Testing soap before complete cure

[kazmi]

Christmas present!! yikes! I haven't even started making my Fall soaps yet LOL Pumpkin soap was 'baking in my head' as I tried to fall asleep last nite and I think I have my idea ready to try.

I'm going to try some of my soaps earlier than my current 4 week rule to see how my recipe progresses. Won't know until I try it, right.

 

[namad]

Christmas present!! yikes! I haven't even started making my Fall soaps yet LOL Pumpkin soap was 'baking in my head' as I tried to fall asleep last nite and I think I have my idea ready to try.

I'm going to try some of my soaps earlier than my current 4 week rule to see how my recipe progresses. Won't know until I try it, right.

I skipped fall soaps, went right to Christmas lol and I am not so much doing christmas scents, just shapes.

You really don't know till you try, let us know what you think when you do try them

 

[aab1]

I'm just starting my Christmas soaps with Christmas tree (fir needle) essential oil which is one of my favorite scents and my first time making soaps with this scent. These will definately be a batch I'll just have to try after a few days and I did make mini sample bars to try it before the fill cure.

I thought I had read fir oil accelerated trace so I went to a very light trace and waited for everything to be almost at room temp, and despite the recipe being 100% salt soaps (as much salt as oils) they poured into the molds almost like water so I'll go to a slightly thicker trace for my next batch. I had made another batch with Oregon fir oil but it was a very, very thick and viscous substance (thicker than molasses) with a very different (but still pleasant) scent, I think it might have been the sap from the wood rather than oil from the needles, that "oil" had made the soap batter turn solid on contact and it was like forcing butter into the molds, luckily the fir needle oil doesn't do that at all.

Thanks

 

[Crazy8]

I just had the conversation with my wife about "Well since you told everyone that they were getting soap for Christmas I now have to buy all of this stuff so I can get it all done." ROFLMBO...It went about the way I expected. I got a look, and she said "you're just using that as an excuse." and of course I returned with a "Yeah so. I just dont want to make a liar out of you hun." LMBO Oh I love my wife.

 

[squyars]

So this makes me wonder..... I keep reading that homemade soap needs to be used within six months or so, before they go bad/rancid. But many here state that the soap is better curing months and even years.

What are your experience with soaps going bad over time?

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

 

[aab1]

So this makes me wonder..... I keep reading that homemade soap needs to be used within six months or so, before they go bad/rancid. But many here state that the soap is better curing months and even years.

What are your experience with soaps going bad over time?

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

I think it depends on the oils used, if you use oils with a long shelf life like coconut oil the soaps will last a long time without going rancid.

 

[Crazy8]

Yes I do believe it depends on the oils as it seems some of them do have a "shelf" life of sorts. But another factor is certain ingredients that are added to your soap. So now I have not heard of anyone doing this, but lets say you wanted to throw bacon bits into your soap...yeah probably not a good idea. But coffee, teas, herbs, and spices, are all pretty well stable. But someone please correct me if that's not 100% accurate. I have not used any of those except coffee so that's going just based of my readying.

 

[sistrum]

A soap make with unstable ois can go bad in six months. Experienced/good soapers know which oils do that and don't use them. I've had soaps that were over tens years old thT stayed fine and one that was over twenty.

Just another reason we say not to sell till you have been soaping at least a year so you can see how your formulas stand the test of time.

 

[squyars]

Excellent advice.

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[dagmar88]

So this makes me wonder..... I keep reading that homemade soap needs to be used within six months or so, before they go bad/rancid. But many here state that the soap is better curing months and even years.

What are your experience with soaps going bad over time?

:razz: Well, that's why I test.
I haven't experienced any rancidity with my basic recipe so far.
My lavender EO castille however has formed one DOS spot after + 3 years, so I will adjust the "best before" date.

 

[cerelife]

And to expand on sistrum and dagmar's posts:
I've saved a bar from every batch since I started soaping and I try them out from time to time and keep notes.
Yep, I literally use them every 6 months or so; let them air dry and then put them back into my private stash!
After 3+ years, I haven't had any rancidity or DOS, but some of my FO's have disappeared or morphed into something less than pleasant over time...this is yet another of the things I feel I NEED to be aware of as I slowly make the move into selling!!
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one on this forum to ever read a scent description of a soap from an online soap vendor and think, "Wow, that sounds divine...gotta get that one!"....only to recieve a bar of soap that smells of nothing but 'old soap' or worse. I'm pretty forgiving and I always try to give sellers a second chance (esp those whom I really like the IDEA of their soap); thinking maybe that 'that particular scent' wasn't to my personal liking...but some vendors fail the second chance as well. Granted they got my business twice, but never again.
To paraphrase dagmar: 'That's why I test."
I don't want to be one of THOSE sellers...I want the first bar of my soap you purchase to be so addictive that you can't live without more of it AND you tell all of your friends about it.

 

[sistrum]

Good point Cere, I've narrowed my fo collection down to the ones that last AT LEAST one year without losing scent using only one ounce per 54 oz batch. And believe me there are a lot of FO's that will do this. You can only produce a quality product with patience and testing.