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The soap bar on your skin has a grippy feeling? Or your hand rubbing across the rinsed skin is grippy - perhaps "squeaky clean"?

Both times, the soaps were still young, correct? (salt bars especially can be harsher when young)

Age/short cure time could explain the grippy feeling. Or hard water

Castille soap is high in oleic which is "thirsty" and absorbs a lot of water....hence the mush. Seems weird I know, because after a long cure castile is super hard! But it loves to drink up the water and once it starts getting mushy - it take a long to to dry it out. (one of the reasons I don't use olive oil in soap except in very small amounts)
 
The soap bar on your skin has a grippy feeling? Or your hand rubbing across the rinsed skin is grippy - perhaps "squeaky clean"?

Both times, the soaps were still young, correct? (salt bars especially can be harsher when young)

Age/short cure time could explain the grippy feeling. Or hard water
Ahh, yes, my hand rubbing across the rinsed skin is, as you say, "squeaky clean". Thank you for helping me describe it! And you are correct, the soaps are still young; KiwiMoose's soy wax soap is still nice to use (when I asked my partner about the soaps, he really liked it and didn't even mention the 'squeakiness'), good to know they will get even better!

Castille soap is high in oleic which is "thirsty" and absorbs a lot of water....hence the mush. Seems weird I know, because after a long cure castile is super hard! But it loves to drink up the water and once it starts getting mushy - it take a long to to dry it out. (one of the reasons I don't use olive oil in soap except in very small amounts)
Also very helpful to know, thank you Lenarenee! Thank you for your help!
 
Unmoulding Batch 5: Gelled vs Ungelled, with Fragrance!
So today I unmoulded my batch of soaps based on Genny's Not-Shampoo Facial/Body Bar, and I was keen to see the difference between the gelled and ungelled soaps, and also the effect of the FOs. And here they are:

IMG_20190407_083626_Gennys_Gelled_vs_Ungelled_800.jpg

Gelled set left, Ungelled set right
Top: Plain, Sandalwood FO; Bottom: Vanilla FO, Ultramarine


Surprisingly little difference between gelled/ungelled in the plain and ultramarine soaps, some discoloration of the Sandalwood FO, and that Vanilla FO .. true to form!
The scent of the Gelled Vanilla seemed stronger than the ungelled; the scent of the Ungelled Sandalwood seemed stronger than the gelled. All of the soaps were a little tacky.

I need to working on beating out those bubbles!
 
Awesomeness! Next time someone asks the difference between gelled and not I'll point them to this post of yours. Great tests Paul!

The vanilla one looks yummy haha

Lemme find that post regarding burping your SB to prevent bubbles..

Edit: Found it! It was a reply from earlene to one of my older posts :)
 
Thank you Dawn! Ahh yes, I did actually remember to burp the stick blender this time (I may have forgotten in a couple of recent times...), I wonder whether I folded some air in while mixing in the FOs (or whether it's the intricate moulds, but I think that's the workman blaming his tools...) Very good advice from you and Earlene, let's see if I can get it right next time!
 
The soap bar on your skin has a grippy feeling? Or your hand rubbing across the rinsed skin is grippy - perhaps "squeaky clean"?

Both times, the soaps were still young, correct? (salt bars especially can be harsher when young)

Age/short cure time could explain the grippy feeling. Or hard water

Castille soap is high in oleic which is "thirsty" and absorbs a lot of water....hence the mush. Seems weird I know, because after a long cure castile is super hard! But it loves to drink up the water and once it starts getting mushy - it take a long to to dry it out. (one of the reasons I don't use olive oil in soap except in very small amounts)
So @lenarenee - 'slush' is not what they call slime? Having never seen the slime pic until Paul (KiwiSoap) posted it back there ^ I assumed that my 'slush' was slime. My no-slime castile has never had any slime, only slush.
 
Intricate molds tend to trap air in their corners. If there's nothing fancy otherwise happening in my soaps, then I just feel around in them with a toothpick to get the corners and dislodge those little bubbles. Very nice experiment, and a great way to test FO's, too.
 
Intricate molds tend to trap air in their corners. If there's nothing fancy otherwise happening in my soaps, then I just feel around in them with a toothpick to get the corners and dislodge those little bubbles. Very nice experiment, and a great way to test FO's, too.
Thanks for sharing that, Sharon! That's a good tip, I will try that the next time I use moulds like these.

And welcome to SoapMakingForum! We'd love to hear about what you're doing, perhaps drop a line in the Introduction Forum :)
 
Thanks for sharing that, Sharon! That's a good tip, I will try that the next time I use moulds like these.

And welcome to SoapMakingForum! We'd love to hear about what you're doing, perhaps drop a line in the Introduction Forum :)

Thanks for the welcome, but I've been a member here already for quite a few years. Just finally starting to do a bit of chatting than just reading as I have the time to these days, lol.
 
Thanks for the welcome, but I've been a member here already for quite a few years. Just finally starting to do a bit of chatting than just reading as I have the time to these days, lol.
Thank for joining in the conversation then, your experience will be really helpful!

So @lenarenee - 'slush' is not what they call slime? Having never seen the slime pic until Paul (KiwiSoap) posted it back there ^ I assumed that my 'slush' was slime. My no-slime castile has never had any slime, only slush.
Yes, my partner described it as 'slimy' as well, and it feels like slime, but it wasn't to the extent that IrishLass showed. We learn every day!
 
