why did my soap crack in the fridge?

[Ann Marie]

Hi!

Today I made a soap with oils I normally use and a scent I have used a few times before and I put it in the refrigerator to avoid gel stage and it cracked down the middle. Just wondering if that has ever happened to anyone? I didn't use milk, or honey...just oatmeal and scent. Any suggestions of what to do with it now and how to avoid it in the future? Thanks for the help!

 

[la-rene]

I had the same problems. As far as I could tell, the top cooled faster than the interior, which continued to heat up and expand. I've tried freezing the mold, the soap didn't crack but I haven't tried that again because the freezer is full. So, it may have been a fluke. I've soaped cool, but then got stearic crystals... I'm stumped. I've decided to just gel these soaps and embrace the glycerine rivers that I get with oxides. Was your scent a floral or did it have pthalates in it? I've found that fragrances with pthalates heat up.

 

[savonierre]

You can usually close the crack up with damp fingertips or put a piece of saran over the soap and push it gently together. It sounds like it started heating up even before you got it in the fridge..if you pop your mold in the fridge or freezer and back in the fridge after you pour the soap, it can help keep it from overheating, sometimes nothing helps.

 

[Obsidian]

I had the same thing happen to a batch just a few days ago, I had used the fridge instead of the freezer. Luckily, it was soft enough when it thawed I was able to push the crack back together.

 

[MooreThanBags]

I don't put my GM soap in the fridge or freezer. I elevate the molds on a rack and put a fan blowing on them. They don't go through the gel phase at all.