Why did this happen?

[trilloneal]

;-) I was Wondering What Caused this? The cracking of the soap

 

[TVivian]

Your soap overheated a bit in the center. The soap expands and causes the top to crack. It's not bad, I've had much worse. Your soap will probably look just fine when it's cut.

 

[trilloneal]

Do You know why? so i wont do it again in the future..

 

[lpstephy85]

Do You know why? so i wont do it again in the future..

Could be many reasons and without your recipe it is hard to determine.

 

[shunt2011]

It looks like it overheated. If you use milk/sugars/honey or even some EO/FO's can cause it to gel hot. Also using too much insulation can also cause it to overheat. There are other factors that could play into it as your recipe additives. I generally check on my soaps to see if they are behaving as I gel all my soaps. If they seem like they are getting too hot I just uncover to let some air in.

 

[trilloneal]

i used lemon and orange other than that just oils and butters, i melted the Shea butter right before adding the lye could that been it? but i checked the temp. and it was at 85-95

 

[Jaccart789]

Did you insulate the soap? Sometimes it over heats and will warm it so much and then crack. Also if you over alcohol your soap (to prevent ash) can be the culprit. You can fix it if you catch it in the early stage while its gelling and hot. You can spray it with alcohol and take plastic wrap and smooth it out, sometimes I very lightly will take a butter knife and lightly take a layer of the soap and try to patch it, spraying it with alcohol and smoothing it over. Normally the plastic wrap works. I am constantly checking my soap in the beginning 3 hours and I never end up with a crack because I fix it before it becomes bad.

It should still be a nice soap.

 

[trilloneal]

ok thank you and no i dont insulate

 

[TVivian]

Sometimes crack just happens!

 

[Obsidian]

So true. I just made a 1lb batch, put it in the freezer to prevent gel and when I checked it after 20 minutes or so, its starting to crack.

 

[Dorymae]

I would check your thermometer. If you just melted the Shea butter, then I doubt it was 85-95 degrees, as Shea butter melts at 100 degrees. However even if you soaped hot the heating up (gelling) usually happens a bit later....so I would look at the fragrance and also if any of the ingredients contained sugar.

 

[Susie]

This is one of those situations where it is easier to learn how to fix it than how to prevent it. There are many possible causes, but the fix is easy. Just spray with alcohol and smoosh it back together with plastic wrap, a gloved finger, or a butter knife while it is still warm and malleable as mentioned above.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Sometimes crack just happens!

I said that to the policeman and he wasn't buying it at all.

Op, can you post your full recipe and method? Otherwise we will assume things that may or not be the case