So I keep seeing new soapers that ask what the cure time is and if their soap is ready or that a soap they just made a week ago isn't performing the way they expected. I didn't see this as a sticky so I thought I'd just post this for beginners. And if it was already posted I apologize for the rehash.
Saponification and cure are two separate things.
Saponification is basically the lye acting with the oils to make the soap and your soap should be able to pass a zap test about 24-72 hours after you've poured your soap. This is of course depending on the recipe but I've never had a soap recipe go beyond 72 hours. So you can use your soap if you wanted to after that but the magic of your formula happens after cure.
If you aren't already doing so, keeping a record of your batches with recipe and date you cut them is a really good way to track your soap and gauge the performance of your soap over time. I always keep one bar from every batch I make so that I can test it's efficacy, performance, and properties over time.
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Curing is the evaporation of moisture and the chemical crystallization of the molecules in your soap. Generally this is a 4-6 week process but again it depends on the recipe and it also depends on the climate/environment your soap is curing in. The best way to see if your soap is fully cured is to mark a bar from your batch as your test bar. This is the guinea pig of your soap batch. The day that you cut the soap mark and weigh your test bar. You may want to use a smaller scale that gets to the .00 mark so you can get an accurate measurement of weight or even use a small pocket scale that has been calibrated correctly. Once a week you will weigh your test bar and write down the change in weight for your records. Every week you should see a weight change and if you go an entire week and there is no change in the weight of your soap you can be pretty sure your soap has cured. You can even perform tests of your test bar from the day you cut it until cure to see how it performs. You will notice an extreme difference in your freshly cut soap to a fully cured soap.
You may also want to label that bar and keep it to try again later. You can keep documenting every week or just label your bar and come back to it in 3 months to weigh again and test it out to see how it feels. I have bars of soap from over 7 years ago that still perform as well if not better than a bar of my newly cured soap from this year. Some batches have lose their fragrance and others still have their fragrance. Keeping back a test bar allows you to verify how long it takes to cure but also allows you to test out your fragrance and desired properties over a long term. For those of you who want to sell your soap this is a great way to get a feel for how your recipe stands up to the test of time and use.
Saponification and cure are two separate things.
Saponification is basically the lye acting with the oils to make the soap and your soap should be able to pass a zap test about 24-72 hours after you've poured your soap. This is of course depending on the recipe but I've never had a soap recipe go beyond 72 hours. So you can use your soap if you wanted to after that but the magic of your formula happens after cure.
If you aren't already doing so, keeping a record of your batches with recipe and date you cut them is a really good way to track your soap and gauge the performance of your soap over time. I always keep one bar from every batch I make so that I can test it's efficacy, performance, and properties over time.
t
Curing is the evaporation of moisture and the chemical crystallization of the molecules in your soap. Generally this is a 4-6 week process but again it depends on the recipe and it also depends on the climate/environment your soap is curing in. The best way to see if your soap is fully cured is to mark a bar from your batch as your test bar. This is the guinea pig of your soap batch. The day that you cut the soap mark and weigh your test bar. You may want to use a smaller scale that gets to the .00 mark so you can get an accurate measurement of weight or even use a small pocket scale that has been calibrated correctly. Once a week you will weigh your test bar and write down the change in weight for your records. Every week you should see a weight change and if you go an entire week and there is no change in the weight of your soap you can be pretty sure your soap has cured. You can even perform tests of your test bar from the day you cut it until cure to see how it performs. You will notice an extreme difference in your freshly cut soap to a fully cured soap.
You may also want to label that bar and keep it to try again later. You can keep documenting every week or just label your bar and come back to it in 3 months to weigh again and test it out to see how it feels. I have bars of soap from over 7 years ago that still perform as well if not better than a bar of my newly cured soap from this year. Some batches have lose their fragrance and others still have their fragrance. Keeping back a test bar allows you to verify how long it takes to cure but also allows you to test out your fragrance and desired properties over a long term. For those of you who want to sell your soap this is a great way to get a feel for how your recipe stands up to the test of time and use.
