Soap cracked and a few questions

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Sexymess

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Today I made aloe and calendula soap. While I was making unscented turmeric soap it heated up and cracked. I have never had this happen and have make 11 or so batches. Some with forcing gell (jell?) others just leaving on the counter, like I did to this one. It was very thick at pour.

Just a few other newbie questions. I see YouTube videos and follow one lady amd she does a water discount and calls her soap ready at two weeks? This is nothing
Like what I have been taught ( read etc...) so is soap safe to use after two weeks?

I have had raw soap spurt up at me 2x times. Everytime I stop what Iam doing grab the open bottle of vinigar and pour a little in my hand or on a clean paper towel, wipe off, then use soap and water to wash it away. I missed a spot on my forehead the first time and was bleeding. It scared me enough to not make soap for a whole week! But to take other precautions, I wear a large hair band that covers my forehead now. Did I do the right thing with the Vinigar? Should I get a different stick blender? It only happens if I have one pound of soap in my bowl. Like I have decided to add colour. Thank you for any answers or advice
 
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Some additive can make you soap heat up more then usual and crack. Keep notes and next time you make the recipe that cracked, keep it cool. If you catch the cracking soon enough, you can smash it back together with the back of a spoon then immediately put it in the fridge.

No, soap will not be ready at two weeks. It will be safe to use sure but it won't be at its best.

You should never use vinegar on your skin, it can have a reaction with the lye in the soap and burn you. If you get soap on your skin, just use cold water to clean it off. I get soap batter on me all the time, I've never gotten a lye burn and I only use water.

If your blender is splattering soap around when you make small batches, try using a skinnier, deeper bowl. The bottom part of your blender needs to be completely covered.
 
What Obsidian said.
The reaction between vinegar and lye is exothermic - it creates heat - so you can get both the chemical burn from the lye AND a thermal burn from the reaction.

LOTS of lukewarm water to flush the area and clean off the raw batter is the better method.

Soap safe!!!
 
Oh my goodness!! I could swear I read Somewhere that was what I was suposed to do. Thank you so much for telling me. I'll just use water next time
I tried to smash it back together but it was too late. It was hard hard. I keep notes of every recipe and just stopped putting sugar in my soap after an, ah ha momment.
 
Agreed - to troubleshoot, people will need far more details. Include an idea of temperatures, if possible.

As for "ready" and "safe" at 2 weeks, please do not confuse the two - "safe" is when all of the lye has reacted (or enough that it makes no difference to your skin). "ready" varies from person to person and recipe to recipe. Usually, for a balanced bar, it is 4 weeks, but many consider soap ready after no less than 8 weeks. I would personally never consider a soap ready at 2 weeks no matter what was done to it, unless she has discovered a way to bend time. Water loss is not the reason for soap improving during cure (take a Castile, which stops losing water in any real amount after a few weeks, but the difference between a 4 week castile and a 6 month castile is huge) and there is nothing better than a bit of time when it comes to improving a bar of soap.
 
Kenna from Modern Soapmaking has talked about formulating recipes so they are ready in two weeks so I think it's possible. But The Efficacious Gentleman brings up very good points, so possible after a great deal of testing!
 
Kenna from Modern Soapmaking has talked about formulating recipes so they are ready in two weeks so I think it's possible. But The Efficacious Gentleman brings up very good points, so possible after a great deal of testing!

You need to make two batches of soap with identical recipes. Make one now, then make another in six weeks. Try a bar from the first batch once a week, then once the second batch is made, try a bar from that batch after one week, then try a bar from the first batch. Then you will no longer believe everything you read.
 
Again, SAFE to use and BEST to use are two different things.

Kenna is a good soapmaker, but she's also just one person with one point of view who is also in the business of building her business by blogging and giving paid advice. She has a lot of interest in presenting herself as an authority and a coach, and she has the proven ability as a soap maker to give credence to her reputation. But she's not always right. Unfortunately the nature of her blog/website/business gives her words the ring of truth, even when she's presenting an opinion or when she's not spot-on correct.

Don't take Kenna's word, nor mine, however. This is far too easy to check for yourself. Test your soap at weekly intervals for several months and keep good written records as you go about the skin feel, lather quality and quantity, etc. Draw your own conclusions.
 
..........Draw your own conclusions.

I think that this is key. Using the castile example again (good because it is so extreme) one person will say 6 months cure is enough and someone else will say 12 months. So when is it "ready"? For person a, it is 6 months and for person b, 12. There is no "ready" that can be set in stone, as it is so very personal.
 
I use sugar in all my batches to increase the bubbles/lather. If you want us to help you figure out why that batch cracked, please post your entire recipe, in weights, including any additives such as sugar.

