Will my soap be OK and can I improve my recipe?

erniemay · Dec 28, 2011

Hiya All

I've just made my fourth soap batch and for the first time used a recipe of my own devising - naturally things did not go as planned!

I soaped at 115 degrees and as I didn't have a stick blender (my in-laws gave me one for Xmas - lovely people!) at the time I hand-stirred it. After around 3 hours and much stirring it hadn't traced but I was going out that eve so I moulded it anyway and hoped for the best. It seemed OK from the surface at first - I loved the pale pink colour it developed and the gentle scent - until I unmoulded it 3 days later. Mistake! It was still very soft and fell apart at the edges. Although it has no zap and seems safe enough, I have ended up with quite messy bars and the soap seems to have an uneven colour.

I think one reason for the extreme slowness to trace and harden is the amount of water I used, although it was within the limits recommended by MMS I went for the higher end of the range which I think was a mistake. Also the high proportion of olive oil and hand stirring. Here's the recipe:

sweet almond oil: 75g
coconut oil: 185g
olive oil (infused with madder root): 225g
palm oil: 150g
shea butter: 110g
lye: 102g
bottled spring water:250g

with 2% essential oils, jasmine and ylang ylang

I ran the recipe through both MMS and soapcalc before starting at 7% superfat - was this too high...? It's in line with my previous attempts using book recipes so I assumed 7% would be fine.

And pics:

What do you think? They are curing at the moment. Will they harden into a usable soap that I can trim down to be a bit prettier? And how can I improve the recipe for next time? I'm thinking perhaps 200g of water next time...? And using my lovely new hand blender, of course![/img]

Fragola · Dec 28, 2011

Looking at that recipe, it should trace within minutes, using the blender.

I don't use much shea, but some say it accelerates trace. Wondering if it doesn't accelerate too much, with a water discount.

Yes, nothing is stopping you to trim / polish those bars once they are firmer.

fiddletree · Dec 28, 2011

looks like it didn't gel... I've had high shea content soaps take foreeeeeever to firm up enough to cut on the rare occasion the soaps didn't gel. With a SB you should get trace almost immediately with that recipe, though (and 7% SF isn't too high)

IrishLass · Dec 28, 2011

I agree with fiddletree in that it looks like it did not gel, which would explain it's excess softness and fragile texture upon cutting. Not to worry, though- once firmer, they'll clean up fine and pretty as Fragola already mentioned.

Your olive oil amount was not all that excessive compared to my own formulas which use much more than that, so I can't see that as being a major factor in causing your soap to take so long to trace.

Your water amount was a bit higher than I like to go (unless I'm HPing), but still- it was slightly less than what I consider to be a full water amount.

All things considered, I agree with the others- if you use your stickblender, it'll go much quicker for you next time.

IrishLass

erniemay · Dec 29, 2011

Thanks for all your comments!

I'm relieved that it seems it was the hand stirring more than any other factor which slowed the reaction. I was worried when they started falling apart on me!

I was trying for a moisturing soap for some of my friends with sensitive skin and I would hate to have wasted those oils and needed to start again. I don't make big batches but even so... One of my friends with eczema has suggested I make her a nettle and rosemary soap using the same recipe as I understand the sweet almond oil can be good for eczema and it would be a shame to start from scratch when I already have the nettles infusing in olive oil.

SB here I come!

carebear · Dec 29, 2011

be sure to label with ingredients. many with eczema have allergies - especially nut allergies.

erniemay · Jan 4, 2012

I started labelling just recently. I came across a friend with an allergy to coconuts over the Xmas hols who therefore couldn't use my soap. Since then I've labelled them all. Thankfully I'm so new to soap making I had given very few away and only to people who I had told the ingredients beforehand as they were all curious about how I had made them.