What soapy thing have you done today?

[Rune]

I will make an own post writing what he said. I must just ask him first if that is okey for him. And then I must test my soap that is in the mold right now, to see if I see any "unusual behaviour" that can come from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in soy wax, as he had experienced. I don't know what to look for, and it might not appear right away, if at all, I don't know. I probably will cut it tomorrow, and impatient as I am, I will test it the same day, or the day after. And write back to him, and write a post here.

Yes, I probably can hand stir. I did start to do that today, but got impatient and gave it a couple of bursts with the blender. But I probably could have just hand stirred, yes. I have already bought a new blender. I found a really cheap plastic one, 200 watts for 9,30 GBP included shipping (I calculated from NOK to GBP). I found one with just 150 watts, but it was more expensive. It was so cheap that it really was not an investment, and I think I need a less powerful blender anyway, it would make things easier in the future, I hope.

I will use more water next time. I imagine the 40% lye solution made it trace quicker, since many experience just that (but some the opposite). It loosened up when I added more water, so I guess a not so strong lye solution will make it easier to work with. But it was not impossible today, compared to what I am used to. I could not make a landscape soap or anything fancy and time consuming like that (I'm too clumsy and messy for it anyway, so not a big deal), but I would like to experience for once a soap that does not suddenly thicken, and thicken and thicken and I have to run to get it in the mold quick enough. I did really not have to run as fast today, but I did it anyway, just in case it would seize. I am used to that sort of rapid thickening, so bad that you can turn the bowl upside down and nothing comes out. But the final soaps have ended up fine. It really never got to that seizing point today, so I can't complain to much. Next time with more water, lower temperature and hand stirring only, and small changes in the recipe, that will probably do the trick. Unless I'm unhappy with the final soap and have to start a new recipe from scratch, again. But I think it will be fairly good as it is. At least I hope so.

My last soap, I actually did hand stir, and just a little bit. Even then, it suddenly and very rapidly thickened. That was seriously the most stressful soap ever. They changed the recipe of the vegetable lard I used in a high percentage, and I think the new recipe was even worse than the old one. I can't use that fat anymore because of the new recipe. The old one was full of shea, but now it is full of coconut and rapeseed oil, and I don't know the sap. value anymore. Anyway I bought that fat and soaped with it, not realizing the new recipe. Holy macaroni! That was stressful, and with only a small amount of hand stirring. But soap it became anyway, fully usable and quite good looking as well. But such rapidly thickening impossible soap batter are not too fun.

I have heard others find soy wax impossible and rapidly thickening. For example Wicked Lee Goods on Youtube, she said she had tried soy wax, and that it was good in theory, but not so good in real life, it thickened up for her. Others find it totally fine. I don't have too much choice other than to use it, if it thickens or not, since any other hard oils are unavailable around here. If soy wax don't work too well, I will have to make it work.

 

[Kari Howie]

I don't know if y'all remember me bewailing the stench of my aloe vera soap batter that I made this past Monday, but I am very pleased to report that my finished soap bars don't stink at all. In fact they actually smell like the essential oils I put in there. I'm so happy!

 

[Reney Yeater]

Today I experimented with 2 new techniques. First, I am attempting a rimmed soap. I do not have a slab cutter so it took a lot more effort to cut the thin slabs than it could have. However, it is done and setting up. Second, I had made some cute mp unicorns and polar bears that I wanted to add to the tops of bars in a slab mold. Well, the soap was a bit thin and my critters began to sink. Now I have 'hidden unicorn' & 'hidden polar bear' soaps! Cutting them will be interesting, lol!

 

[msunnerstood]

I am FINALLY making cream soap tonight!!

 

[Kari Howie]

I am FINALLY making cream soap tonight!!

I’m excited!

 

[msunnerstood]

I’m excited!

Me too, but it took FOREVER to get to trace. I dont normally let my lye water cool down below the oil temperature but I did this time because i was watching a video for guidance. next time I wont because it took a long time for the soap to get back to a good cooking temp.its on its 2nd 30 minute cook now

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I don't know if y'all remember me bewailing the stench of my aloe vera soap batter that I made this past Monday, but I am very pleased to report that my finished soap bars don't stink at all. In fact they actually smell like the essential oils I put in there. I'm so happy! View attachment 40647

Oh, happy to hear that it worked out. The soap looks good.