I never use sugar anymore. I made a weird connection that
My mom gets year infections from soap. I think it's the sugar. It's just my own theory. I'll post my recipe in another post
 
Ok I also infused my canola oil. This recipe heated up really fast.

IMG_0592.PNG
 
Your high percentage of water is what encourages heat. Your lye concentration is 26.7%, most of us here soap with a 31-33% lye concentration. We do not use the Water as percent of oil weight where you used the default of 38%, that is considered full water. High water leads to high heat. Soap is a wash off product and the tiny amount of sugar should not cause anyone a yeast infection. I assume that is what you meant. In the past sugar solutions have been used to help sores. Maybe your mom cannot use lye soap in some areas. Try soaping at room temperature with less water it should help your overheating. Just a side note* I would not consider any soap with a cleansing number of 17 a mild, gentle soothing bar of soap. That is the cleansing I use for some of my men's soaps because they like a little more bubbly an cleansing
 
Again, SAFE to use and BEST to use are two different things.

Kenna is a good soapmaker, but she's also just one person with one point of view who is also in the business of building her business by blogging and giving paid advice. She has a lot of interest in presenting herself as an authority and a coach, and she has the proven ability as a soap maker to give credence to her reputation. But she's not always right. Unfortunately the nature of her blog/website/business gives her words the ring of truth, even when she's presenting an opinion or when she's not spot-on correct.

Don't take Kenna's word, nor mine, however. This is far too easy to check for yourself. Test your soap at weekly intervals for several months and keep good written records as you go about the skin feel, lather quality and quantity, etc. Draw your own conclusions.
Thank you, but I have no idea who Kenna is :confused:
 
Your high percentage of water is what encourages heat. Your lye concentration is 26.7%, most of us here soap with a 31-33% lye concentration. We do not use the Water as percent of oil weight where you used the default of 38%, that is considered full water. High water leads to high heat. Soap is a wash off product and the tiny amount of sugar should not cause anyone a yeast infection. I assume that is what you meant. In the past sugar solutions have been used to help sores. Maybe your mom cannot use lye soap in some areas. Try soaping at room temperature with less water it should help your overheating. Just a side note* I would not consider any soap with a cleansing number of 17 a mild, gentle soothing bar of soap. That is the cleansing I use for some of my men's soaps because they like a little more bubbly an cleansing
I used the full amount of liquid to get the calendula and aloe juice in the soap. I usually do a water discount, but have no idea how to do it on the soapcal. I use a book. I know not to go past 50% lye water ratio.
So what is a good number to get the
Cleansing at? Doesn't it have to be between those numbers? Below? Starts at 12 my. At is 17. Is that is the low cleaning range, or did I totally misunderstand the post about the calculator. I feel..... frustrated.
 
Thank you, but I have no idea who Kenna is :confused:

I think Kenna's name was raised in post #7 in response to comments about formulating soap to be ready to use in 2 weeks. Kenna is the owner (?) of the Modern Soapmaking website.

I used the full amount of liquid to get the calendula and aloe juice in the soap. I usually do a water discount, but have no idea how to do it on the soapcal. I use a book. I know not to go past 50% lye water ratio.
So what is a good number to get the Cleansing at? Doesn't it have to be between those numbers? Below? Starts at 12 my. At is 17. Is that is the low cleaning range, or did I totally misunderstand the post about the calculator. I feel..... frustrated.

For soapcalc:
The option to change the lye calculation from water as a percentage of oils to lye concentration is found in the clickable buttons under 3/ Water

There you can choose to change from the default setting (water as a percentage of oils) to the second option, lye concentration percentage, or the third option, water to lye ratio.

I set mine to 50% lye concentration, then when I want to add any extra liquids I can add the same amount of liquid as I have water and the percentage will become 33% lye concentration (or a water to lye ratio of 2:1). It just makes working everything out so easy - the lye, the water and the extra liquids are all going to be the same weight.

On the cleaning value:
On cleansing, my personal recipe (for my soap, I don't even give that one away because it's such a strange little beast!) ... has a cleansing value of zero. It cleans (bubbles and all) perfectly well.

The cleansing value describes how well the soap lifts (or strips) the oils from your skin to wash them away. If you aren't particularly dirty, then having a very low "stripping", or cleaning, value is perfectly ok.
 
Even if you are particularly dirty, soap with a cleansing number of 0 will still clean you. The "cleansing" number should be renamed the "oil stripping" number, as that is what it indicates.

Ahh, ok this has a HUGE learning curve. Good thing I buy my stuff locally.
 
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