mbarrett0330
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- Nov 15, 2017
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Help, I made a monumental mistake. I was making a few batches of soap on Saturday - I have ONE recipe that has always worked consistently for me, so I don't deviate from it. So, I guess you could say I'm an experienced novice, so to speak. Well, I scraped the bottom of one tub of coconut oil on my second to last batch, and I went looking for that big tub of oil I'd bought from the bulk supply store so I could make one last batch. I popped open the lid, noticed the color was very yellow, but thought to myself, this is a super cheap, bulk variety of coconut oil. So I melted it and went on with life.
Here's what happened: my soap reached heavy trace VERY quickly. Like, I was shocked and a little panicked, but I quickly superfatted it with almond oil and added fragrance, and it went immediately back to a thinner consistency so I blended to trace again and poured it in my mold. When I was checking on my soaps, they were all doing their "gel" thing, but this one had already hardened to a solid block within an hour - it never achieved "gel" stage, though it got very hot like all the others. All very odd things to me, but I didn't know what was happening.
The next day, I took my soaps out of their molds, and among the standard, murky, semi translucent blocks I'm very used to seeing, I had this this one, totally opaque block that looks like a fully cured bar of soap. I literally did not know what had happened until today - I went to my pantry to get my ingredients to make lotion and DUH...that big tub of "cheap coconut oil" was actually the big tub of shea butter I'd bought from the same place in the exact same big white tub! (I know that seems totally illogical, but I had a lot of things going on at once...and I was obviously on a mental holiday.)
Yes, I feel like a total idiot, but now I'm wondering what's going to become of my soap! Is it garbage now, or can I still use it? What's the worst thing that could be wrong with a soap that has 43% shea butter? Is it more lotion than soap? Will it burn my flesh off or spoil on the shelf?
To put it in better context, here's the recipe I SHOULD have used...but as you already know, the "coconut oil" was accidentally substituted for shea butter. Thanks for your help!
6.4 oz sweet almond oil (plus 1.6 for super fatting)
1.6 oz castor oil
16 oz coconut oil (oops, I used shea butter!)
8 oz olive oil
5 oz NaOH
11.5 oz water
1.5 oz FO
4 TBSP almond flour
Here's what happened: my soap reached heavy trace VERY quickly. Like, I was shocked and a little panicked, but I quickly superfatted it with almond oil and added fragrance, and it went immediately back to a thinner consistency so I blended to trace again and poured it in my mold. When I was checking on my soaps, they were all doing their "gel" thing, but this one had already hardened to a solid block within an hour - it never achieved "gel" stage, though it got very hot like all the others. All very odd things to me, but I didn't know what was happening.
The next day, I took my soaps out of their molds, and among the standard, murky, semi translucent blocks I'm very used to seeing, I had this this one, totally opaque block that looks like a fully cured bar of soap. I literally did not know what had happened until today - I went to my pantry to get my ingredients to make lotion and DUH...that big tub of "cheap coconut oil" was actually the big tub of shea butter I'd bought from the same place in the exact same big white tub! (I know that seems totally illogical, but I had a lot of things going on at once...and I was obviously on a mental holiday.)
Yes, I feel like a total idiot, but now I'm wondering what's going to become of my soap! Is it garbage now, or can I still use it? What's the worst thing that could be wrong with a soap that has 43% shea butter? Is it more lotion than soap? Will it burn my flesh off or spoil on the shelf?
To put it in better context, here's the recipe I SHOULD have used...but as you already know, the "coconut oil" was accidentally substituted for shea butter. Thanks for your help!
6.4 oz sweet almond oil (plus 1.6 for super fatting)
1.6 oz castor oil
16 oz coconut oil (oops, I used shea butter!)
8 oz olive oil
5 oz NaOH
11.5 oz water
1.5 oz FO
4 TBSP almond flour
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