What A Difference A Day Makes - Vanilla FO Ungelled Gone Wild

I'd heard that Vanilla FOs discolour and darken over time, but seeing is believing! Find photos below from Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (top-to-bottom). For comparison, the Gelled Vanilla is the first soap on the bottom row in each picture, and Ungelled Vanilla is the third soap on the bottom row. How dark will it go, nobody knows! It also looks to be 'freezing' in place there, I imagine I'll have some interesting soda ash to clean up from that later on.

IMG_20190407_083626_Gennys_Gelled_vs_Ungelled_800.jpg IMG_20190408_180840_Monday_800.jpg IMG_20190409_202529_Tuesday_800.jpg IMG_20190409_202553_Tuesday_VanillaUnGelled_800.jpg
 
Further update on Batch 5
I have continued watching the batch during the week, the discoloration of the Ungelled Vanilla has even overtaken it's gelled brother! The relative strengths of the scents seems to have remained the same: the scent of the Gelled Vanilla seemed stronger than the ungelled; the scent of the Ungelled Sandalwood seemed stronger than the gelled. I wonder what this will mean for the cured soap, whether the soap that is weaker-scented now will retain it's scent for longer?

Batch 5, eight days from pouring
IMG_20190413_201714_Saturday_800.jpg

I've also made another batch this evening, my partner assisted with moulding, more details on the soap tomorrow :)
 
Batch 6: Dean's Palm-free Vegan Soap
Dean may be on sabbatical at the moment but his recipe is still working hard! This recipe was timely because I was out of Shea Butter but had Sweet Almond Oil that I had no other plan to use, also I got to try Dean's recipe which uses 40% soy wax 415!

I coloured with Yellow Oxide at ½tsp ppo, and attempted to make some difference in the pours, but that hasn't come through all that well. I also CPOPed half the batch to gel and put the other half in the garage so it wouldn't gel.

Gelled set: after moulding, after CPOP, unmoulded
IMG_20190414_151339_Soapx3_900.png


I wasn't quite sure if I'd achieved gel but the yellow is more intense in the gelled soaps, an understated gold in the ungelled (see top right soap below). The ungelled soaps are a bit more glossy.
Left set: Gelled, vs Right: Ungelled
IMG_20190414_151550_GelledVsUngelled_800.jpg


Another recipe on the rack!

In other soapy business, I weigh a sample bar from each batch weekly to monitor change in weight. The first bar to stop losing weight was Batch 3, KiwiMoose's Soy Wax Soap (plain), I will see whether that holds at the next weigh-in (which will come a day late because I'm away for Easter :)
 
I love your results. They are just gorgeous!

I notice that bar weight loss tends to slow down, falter, then usually there is another loss, then falter again, then a bit more, but it declines and becomes very minimal as it gets farther away from the date of cutting (or mold removal). Even over a year, it tends to lose still more, but so gradually, it's more noticeable because the wrapper gets loose.
 
So it's some weeks since I've made soap (some time away *yay*, some time sick #cough#). I also filled up all the space on the soap racks I currently have room for, but have now boxed my first two batches for storage until use, so I have some space again! Here's an update on my soaps so far, may not be so interesting but it is what it is :)

How is the soap weight tracking? Here's a chart! Not all my sample bars were around the same weight, so I'm showing weight as a percentage of it's starting weight. Interesting to see how the different recipes behave, and also the difference when CPOP is used.
Soap Weights Chart 2019-05-19.png


My first batch, Zany's Faux Seawater Castille, is now 11 weeks old. I've tried pieces at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, and 9 weeks old -- it is improving, but not ready yet.

I understand that my second batch, 100% Coconut Oil 20% SF salt bars, will require a looong cure time, being salt bars. I did try a piece at 4 weeks old and found it very cleansing, the rest will continue waiting until next summer :)
Still on that batch, last week I found that the salt bars were weeping and had actually slightly gained in weight! The soap storage area is in the garage where we also dry our laundry so I guess, with that and wet weather, the humidity has increased and the salt, being hygroscopic, has pulled that water out of the air. I think that they had mostly dried out now so are also boxed.

My third batch, KiwiMoose's Poly-oil, which stalled in weight-loss, kicked off again! The mini-bars I have tried along the way have held up well, and a couple of bars are out with testers who are loving it!

My fourth batch, also KiwiMoose's recipe, lost weight at a faster rate than the previous batch. I guess the Oven Process I applied to this batch helped things move along. I am using a bar of this and am very happy with it, as is another tester.

Genny's Facial/Body Bar was the next along and is steadily losing weight. Interesting to note is that a couple of bars are warping (see below). These bars were made from one part of batter that was white and another part that was coloured blue. I'd dissolved the Ultramarine Blue colourant in 1 Tbsp olive oil, but forgot to compensate for that added oil in the white part. What a difference that 1 Tbsp of oil seems to have made (if that is the cause)!
IMG_20190519_152646 Warped Soap.800.png


Today was another batch of KiwiMoose's soy wax soap, it was intended to be my first loaf and using Tiger Stripe Pour for the Challenge, but gremlins got in the way and I had lumpy batter before I could pour. Nevermind, I did a Plop 'n Glob and fingers crossed they look alright.

Thank you for reading, any advice and wisdom greatly appreciated!
 

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