut, canola, and avocado at the top of the list. Further down is peanut, sesame, sunflower and grapeseed. And it's not cheap here either because it's not a common oil.

But the general rule of soap making is...if it is available to you and it works well for you and you can afford it...go for it.

 

[earlene]

I use sesame oil in soap now and again. I actually like sesame oil. I cook with it, too.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

I use sesame oil in soap now and again. I actually like sesame oil. I cook with it, too.

Perfect. Solved all my worries now. Thank you guys

 

[KiwiMoose]

I used sesame oil at about 7% once. Only because i ran out of something else and needed to top up my recipe. It's too expensive to use regularly. I didn't notice anything too different with the soap - it seemed the same as usual.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

I used sesame oil at about 7% once. Only because i ran out of something else and needed to top up my recipe. It's too expensive to use regularly. I didn't notice anything too different with the soap - it seemed the same as usual.

How expensive it is in your area? Here it isn't very costly.one of the cheapest oil I'd say

 

[KiwiMoose]

How expensive it is in your area? Here it isn't very costly.one of the cheapest oil I'd say

It's about $NZ6 for 100ml. So $NZ60 for 1 litre. For OO the price is $NZ10 per litre and for RBO the price is $NZ4.50 per litre.

 

[earlene]

@KiwiMoose, I wouldn't use it at those prices, either! It's relatively inexpensive here, in fact compared to those prices, it's downright cheap. Depending on the store and sales, right now I can get Sesame seed oil for 1/3 what you would pay for a liter (I usually buy lesser quantities, however). And my OO also costs 1/2 what your OO costs. Of course costs vary and I do prefer to buy when prices are in my favor. RBO is a tad more expensive than for you, but still pretty comparable (buying direct from the company.)

It's nice to have an idea of oil prices and availability when it comes to making recommendations to soapers in other parts of the world.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

@KiwiMoose, I wouldn't use it at those prices, either! It's relatively inexpensive here, in fact compared to those prices, it's downright cheap. Depending on the store and sales, right now I can get Sesame seed oil for 1/3 what you would pay for a liter (I usually buy lesser quantities, however). And my OO also costs 1/2 what your OO costs. Of course costs vary and I do prefer to buy when prices are in my favor. RBO is a tad more expensive than for you, but still pretty comparable (buying direct from the company.)

It's nice to have an idea of oil prices and availability when it comes to making recommendations to soapers in other parts of the world.

So I made the batch with the recipe shared above along with adding 28% palm oil. However, its been 2 days now and I tried to unmold it but the soap design came out bit wrong since it was still soft. can you please tell any particular reason for that?

2:1 Liquid to lye ratio
1 teaspoon per pound of oil

lye	49.93​
water	99.86​

castor oil	21​	6.00%​
sesame	35​	10.00%​
coconut oil	87.5​	25.00%​
olive oil	42​	12.00%​
shea butter	66.5​	19.00%​
palm oil	98​	28%​

can you please tell me how to speed up this process and reduce cure time?

 

[TheGecko]

Heat and humidity will do that. My suggestion would be to refrigerate or freeze your soap to making unmolding a bit easier.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

Heat and humidity will do that. My suggestion would be to refrigerate or freeze your soap to making unmolding a bit easier.

Heat does that? Whats exactly does heat has to do with that? I mean doesn't heat allows more water to evaporate in a faster way?

I'll check with freezing tho

 

[TheGecko]

Heat does that? Whats exactly does heat has to do with that? I mean doesn't heat allows more water to evaporate in a faster way?

I'll check with freezing tho

Well yes, heat can make your soap soft. It's why we tell folks whose soap is a bit crumbly when they go to cut it to put it in the oven at a low temp to 'soften' it. If you were to rebatch your soap, you would use heat along with some liquid to soften it.

That is not to say that your soap is going to melt when it gets really warm. We had triple digits last summer and only one small window A/C so we closed off all the rooms. My bathroom window faces west so you can imagine just how warm it got in that room. My soap was fine.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

Well yes, heat can make your soap soft. It's why we tell folks whose soap is a bit crumbly when they go to cut it to put it in the oven at a low temp to 'soften' it. If you were to rebatch your soap, you would use heat along with some liquid to soften it.

That is not to say that your soap is going to melt when it gets really warm. We had triple digits last summer and only one small window A/C so we closed off all the rooms. My bathroom window faces west so you can imagine just how warm it got in that room. My soap was fine.

Is it okay to put the soaps since there is food in the fridge?

 

[TheGecko]

Is it okay to put the soaps since there is food in the fridge?

Yes. I recommend covering it so no food odors get into it.

 

[earlene]

When humidity comes with high heat, the humidity inhibits water evaporation. In fact, humidity enhances moisture retention, so when it is very humid, even some normally dry soap will take on water. We sometimes call this sweating, even though that's really not what the soap is doing; what's really happening is that the humuctant nature of some soaps are attracting the water out of the air & drawing it towards the surface of the soap. Naturally occuring glycerine, and certain additives (salt, for example) are humuctant in nature and will contribute to this, partiularly when the soap is young and not fully cured.

