Hemp soap crystallised??

[Rock]

Hello, can someone help!

I made some hemp soap (basic recipe was hemp oil, coconut oil, castor oil, shea butter and olive oil). Its been stored in a dry place out of sunlight but its turned a darker shade of yellow and looks like its got glitter in it - i assume its crystals.

The hemp oil is not out of date, as is the rest of the soap.

Has anyone got any ideas as to why this has happened?

 

[Kamahido]

Is the soap over 6 months old? Hemp oil has a reputation for not being kind to soap shelf life. How is the smell?

 

[BattleGnome]

Do you have a picture? There are a few things that come to mind with your description

 

[SoapTrey]

Hi Rock,

Welcome to the forum.

If you post your specific recipe and maybe a pic, we could probably help you figure out what's going on.

 

[Rock]

Hi all

So it doesnt really smell rancid or anything, but it looks as if the oil has come to the surface as its quite gooey and sticky. Im not sure if the image attached is clear enough. It was only made at the end of july.

 

[SoapTrey]

My first question is why is it wrapped up and how long has it been like that? Freshly made soap needs to cure in the open air for at least 4-6 weeks and even then I wouldn't shrink wrap it unless I was going to give it away or sell it, and it wouldn't be until the very last second simply because it needs to breathe...

I'm leaning towards improperly cured.

 

[Seawolfe]

What fragrance did you use? I had a batch go nasty when I used what I thought was tea tree EO but it was actually tea tree scented random oil. The whole batch went goey and sticky. Does your soap have an off smell? +1 to letting it dry in open air with good circulation. Unless of course its melt & pour.

 

[Rock]

It is hot process that I use. I then leave it to cure for about 2 -3 weeks after that before I packaged it. I make other soap with the same base but with neem oil and one without any extra and their absolutely fine and haven't done this - its just the hemp one. I dont use any fragrance and no it doesnt really have a gone off smell to it.

 

[penelopejane]

It is hot process that I use. I then leave it to cure for about 2 -3 weeks after that before I packaged it. I make other soap with the same base but with neem oil and one without any extra and their absolutely fine and haven't done this - its just the hemp one. I dont use any fragrance and no it doesnt really have a gone off smell to it.

HP soap still needs to cure for 4-6 weeks minimum.
Soap gets better with age so the longer the better.
Wrapping soap in non breathable plastic for more than a few days is not a good idea even on aged soap.

Hemp oil is a known DOS magnet and DOS on it may start earlier than on soaps made with other oils. A lot of people keep their hemp oil in the freezer or fridge.

 

[SoapTrey]

Others will be much more knowledgeable about this than I am, but what percentage of hemp oil did you use? Max recommended usage is 5%.

Hemp is a really soft oil and I think it would take quite a bit of time to cure completely if used in a high percentage. I believe a lot of people don't like to use hemp because of how easily is can get DOS. Not that you are experiencing DOS, I'm just making a statement.

Also, Hot Process takes just as long to cure as a CP soap, so your soap may not have been fully cured prior to wrapping it.

Still going with improper curing. Just my guess though... Like I said, others may have much more detailed reasons why this has happened.

 

[Kamahido]

It says many places on the Internet that hot process soaps do not have to cure. This is incorrect, as all hot processing does is complete saponification in an hour or so versus a couple days with cold process. Nothing speeds up a good cure time, as if there was a way those of us who sell would be all over it.

 

[Millie]

I've never seen anything like that. When did the sparkles show up? Have you tasted the liquid? I'm kind of excited to see where this thread goes

 

[earlene]

My plain uncolored & non-fragranced CP 100% Hemp Oil soap is about the same age and I just went to take a look at it. It has no sparkles. It's a uniform off-whitish kind of pale tan. It is not in the least gooey or sticky, but of course it is only 4 weeks old, so I won't be wrapping it any time soon. I tend to wait quite a long time before wrapping my soaps. This was a test batch I made on July 28, 2017 using [40% Lye Concentration]. I also made another batch on July 31st with added vinegar to get 2% Sodium Acetate and used a [32% Lye Concentration] for that batch, which I colored green to easily differentiate the two. Other than the color difference, they both look the same in terms of opaque surfaces with and feel close in terms of hardness. Both were fragrance-free and both were CPOP'd in the oven to achieve gel.

I don't know what your crystalline spots are, but it seems like perhaps they could be stearic spots? and they turned sparkly because they are so moist from being inside a plastic wrapper before the soap had a chance to sufficiently cure.