Soft Soap 1 Week Out

[Maddie M]

Hello Smart-Soapers! I made this soap last weekend (used frozen coconut milk for the water), and by all accounts it should be a hard bar of soap… I used olive oil I had steeped with fresh goldenrod in the cupboard for 6 weeks… was really excited about it. But I noticed when I un-molded that they were soft and even after a week on the rack (and it’s been cool and DRY here) they are all still soft. What do you think went wrong?
Thank you!! M

 

[MrsZ]

Your recipe is very low in hard oils. It looks like it will be a nice bar of soap, but will definitely take a while to become a hard bar.

 

[Susan Cote]

Hi Maddy how curious! Did you bring your soap to a trace before pouring? Have you worked with goldenrod infusions before? A high percentage of olive oil in a recipe will indeed slow down curing. You do have a high amount of soft oils. However, will still give you a hard bar after a more lengthy cure time. Mine are nice in 2 months. And very hard in 6 months. Some things just take more time!

 

[Ekuzo]

Hi! Do you usually make soap with 10% SF? That contributes to softness, among other things.

If you really like high % OO soap, besides adjusting the SF lower (don't go higher than 4-5 % IMO, even 3% would be fine, especially for this particular revipe), try adjusting the water content as well - that will help with firming up too. Go for lye concentration of 40%, for such recipe it should be fine.

I agree that overall your recipe is too high on liquid oils and that contributes to softer bars after the cut and some time into curing. But as the rest mentioned, with time it will get better. If another recipe is fine to use after a month, this one would need at least 2 months in the best case scenario to show some good qualities in the shower - and it can still be not enough. Changing it a bit and including more solid oils like palm, tallow, or lard will help significantly.

You didn't say how much oats and honey you used, too much will contribute to the overall softness as well - in addition to everything else that was mentioned. HTH!