I made a soap with soy wax for the very first time. Or well, my soy wax is not pure, but also have palm wax in it, 20% palm wax I think it was. The supplier sent me the wrong type of soy wax. I was so nervous, i sort of expected a full seize immediately, or something like that. But it did not do it. It thickened, yes, and suddenly rapidly. But I added some water and it loosened up again so that I could work with it. I think my stickblender is way too powerful as well, even on the lowest setting. I did short bursts, but forgot to handstir in between. I wanted emulsion, which it was before it started to thicken on me. I ended up with thick trace. But, it was manageable for the time I needed (I do work very fast and leave a mess like no other), and I could have used longer time, actually. That is a big improvement from what I'm used to. I have used a vegetable lard kind of mixed product that really does seize up in an instant. Soy wax was way better. I actually could swirl the top with a chopstick. And that is truly amazing, since I have never been able to do things like that before.

I think soy wax can work really well. If I buy the cheapest ever slow working plastic stickblender, it would make it easier not to overmix.
I used the soy wax at 22,12% of the recipe. And had a 40% lye solution. My colors were mixed with water, and I added extra water to the uncolored part after it thickened. Plus EDTA was dissolved in water. All in all it had more water than the 40% lye solution. I soaped relatively hot, my oils were around 45 celsius and my lue 57 celsius (I was a little impatient to get started, so the lye was a little hotter than I originally wanted).

When I melted the oils together, it did take some heat for the soy wax to melt. But I did measure the temperature where my oils began to solidify again. And that was 32 degrees celsius. So, next time I will try to soap cooler, at 35 degrees celsius, and use a weaker lye solution (more water), reduce the amount of castor oil (I had 7,7%), remove the teaspoon of kaolin clay, remove the 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and see if I get a more fluid batter. I know I can get stearic spots when soaping colder, but I don't bother too much about that.

I wonder one thing. I had a small rest of rice bran oil, and I have never soaped with it before (I bought it for soap but used it for cooking instead). I used 9,62% rice bran oil and the rest was refined olive oil and castor for my soft oils. What I wonder is if anybody know if rice bran oil can contribute to thickening of the batter? I mean, compared to refined olive oil, which is said to be one of the slowest to trace. Is rice bran oil quicker tracing? I want to try rice bran oil in much higher percentage, just to see how I like the final soap. Here, it is twice the price of olive oil, and I have only seen it in one shop, that is not even a grocery store but more like a dollar store type. It is definately not a common oil at all. But, it has more palmitic acid than olive oil, and since I can't find anything else that stinking red palm oil in this country (which I won't use), I want as much palmitic acid as possible without using palm oil (yes, I have not forgot that my soy wax have some palm in it).

I have high hopes for soy wax as a replacement for hard oils (which in this country is non-existing). I want to try even higher percentage of soy wax in a recipe, but don't dare before I have learned to work with it in a better way. My soy wax thatjust contains palm wax will probably never work the same as 100% soy wax anyway. But I have to use up what I have before buying anything else.

Since my soy wax have 20% (if I remember correctly) of palm wax in it, I had to mail the company Cargill and ask if they had sap.values for it. I got an answer with roughly sap.values, which seems to be very close to the listing for soy wax in lye calculators, so I could just use that. BUT, the guy at Cargill told me something strange, an asked me to explain how I could use this for soaping. So, I will see if I find anything unusual or strange or any problems with my soap, and then reply to him + ask him if I can post in this forum what he said.

Now I will go online and buy a new stickblender. I will look for a "worst in test" model, a flimsy plastic one that hardly spins. I think it would make the world a little easier if I could keep my nuclear powerhouse of a stickblender out of the soap bowl. But I will definately keep it, it is very good for liquid soap or anything slow tracing. Very good for hot process as well. But too good for the delicate cold process.

