What happened to my soap?

[SoapSisters]

Three weeks into the cure, I noticed that my soap transformed from this:



to this:



My recipe: Sunflower HO (49%), Soy wax (24%), Coconut (12%), Sunflower oil - regular (10%), Castor oil (5%). 2% superfat // 33% lye concentration. I used white vinegar as the liquid. I gelled the soap on a heating pad. The fragrance is Black Raspberry Vanilla (with 0% vanillin) from a reputable vendor. This was my first time using this FO, but I order all my FOs from them and I've never had this happen.

I'd really appreciate feedback on what might have gone wrong here. I've been soaping for almost three years and have never seen anything like this.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Is the fragrance still evident or has it gone?

 

[SoapSisters]

Is the fragrance still evident or has it gone?

The fragrance is still evident. I used it at 6%, which is the top end of the supplier's recommended usage rate.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Keep an eye on it - it might just been a discolouring fragrance. Some of mine yellow off a bit but there's no problem with the soap o fragrance over time.
But then again - I have had others do this and then lose all scent within a month - and then go rancid. No reason why - just totally random.

 

[SoapSisters]

@KiwiMoose , thanks so much for your comments. I'll indeed keep an eye on it.

The weird thing about the discoloration is that it's not uniform. If it had just "yellowed off a bit", I think I'd be less alarmed.

 

[Ford]

Hi, the base does not seem to be affected. Did you use oil based. Premixed TD? And how Old is/was it? When you used it? Ask me how I know . Nice looking soap

 

[SoapSisters]

@Ford, thanks! I didn't use any TD. The white part of the soap is just uncolored batter. I've found that if I use sunflower instead of OO (no light-colored OO available here) I get pretty white soap. The base is just mica added to the batter I separated out. I didn't pre-mix the mica with oil.

 

[dibbles]

Were the soaps laid flat to cure? If they were, what were they in contact with? There seems to be a circular pattern in the yellowing of the white part.

 

[SoapSisters]

Were the soaps laid flat to cure? If they were, what were they in contact with? There seems to be a circular pattern in the yellowing of the white part.

I noticed the circular pattern too. Very strange! That part of the soap wasn't in contact with anything, though, except the air. I stood the bars on their berry colored bases.

 

[TheGecko]

I'm guessing from the previous responses that the 'wrong' here is the yellowing in the white portion of the soap and not the morphing of the pink?

Even though BVR doesn't contain vanilla doesn't mean that it can still discolor, especially if you don't get it evenly incorporated in your batter. But then again, you do have some weird 'bullseye' action going on. My advise is just to stick it back on the shelf and forget about it for a month and then take another look at it. Sometimes time is all soap needs to even itself out.

 

[Lauriertje]

I'm just a beginner at soap making, so I can't really help you. But I wanted to say that I really like your soaps! Even with the discoloration, it doesn't bother me!

 

[SoapSisters]

I'm just a beginner at soap making, so I can't really help you. But I wanted to say that I really like your soaps! Even with the discoloration, it doesn't bother me!

Thanks so much!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Pretty soap and hopefully the yellow will disappear just as it appeared. I had NS BRV get a tiny bit yellow a few months ago, but it happened right away. It was in one split of white batter that had TD added, but not in a second split. The recipe had a bit more CO than my usual recipe and heated up more than expected. What lye concentration did you use? I’m suspicious that the occasional weird/unexpected discoloration issues I experience are due to forcing gel in high lye concentration soap.

 

[SoapSisters]

What lye concentration did you use? I’m suspicious that the occasional weird/unexpected discoloration issues I experience are due to forcing gel in high lye concentration soap.

Thanks for your response! I used 33% lye concentration, but I still need to "force gel" (I use a heating pad) because of the soy wax.

You've given me insight into another yellowed-soap mishap. I recently made the exact same recipe with the same FO, and one batch yellowed and the other one didn't. And I think I was more aggressive with the heat on the batch that yellowed. I need to pay more attention to that, especially now that the weather is getting warmer.

 

[AliOop]

Deleted - apparently I posted this response on the wrong thread as I was referring to a different soap altogether. Sorry about that!

 

[psfred]

Did you use anything to prevent DOS (citric acid/BHT or something similar)? I've had soap start to go rancid very quickly.

HO safflower oil makes a very nice white soap and has proven to be very resistant to DOS for me (with the usualy additives), and works nicely at 100%.

High heat while there is still a lot of free lye in the soap will often cause scent loss and discoloration, which is why I like to use hot process and add the scent at the end. Not need to cook expensive FO in hot lye....

 

[SoapSisters]

Did you use anything to prevent DOS (citric acid/BHT or something similar)? I've had soap start to go rancid very quickly.

High heat while there is still a lot of free lye in the soap will often cause scent loss and discoloration, ....

Thanks for your response, @psfred . I use vinegar as full water replacement, mainly because I like how it feels in soap, but also because - from what I understand - it also provides some protection against DOS. I don't think the soap is rancid because it has absolutely no rancid smell.

I think you're right about the high heat, though. I think I heated/insulated this batch (and the next one that also yellowed) too much and for too long.