Which one made my soap a little slimy?

[Lynn Miglets]

I recently made 100 coconut bar with 28 percent SF. I’ve never had an issue before and I love it. I recently tried making the same recipe with honey and colloidal oats. The bar feels a tiny bit slimy to how it usually is. Which one is the likely culprit? My guess is the oats, but I thought I stayed within the recommended amount (used 2 tsp for 330g of oil) so I’m a little unsure. Does anyone have an insight to this?

 

[AliOop]

That's an interesting question. Adding any form of sugar to soap makes it more soluble, i.e., it will lather more easily. Thus, sugar is normally added to soaps that won't lather well on their own, such as 100% OO soaps, or 100% lard soaps.

However, 100% coconut oil doesn't need any added sugar, because it is a very fast-dissolving, high lathering soap on its own. My best guess is that since you made this very soluble soap even more soluble with the honey, that's why it feels slimy to you.

Did you have a specific goal in mind for adding the honey?

 

[Lynn Miglets]

Oh thanks for the insight. I didn’t really have any reasoning for adding the honey other than I thought the color might be nice when it gelled. Plus, I wanted to try the colloidal oats and thought it might combine well with the honey. I just never thought about it in a coconut soap and how that might affect it. You gotta love the science part of this hobby!