By the way, if anybody are desperately looking for a black afghan scent, Vanilla Oud from Eroma in Australia is, as I can judge, pure black afghan, which is a type of arabic mukhallath (perfume oil). I was sooo pleasantly surprised when I opened the bottle and had a sniff, it was finally the mukhallath type of scent I have been looking all over the world for (but I had it, stupid me have just not opened all my bottles). The pleasant surprise soon became disappointment. The scent is really nice and all that, very arabic and exotic. But, it is very smoky. Black afghan is supposed to be smoky, and of course Vanilla Oud was too. I like the smell of smoky scents, but I can't tolerate them, I get headache. So I had to find something to dillute it with. I used it in my soap, but mixed it with a scent called Oud, Amber & Musk (if I remember right), a more to me fruity type of smell. I'm not sure if I like the two combined or not. I will judge after some curing. Unfortunately it was still smoky. We'll see how it turns out in the end. I didn't like my colors either (dull and too similar and too mixed together and too weak colors, and my mica lines seemed to disappear), but I hope for a pleasant surprise when cutting. After all, the color is not the most important at the moment. It was more important to make a soap that does not mess out the sink with colored lather, and it is way more important right now how to soap feels, how it lathers, which type of later etc. Colors and design can easily be changed for the better in the future. It is much harder to nail a recipe that works how I would like it to. So that is the number one priority at the moment. I hope it will turn out beyond perfect with lots of shaving foam like lather, but we'll see.

And again, it became a tooooo long post with almost no content other than chit-chat. Well, well, another area where I need to make improvements.

Happy soaping, folks!

I have a good attention span and your long posts are fine with me.

 

[Kari Howie]

I have a good attention span and your long posts are fine with me.

Oh, happy to hear that it worked out. The soap looks good.

Thanks! It’s a bit rustic with the ground oatmeal and calendula, but it’s what I was in the mood for.

 

[Dawni]

Thanks! It’s a bit rustic with the ground oatmeal and calendula, but it’s what I was in the mood for.

But it's good!

I just received my shipment of mango butter... Saved up for it, since it's triple my price of cocoa butter per kilo, double my shea. But I'm excited.. I've used up the small quantity I had and we love it in lotion bars and balms, and just plain slathered on..

Maybe I'll make a batch or two of soap with it to see what it's like in there.

 

[msunnerstood]

But it's good!

I just received my shipment of mango butter... Saved up for it, since it's triple my price of cocoa butter per kilo, double my shea. But I'm excited.. I've used up the small quantity I had and we love it in lotion bars and balms, and just plain slathered on..

Maybe I'll make a batch or two of soap with it to see what it's like in there.

I use mango butter in soap and in body butter and I love it

 

[penelopejane]

I made a soap with soy wax for the very first time. Or well, my soy wax is not pure, but also have palm wax in it, 20% palm wax I think it was. The supplier sent me the wrong type of soy wax. I was so nervous, i sort of expected a full seize immediately, or something like that. But it did not do it. It thickened, yes, and suddenly rapidly. But I added some water and it loosened up again so that I could work with it. I think my stickblender is way too powerful as well, even on the lowest setting. I did short bursts, but forgot to handstir in between. I wanted emulsion, which it was before it started to thicken on me. I ended up with thick trace. But, it was manageable for the time I needed (I do work very fast and leave a mess like no other), and I could have used longer time, actually. That is a big improvement from what I'm used to. I have used a vegetable lard kind of mixed product that really does seize up in an instant. Soy wax was way better. I actually could swirl the top with a chopstick. And that is truly amazing, since I have never been able to do things like that before.

I think soy wax can work really well. If I buy the cheapest ever slow working plastic stickblender, it would make it easier not to overmix.
I used the soy wax at 22,12% of the recipe. And had a 40% lye solution. My colors were mixed with water, and I added extra water to the uncolored part after it thickened. Plus EDTA was dissolved in water. All in all it had more water than the 40% lye solution. I soaped relatively hot, my oils were around 45 celsius and my lue 57 celsius (I was a little impatient to get started, so the lye was a little hotter than I originally wanted).

