What happened to this soap??

[darelias]

I just unmolded this soap and I have no idea what I am looking at. The outside has an ashy almost thick powdery coating on it. I almost thought it was mold at first, it had that sort of crumply almost fluffy look. Ive used this recipe before, nothing about this was new. Parts almost had a steric spot look. Is this just soda ash? It just looks really weird and I am heartbroken because the swirl turned out so cool.

 

[TheGecko]

Probably is a bit of soda ash. Some of it could be from the wire on your cutter. I got something similar on my Dark Cherry Soap...darker red and black. I just planed them and it looked fine.

 

[earlene]

Is there anything different in this soap than the others you made with the same recipe? Colorants used, for example? Heat this time, versus other times? Gel or non-gel?

It looks like you may have cut while still a little on the soft side. I'd agree with TheGecko about it's probably soda ash., which is cosmetic and can be steamed or washed off.

Aluminum foil is something you should not place your soap on, as metals can lead to DOS. Also, if your soap happened to be lye heavy, it could actually burn through the aluminum.

 

[KimW]

PRETTY Swirl, indeed!
You called it - Soda Ash is all I see. You can plane it, or wash it off with no problem. @Peachy Clean Soap just posted a soap where the ash enhances the look, btw.

You do need to get your soap off of the aluminum foil though because the aluminum can react with the soap and cause rancidity.

 

[darelias]

Thanks for the feedback, I am hoping it is just ash. It was only on the foil for a second, I ran out of parchment paper. Its now on a lined shelf. Only thing new was using black iron oxide, which I've used before but not with this fragrance oil. I made an identical batch 2 weeks ago and it was fine, only that one didn't have black oxide, I used a different mica that was a little too gray. Other than that it was the same temp as last time, both gelled.
How do you wash off a soap? I have a plane but I find it sometimes leaves grooves then I use it.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Love the beautiful colors & swirls design.

 

[KimW]

Just run water over them, or wash your hands with them to wash off the ash. Ash will sometimes return. When I have a soap with returning ash sometimes CPOPing, with the soap covered in cling wrap, will solve the problem. Sometimes...

 

[SoapLover1]

I Love You Soap!!! It’s Beautiful! You have no worries! Only Soda Ash! What Red Mica did you use?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Fantastic swirl! From the photo, it looks like the ash is forming mostly along the outer parts of the soaps. I would try leaving it in the mold longer the next time. If the ash is very light, you might be able to buff it off after the soap hardens up a bit, or spritz it lightly with some water and wipe it off. Or see the other suggestions in this thread.

 

[Eleanor Thorne]

This has happened to me before, too. I think my problem was that I didn't emulsify the soap quite enough before adding color and fragrances. And, I should've left it in the mold for a couple days more (it was quite a fluid recipe). And then I should've covered the unmolded soap with plastic wrap and waited a few more days before cutting.
I can attest to the effectiveness of covering unmolded soap with plastic wrap for a couple days to reduce ash. Spraying with 99% alcohol never did anything to help. I think the humidity where I am is so low (10% to at most 30%--cold desert) that the alcohol just can't cut it.
Super pretty swirl, by the way!

 

[darelias]

I Love You Soap!!! It’s Beautiful! You have no worries! Only Soda Ash! What Red Mica did you use?

Trial by Fire by Nurture Soaps. It is amazing! And the red does not bleed, at least that has been my experience and I read it from others.

I did realize this was the only time I hand blended a batch. I wonder if that could have contributed as someone mentioned. I found I could not trust myself to stick blend, I'd always do it that one pulse too far and end up fighting my batter. Batch before this I mainly hand blended with 1-2 pulses to mix the colorant. This was only hand blended to emulsion and it was very runny.

 

[Zing]

AWESOME color combo and swirl!! Congrats!