What happened to this soap?

[Tillbillycat76]

Hi…I’m fairly new to soap making..I’m wondering what could have went wrong with this batch of soap. It’s a recipe I’ve used before, the only difference is I tried to make a silvery-white mica swirl (almond oil and mica) which I tried to swirl with a hanger tool. When I unmolded the soap three days later I found a yellowish discoloration along with an oily-like blob through the center of the entire loaf and no swirl! I mixed, poured, decorated the top and placed it in the refrigerator to slow down any heat…this loaf smells great and looked fine from the outside until I cut it! I never had issues with the three other batches I made with this recipe, so I don’t know if it was the extra almond oil or the (different) fragrance oil I used, or unknowingly mis-measured something—I’m disappointed ….the recipe uses distilled water, cow milk, tussah silk, sodium hydroxide, fractionated coconut oil, cocoa butter, castor oil, almond oil, olive oil, fragrance oil, and mica, and sodium lactate. I’m worried about remaking this one and having another ruined batch!

Thanks!

 

[dmcgee5034]

Looks like it got really hot inside….. I’ve had a loaf crack from the internal heat. I think you’ll want to zap test it to be sure it’s safe, hopefully it’s just cosmetic and you can say it’s a monster soap or something fun.

 

[AliOop]

Yep, definitely looks like a heat tunnel to me. It sounds like you have used this recipe before, except for a little bit more almond oil, and a different FO. Is that correct?

If so, the almond oil is highly unlikely to be the culprit; the most likely suspect is going to be the FO. What brand was it, and how are the soaping reviews?

As an aside, I'm curious why you used fractionated coconut oil instead of regular coconut oil. FCO is often used in lotion-making, but it isn't that great in CP soft (tends to make the bars softer and a little harsher, IME). Regular CO is typically the better choice for CP soap.