What to do with bar soap loaded with KOH?

[seven]

So, i was making soap last night, it was meant for my bridesmaids' thank you package (getting married this Feb ). All looked good till i cut the damn thing this morning...

it was unbelievably crumbly!

think, think... think...

i ended up zap testing it and it zapped like hell! went back to my recipe sheet and there it was: KOH box ticked, along with 90% purity. my misery is complete :roll:

so, right now, i have 12 bars that are zappy like hell and i don't know what to do with them. i don't think rebatching is a good idea. perhaps just use them to clean my soaping utensils? i tried a sliver and it didn't hurt.. i don't think the pots and buckets would mind...

any other ideas?

 

[lsg]

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. You might also shred them and use them in laundry detergent.

 

[Seawolfe]

If the KOH box was ticked, doesnt that mean the amount of oils are appropriate for it?

My first thought was to go read the first few posts of the huge shaving soap thread - if I recall right, songwinds first tries were made with all KOH, perhaps you only need to add some glycerin and maybe some oils to make a decent paste type shaving soap?

Otherwise sure - use it for cleaning

 

[Susie]

I think I would figure out how much extra KOH to oils you used before planning to do anything with zappy soap. If you rebatch it with a little extra oil at the time until it stops zapping, you can use it for cleaning. But, you need to get non-zappy paste first.

 

[houseofwool]

I think she used NaOH but calculated for KOH.

 

[DeeAnna]

From what I gather, Seven used 1.26 times as much NaOH as she needed for the recipe, based on KOH being the lye and 90% purity being checked. So yes you could do a rebatch and add the extra fats to saponify with the excess lye. Or just give the soap a generous cure time and see what happens to the zappy-ness in 6-8 weeks. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Saponista]

It would still be possible to work out the naoh excess and rebatch adding extra oils to compensate. That's what I would do.

 

[Pepsi Girl]

I'm with DeeAnna on this one. Cure time can be your best friend! Make more soap for your maids, just in case. But save the other and see what happens. You can rebatch 6-8 weeks from now if you need to. That's what I would do, yep!

 

[seven]

yes, houseofwool and DeeAnna were spot on, i ended using more NaoH than needed (sorry for the misleading title). i agree with making cure my bestfriend. i would just leave them on the racks for weeks and see what happens. i've no time and energy for a rebatch now, so i'm just gonna wait. remembering the super lye castile, i guess you'll never know what could happen.

looks like my maids are getting a new batch

 

[Susie]

Thanks y'all for catching that. I am in the midst of "holiday cooking brain" and not functioning well.

 

[Jstar]

I am in the midst of "holiday cooking brain"

Amen sister..Im doin the same thing an I'll be up alllll night Im sure

 

[Susie]

I actually did my big meal today as my son is leaving on the 26th, and I want help eating leftovers.

 

[Jstar]

LOL, my sister got her dinner started on the 23rd, and finished it out tonight..she wont have anything to do tomorrow but eat LOL

 

[seven]

it's been more than 1 month since i made the soap (had too much lye since the KOH box was ticked on soapcalc). no more zap is present. 1 month before the soap was zappy as hell. it has A LOT of soda ash. i am actually going to try a sliver pretty soon.

 

[seven]

Here are a couple of them. I just licked the white stuff that was present on the surface, it did not zap, and it was a bit salty.

 

[coffeetime]

I got that type of soda ash recently on some bars that didn't gel. It was a 3D crystalline structure. Soap wasn't lye heavy, just slow to lose water. It was pretty neat.

 

[shunt2011]

They are very pretty....even with the ash.

 

[seven]

i was pretty sad with what happened, since i quite like the swirls and all that (not to mention a waste of good FO, bleh!). the bottom orange part was VERY crumbly when i first cut the soap, i was very confused at what was wrong.

 

[Dorymae]

Well once you wash off the ash you have some beautiful soaps to start off your new " household". Yeah, I know you have a ton already but hey, you can never have too much soap. ( just keep repeating that! )

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm super glad to hear your soap is turning out reasonably well. If you have an ugly bar to sacrifice, you might split it in half and check the center of the bar. The soap might still be somewhat zappy in the middle, but hopefully a lot less so than it was at first. Bravo for you!!!