White layer formed on soap bar

[DrewsSoaps]

Hey, I’m newer to Bar soap making, very used to liquid soap, and I have a question about a new recipe I used, well, the results of the new recipe. So the question is about a white outer layer being formed on the soap bar, however the only parts of the soap that has the white layer are parts that were in direct contact with the circular silicone mold that I used. I’ve made more than 5 batches of soap with these molds, and each time I never had a white layer formed anywhere on the soap bar. when I washed the soap molds prior to pouring, I boiled them in a 1% alconox powdered detergent solution with a little dawn. I mean, yeah the soap molds felt ever so slightly slick after I washed them off, but I attributed it to them just being wet. This was an experimental batch as well, so I let a few GMP down. I’m just wondering if this is something anyone is familiar with, or if it could be most likely attributed to the silicone molds not being properly cleaned. I know that’s a hard Q to ask because you didn’t see the molds, but they were clean enough for me to use, so they weren’t dirty by any means. I am going to scrape some of the white outer layer off into a beaker with water and test the pH to see if it’s something alkaline, I’ll

Also make a control to test with the outer soap layer that didn’t have contact with the silicone tomorrow and I’ll post the results. I’m just trying to do this quickly because I wanna get a bigger HP soap batch ready to be able to send the people affected by the hurricane in NC. Thanks, pics and recipe

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[bookworm42]

My guess is that it's soap ash. Was the white stuff there when you unmolded or did it form after?

Soap ash is purely cosmetic and should come off with a little water or steam. It's caused by lye reacting to water in the air.
Soap ash can be tricky. You can make 2 batches not change anything but one gets ash and the other doesn't.

 

[AliOop]

Yup, looks like soda ash to me, as well.