When I melted the oils together, it did take some heat for the soy wax to melt. But I did measure the temperature where my oils began to solidify again. And that was 32 degrees celsius. So, next time I will try to soap cooler, at 35 degrees celsius, and use a weaker lye solution (more water), reduce the amount of castor oil (I had 7,7%), remove the teaspoon of kaolin clay, remove the 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and see if I get a more fluid batter. I know I can get stearic spots when soaping colder, but I don't bother too much about that.

I wonder one thing. I had a small rest of rice bran oil, and I have never soaped with it before (I bought it for soap but used it for cooking instead). I used 9,62% rice bran oil and the rest was refined olive oil and castor for my soft oils. What I wonder is if anybody know if rice bran oil can contribute to thickening of the batter? I mean, compared to refined olive oil, which is said to be one of the slowest to trace. Is rice bran oil quicker tracing? I want to try rice bran oil in much higher percentage, just to see how I like the final soap. Here, it is twice the price of olive oil, and I have only seen it in one shop, that is not even a grocery store but more like a dollar store type. It is definately not a common oil at all. But, it has more palmitic acid than olive oil, and since I can't find anything else that stinking red palm oil in this country (which I won't use), I want as much palmitic acid as possible without using palm oil (yes, I have not forgot that my soy wax have some palm in it).

I have high hopes for soy wax as a replacement for hard oils (which in this country is non-existing). I want to try even higher percentage of soy wax in a recipe, but don't dare before I have learned to work with it in a better way. My soy wax thatjust contains palm wax will probably never work the same as 100% soy wax anyway. But I have to use up what I have before buying anything else.

Since my soy wax have 20% (if I remember correctly) of palm wax in it, I had to mail the company Cargill and ask if they had sap.values for it. I got an answer with roughly sap.values, which seems to be very close to the listing for soy wax in lye calculators, so I could just use that. BUT, the guy at Cargill told me something strange, an asked me to explain how I could use this for soaping. So, I will see if I find anything unusual or strange or any problems with my soap, and then reply to him + ask him if I can post in this forum what he said.

Now I will go online and buy a new stickblender. I will look for a "worst in test" model, a flimsy plastic one that hardly spins. I think it would make the world a little easier if I could keep my nuclear powerhouse of a stickblender out of the soap bowl. But I will definately keep it, it is very good for liquid soap or anything slow tracing. Very good for hot process as well. But too good for the delicate cold process.

By the way, if anybody are desperately looking for a black afghan scent, Vanilla Oud from Eroma in Australia is, as I can judge, pure black afghan, which is a type of arabic mukhallath (perfume oil). I was sooo pleasantly surprised when I opened the bottle and had a sniff, it was finally the mukhallath type of scent I have been looking all over the world for (but I had it, stupid me have just not opened all my bottles). The pleasant surprise soon became disappointment. The scent is really nice and all that, very arabic and exotic. But, it is very smoky. Black afghan is supposed to be smoky, and of course Vanilla Oud was too. I like the smell of smoky scents, but I can't tolerate them, I get headache. So I had to find something to dillute it with. I used it in my soap, but mixed it with a scent called Oud, Amber & Musk (if I remember right), a more to me fruity type of smell. I'm not sure if I like the two combined or not. I will judge after some curing. Unfortunately it was still smoky. We'll see how it turns out in the end. I didn't like my colors either (dull and too similar and too mixed together and too weak colors, and my mica lines seemed to disappear), but I hope for a pleasant surprise when cutting. After all, the color is not the most important at the moment. It was more important to make a soap that does not mess out the sink with colored lather, and it is way more important right now how to soap feels, how it lathers, which type of later etc. Colors and design can easily be changed for the better in the future. It is much harder to nail a recipe that works how I would like it to. So that is the number one priority at the moment. I hope it will turn out beyond perfect with lots of shaving foam like lather, but we'll see.

And again, it became a tooooo long post with almost no content other than chit-chat. Well, well, another area where I need to make improvements.

Happy soaping, folks!

Rice ran oil at high percentages will make your soap soft. Ignore the numbers as they are wrong for olive oil. Aft r 4-6 months olive oil soap will be plenty hard.

