What's wrong with my soap?

[claryza]

I just made a few batches of cold processed soap. The oil and lye is around 45-55 degrees celcius. And after that I left for curing in mold. I dont cover it with blanket or anything because the weather in my country is hot already. My first soap fully gelled without no insulation.

The soap attached kinda has 2 layers. The bottom is more shinier. Is this partial gelling?
In the second picture I use 70% olive oil and using hand mixer. Is that partial gelling and air bubbles?

Help appreciated

 

[Obsidian]

Any chance you use palm oil? That almost looks like steric speckles, palm can cause it more then some other oils. There is nothing wrong with the soap, its still safe just odd looking.

 

[claryza]

Yes I use palm oil

 

[Obsidian]

The steric acid in palm settles to the bottom of the container so you have to melt the whole container of oil and mix really well before you measure out what you need for your soap recipe. Unfortunately, you have to do this every time you make soap but it should prevent those spots. Another option is to use animal fat instead of palm, beef tallow or pig lard works very well. Not sure if either is available where you live but you might look around.

 

[shunt2011]

I agree that it looks like stearic and partial gel as well. Totally safe to use. You can also melt your palm and split it into smaller containers and then just melt those when you need them for your soap. That way you don't have to melt a large amount each time.

 

[claryza]

Sorry what do you mean by melt? Because my palm is liquid :s

 

[lionprincess00]

Is it only palm, and what brand is it? Palm is solid at room temperature, and must be melted before adding. It also needs to be stirred well to incorporate the stearic evenly, or else you may wind up with stearic spots.

 

[TVivian]

She said her country is hot so maybe the palm is already melted?.. To me it looks like under mixing, pouring very thin and partial gel. Just my thoughts.

By "hand mixer" do you mean a stick blender or a beater that you would use to make a cake? If you used a regular egg beater type mixer, it's possible that your batter did not get mixed well enough.

 

[pamielynn]

Along with all this good advice, by making such small individual squares, the soap is probably not heating up enough to fully gel. I would either not gel at all (put in the fridge) or insulate with some blankets.

ETA: I assumed these are small squares - are these cut photos?

 

[claryza]

all my oils are liquid. So i only heat them to 45-50 degrees. The first one that separates 2 layer I use a small silicon batch. I use stickblender. The second one I use a handmade mold a big oen, the photo I already cut. I use hand mixer, the one for cake.