Here is an example of what my salt soap does if left out in the high humidity in Hawaii without any dehumidification and no air conditioning:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/media/2018apr31-2019july24-in-hawaii.2248/full
Another thing I would draw attention to is what kind of mold you are using. Remember that only the top surface of the mold has a place for water evaporation, and some molds hold the moisture in more than others, inhibiting evaporation.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

When humidity comes with high heat, the humidity inhibits water evaporation. In fact, humidity enhances moisture retention, so when it is very humid, even some normally dry soap will take on water. We sometimes call this sweating, even though that's really not what the soap is doing; what's really happening is that the humuctant nature of some soaps are attracting the water out of the air & drawing it towards the surface of the soap. Naturally occuring glycerine, and certain additives (salt, for example) are humuctant in nature and will contribute to this, partiularly when the soap is young and not fully cured.

Here is an example of what my salt soap does if left out in the high humidity in Hawaii without any dehumidification and no air conditioning:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/media/2018apr31-2019july24-in-hawaii.2248/full
Another thing I would draw attention to is what kind of mold you are using. Remember that only the top surface of the mold has a place for water evaporation, and some molds hold the moisture in more than others, inhibiting evaporation.

This is how my soap looks after using the above mentioned recipe. Can you tell me why they look white?

Also it seems bit crumbly tho. Or is it just me?
https://ibb.co/Wvrh7Dt

 

[earlene]

This is how my soap looks after using the above mentioned recipe. Can you tell me why they look white?

Also it seems bit crumbly tho. Or is it just me?
https://ibb.co/Wvrh7Dt

They are white because you did not add colorant and the majority of the oils you used produce a white soap.
As for crumbly, I cannot really see that in the photo (a bit blurry). How soon after pouring did you remove them from the mold? Since they are individual molds & you refrigerated them, they probably did not gel, so they are a bit more opaque than if they had gelled. Even gelled, though, don't expect them to be totally translucent, as I thought that meant when people told me gelling soap would make it translucent.

Gelling also intensifies colorants that are added to soap, but if you don't add any colorants, it cannot do that.

You didn't mention adding a fragrance to this batch, so I am wondering what that yellow spots are on the surface.

​

can you please tell me how to speed up this process and reduce cure time?

I see we have not addressed this question. You may not realize it, but cure time and the time it takes for soap to be ready to unmold are not the same process at all. Perhaps that is not what you meant by that question.

Once soap is saponified, which can take up to about 72 hours (based on reading I've done in the past), but in some cases can be faster (such a when using the Hot Process method of soapmaking), then the soapmaker takes the soap out of the mold & the cure starts. Normally, soap is removed from the mold, cut into bars (if not poured into individual molds), then put on racks or stacked like this:

Cure time varies with the types of oils & additives used in the recipe, but usually it takes about 4 weeks or more (in some cases 6 months, in some even a year) for a particular soap to reach its optimal performance.

You cannot really speed up cure time, but you absolutely can speed up how soon a soap can be removed from the mold. Like I said, cure time varies with the recipe. I would expect you have to determine that on your own with periodic testing of the soap in question. I'd start testing the soap for performance at about a month into the cure & take notes to see if you notice improvements as the soap gets older. Some soapmakers start testing sooner, though, so you can start testing it earlier, which makes it even more evident how soap changes over time as it cures.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

They are white because you did not add colorant and the majority of the oils you used produce a white soap.
As for crumbly, I cannot really see that in the photo (a bit blurry). How soon after pouring did you remove them from the mold? Since they are individual molds & you refrigerated them, they probably did not gel, so they are a bit more opaque than if they had gelled. Even gelled, though, don't expect them to be totally translucent, as I thought that meant when people told me gelling soap would make it translucent.

Gelling also intensifies colorants that are added to soap, but if you don't add any colorants, it cannot do that.

You didn't mention adding a fragrance to this batch, so I am wondering what that yellow spots are on the surface.


I see we have not addressed this question. You may not realize it, but cure time and the time it takes for soap to be ready to unmold are not the same process at all. Perhaps that is not what you meant by that question.

Once soap is saponified, which can take up to about 72 hours (based on reading I've done in the past), but in some cases can be faster (such a when using the Hot Process method of soapmaking), then the soapmaker takes the soap out of the mold & the cure starts. Normally, soap is removed from the mold, cut into bars (if not poured into individual molds), then put on racks or stacked like this:

View attachment 66800

Cure time varies with the types of oils & additives used in the recipe, but usually it takes about 4 weeks or more (in some cases 6 months, in some even a year) for a particular soap to reach its optimal performance.

You cannot really speed up cure time, but you absolutely can speed up how soon a soap can be removed from the mold. Like I said, cure time varies with the recipe. I would expect you have to determine that on your own with periodic testing of the soap in question. I'd start testing the soap for performance at about a month into the cure & take notes to see if you notice improvements as the soap gets older. Some soapmakers start testing sooner, though, so you can start testing it earlier, which makes it even more evident how soap changes over time as it cures.

The previous batch i made that was without palm oil was not like this. It was bit yellowish. Had a clean look.

However these soaps looks rough and not very clean. They contained palm oil..
As for the refrigeration part, they were in the mold for 2-3 days and I unmolded them today. This is how they look after so they did gel i believe since it very hot here too.
As for the fragnance, im using rose oil and geranium at around 3 % of oil in weight. They are within dermal limits tho

Also not expecting them to be translucent. They should look either whitish or yellowish.but the design should also look clean.its very rough. Do you know why?
Is this due to the salt added?

I have attached 4 images. Check out the link too. Its a closeup of the soap for better insights