You need to soap at at least 40*C with soy wax or your batter will trace (or false trace) too quickly. Try 30% lye concentration. It’s a wax not an oil so I’m not surprised the guy was questioning its use in soap. But it works for some people so it’s worth a try.

Try SBing for 2 seconds then stirring by hand for a tiny bit. Wait and be patient then do it again.

I tested Egyptian Oudh by Eroma. I agree it is awful in CP soap. I don’t think mixing it with anything will save it. I have a tiny tester in my bathroom and am thinking of chucking it (gasp!) rather than using it - it’s that bad

 

[Kari Howie]

But it's good!

I just received my shipment of mango butter... Saved up for it, since it's triple my price of cocoa butter per kilo, double my shea. But I'm excited.. I've used up the small quantity I had and we love it in lotion bars and balms, and just plain slathered on..

Maybe I'll make a batch or two of soap with it to see what it's like in there.

Thanks, Dawni!

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

we love it in lotion bars

I really need to look into these lotion bars I keep seeing people posting about. quick question though--do they melt in the heat? well 2 quick questions--do you scent them?

 

[Rune]

@penelopejane Thank you so much for those great advices! Then it will be no rice bran oil for me (it is twice as expensive as olive here, so it is not economical to use anyway, but great for cooking).

I don't want false trace, for sure, so I will use temps just over 40*C, and a 30% lye solution. And when I get my new stickblender, the cheapest I could find and with only 1/4 of the watts mine have, I think it will be easier. Short bursts, handstirring, waiting. I must remember that.

I did test my soy wax soap, one endpiece (I dare not to tell that I went straight from the wire cutter and to the sink to test it, no cure time at all). And I really like it! It was a success! Not bleeding, not a horrible or overpowering smell (but not fabulous either), great lather and a nice feeling. Okey, it did not look promising. The end piece looked like a sausage or raw meat. The smell ended up very feminine, and the soap is pink. It was not supposed to be like that at all. But, it is fine, I need a feminine soap to give to my aunt. The smell and the colour matches perfectly. I did get a pleasant surprise when cutting, because it does not look like sausage or meat inside. It is very delicately "swirled" in pink tones. Perfect for my aunt! But definately not supposed to end up like that.

Oh no! I do have Egyptian Oudh! I was sure I did not have it, but I had to double-check by opening a document where I have written down what I have. And it is there I'm very sure I will hate it, floral, yes, I have had enough of that sort. I used one floral smelling soap in the shower today. In my soap stash, I could smell something strong but could not figure out where it came from. But it was a shoe box beside my stash, and there it was, a neon soap with the most horrible smell ever, Coconut Flower from Eroma. It must be the stronges scent they have. I did not use much of it, and my soap stinks like an air freshener (toilet air freshener!). That soap seized so badly, because I found out I should use some stearic acid, 20% (!). Yes, you can imagine what happened, it was cold process. So I had to dump it in the microwave and heat it to almost boiling. It was probably around 100 degrees C. Did the smell flash off? Nope, not at all. It does not faint either by curing. The lid on the shoebox had a gap, so it is not airtight. I forgot about the soap, and it have been sitting there for months and months, plus cured out in the open air for a long time before that. Still smelling just as strong. Perhaps not as bad as before, since I could use it in the shower. I just had to find some use for it. Coconut Flower does not smell any coconut, just toilet cleaner flowers. I read the description on Egyptian Oudh, and it has floral and woody notes with powdery jasmine, according to the description. Yes, I do believe you. Luckily I don't have a big bottle of it (as I do with Coconut Flower, since it was on sale).

Why did I buy it? Because I bought every scent from Eroma that have oudh. So I just saw oudh in the title and straight in the shopping cart it went. I don't think I even read the description.

Another one that is horrible (and I unfortunately have a big bottle of) is Italian Spiced Chocolate (if I remember the name correct). Yes, it was on sale and almost for free. I should have thought about why it was on sale. Probably since it was horrible.

But Vanilla Oud, as I mentioned in another post somewhere, that one is lovely (if you can handle smoky scents without getting headache). I have not used it straight up in soap, but diluted it. From the bottle it smells wonderful! (if you like arabic style of scents. I'm not sure it is a vanilla fragrance, I would not call it that. Moroccan Escape is also very, very nice, after a long cure. Not immediately, it is overpowering in a bad way.

 

[Dawni]

Oudh is one of those things... Like sea urchin.. It's an acquired taste.. One that I've not really acquired much despite living in the middle east for half my life lol. Some are quite nice, in small doses, but when the wearer practically bathes in it..... Ugh.

I really need to look into these lotion bars I keep seeing people posting about. quick question though--do they melt in the heat? well 2 quick questions--do you scent them?

I didn't scent my first batch. It's posted in the bath n body forum. The lavender infused sweet almond oil I used took care of that. Quite nice but draggy. I figured I used either too much beeswax, or too much cocoa butter, or both.

I just made another batch, with less of both. It's much easier to use.. A few swipes in my palm is enough for Dustin's one leg lol. I haven't tested them in high temps though, coz it's a little cooler here these days, and a little drier... So far so good.

I have yet to see how soft they get, and at what temps would they melt enough to be messy. These ones are scented with lavender, lemon and chamomile, decreasing amounts in that order.

 

[Rune]

This is the soap I made tuesday. It is yellowish some places, because of the disappeared gold mica lines. It is peach pink, not at all how it was supposed to look (it was intented to be red, orange and natural soap colour with green and gold mica lines as a simple bowl swirl). But yes, it became what it became, it does not always go as planned. It became peachy pink after I had to stir in the mica lines that was just floating around the edges of the bowl, but I probably shouldn't have done. It looks rough on the edges and so on, but I will tidy them up later, if I bother. Well, well, it ended up as a very feminine soap that does not have an amazing design out of this world. But, that's fine. I do like it. Probably since it does not look like the disaster I expected.

I'm not sure if my Romanian brother in law will enjoy them as much as my masculine fragranced soaps that is anything but pink, but I can push them on my aunt. To hand them out on other people are quite difficult in this country. If it is not liquid, commercial soap, they will not use it. That is the mantra around here. But my brother in law from Romania, he is used to handmade soap from his home country. His grandmother was a soapmaker. She made 100% lard soaps from fat she rendered herself. An old fashion soapmaker.

Today I have not done anything soap related, other than found my Scientific Soapmaking book. I have just read half of it, so I plan to read the next. I probably have to carry the computer outside or hide it somewhere I can't see it, otherwise there will be little reading.

 

[penelopejane]

@Rune
There are people out there who like Egyptian Oudh by eroma. It was recommended to me. To me it has a heavy musty smell. I think the “powdery” in the description is a no no for me. Good luck with your scents.

Their Moroccan spice is lovely but it will discolour to dark brown.
I’ll avoid Italian chocolate - thank you.

Use stearic acid at 2% for a hard but usable bar. Mix it with 3tbls of your recipe oil. Heat it until it melts. Heat your oils to 42*C and mix the SA in watching for separation, heat again if it swirls. Quickly mIx your batter only to emulsion (as it accelerates) and pour. No stearic spots!

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

This is the soap I made tuesday.

that is awesome--good job

 

[SYT]

Just washed up soaping bowls etc. Getting ready to soap in a few days. Canning our tomatoes for now.

 

[Chris_S]

Just made my first soap since I think February this year mostly just been busy with stuff and helping someone prepare her house to sell.

First loaf mould I forgot to put the fo in and after I out so much effort into the pattern I decided I wasnt going to risk ruining it so iv got my first ever unscented batch! Second loaf mould is half and half sandalwood and pepper and Moroccan spice I was asked for this scent I'm not selling it but I am getting the postage paid for it! 3rd loaf mould was blueberry muffin fo also requested by a friend and 4th was unicorn for the same friends daughters! I messed up the colours so I tried to save it but it accelerated from the fo so was kinda tricky and I stupidly tried to pour it into a loaf mould from a bucket not sure what made me think that was ever going to work so i ended up spooning it into the mould they are all tucked up! Tried a slightly different recipe to try get rid of some of the 2 buckets of palm oil i have left i can smell the blueberry muffin one downstairs and the soaps are all upstairs lol