Itchy after using homemade soap

[guavaman]

Hi,

This is my first post AND my first batch of soap which I made about 5 days ago. I made it with extra virgin olive oil and Rooto Lye (says 100%) using soapcalc.com and a digital scale for weight measurement. I just used the default settings in soapcalc for olive oil and got the measurements for the lye and water. In terms of process, I follewd this video [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM0_eTgmCQU[/ame] for his hot process method using the oven.

Since I was doing hot process, I didn't think it would take as long to cure, and I was eager to try out my soap ASAP. Being a little paranoid, I mixed some of the soap up with a little vinegar to look for an acid/base reaction -- nothing. Ok so I tried it in the shower yesterday and everything seemed fine, except I felt a slightly bit itchy after getting out and drying off. The same feeling I used to get after every shower when I lived in a dry desert city. So I chalked it up to dry skin... That night, in bed I felt annoyingly itchy in various places and had a hard time sleeping. It seemed to get worse the longer I stayed in bed. So I wiped myself down with a wet towel and finally was able to get to sleep, meaning in my mind I wiped of something that was irritating me. First suspect: Residual lye.

I have used Kiss My Face pure olive oil soap for years (it basically cured my persistent eczema), so it shouldn't be just a reaction to normal soap (vs chemical stuff).

I know cold process soap is supposed to cure for about 6 weeks, but according to that video I posted the guy sells the hot process stuff the day after he makes it. I did my vinegar test and today tried a tongue test like I see people doing on this forum and nothing. So I'm thinking I'm either SUPER sensitive to residual alkalinity, or the Rooto lye isn't 100% pure like they claim on the jar.

One note: during the soap making process I never really got to what most people consider "trace", but it was more like BARELY trace. I used an electric hand beater and a cup blender (getting frustrated not seeing trace) for probably half an hour on the stuff but finally gave up and put it in the oven. (I've seen other videos saying "trace" doesn't have to be thick.)

Anyway, sorry to be long winded. I'm just looking for possible thoughts on what might have gone wrong and what I might do about it.

 

[newbie]

Olive oil soap is well-known to take a long time to trace and a long time to cure properly (like 3 months). You don't mention if your soap gelled, or got hot enough to look like, well, gel, and got translucent and very sticky, then cooled. That speeds up the saponification process. If you didn't gel, it could take several days or a week to fully saponify. Using an olive oil soap the next day- probably was not fully saponified and is definitely not cured. It is probably too early to get a good experience from. If you wait and let it cure, I'm sure you'll have a lovely, mild soap! In the meantime, I would stick with your current soap.

Happy soaping!

 

[guavaman]

Wow, I'd heard 6 weeks as a generic baseline for the curing process in CP, but 3 months.... I'd better get started on my next batch (olive oil CP) ASAP! (Guess it's gonna be a while till my next shower... J/k!) I guess I'll give it a couple more weeks cure time and give it another shot then. Maybe I should get some PH strips.

As for the gelling, no I didn't really get to the ultra sticky semi-crystalline stage I've seen in some HP making videos that I've watched since I made it. I guess I didn't do enough research about HP ... the video I linked in my first post made it look so easy, so I essentially followed that. It looked pretty similar to his at the end stage -- kinda blobby and starting to get some translucency, but got opaque when I mixed it. And I cooked it probably 1.5 hours (the vid only did it 45 min).

Thanks for the help! I hope I can get this sorted out because the idea of making my own soap is kinda exciting. (I just started homebrew beer making last month as well. That's "curing" too as we speak.)

 

[AmyW]

My suggestion: Get a crockpot and do HP in that. HP is meant to be "messed with" - stirred often, and you can very easily see each of the stages it goes through that way. I like the information on this page, was extremely helpful in making my batches (done 3 HP so far, the other 19 have been CP) successful (and usable the next day). http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/FA ... aking.aspx

 

[ToniD]

I use Rooto lye and it is fine. I do strain it after I mix with distilled water and before I use it.

I don't do HP, but I have read most people say that it still needs to cure for at least a few weeks.


Yes, you would get very thin trace using 100% OO and the default setting for water on soapcalc. As long as it did not separate, you are fine.

a couple of possibilities could be: did you use all materials for your pots and utensils safe for making soap? Did you use a scent? Was it skin safe? (Or, even if it was skin safe, are you possibly sensitive to scents? Some give me a burning sensation on my skin) Did you use any other additives? Just stuff to think about....

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I get itchy when I use fresh olive oil soap but can you post the amount of oil and lye you used so that we can check.

I have only made HP in the crock pot but I never stirred it until the cook had finished, so I don't think that is the problem.

 

[tespring]

I have used a cup blender and it comes to trace within three minutes and that is thick trace. There is a guy that actually has a website that has a full list of blender recipes and since you can only do 13 oz. at a time, they are perfect for test batches. I cannot remember the website though. I let my bastille cure for around 3-4 months because when I first used it, there was absolutely no lather. Now, it is super bubbly and the lather is excellent. Maybe try some other ingredients and did you superfat any?

 

[carebear]

I have used a cup blender and it comes to trace within three minutes and that is thick trace. There is a guy that actually has a website that has a full list of blender recipes and since you can only do 13 oz. at a time, they are perfect for test batches. I cannot remember the website though. I let my bastille cure for around 3-4 months because when I first used it, there was absolutely no lather. Now, it is super bubbly and the lather is excellent. Maybe try some other ingredients and did you superfat any?

I'm not trying to be contrary, but please think about the potential dangers of flying lye/caustic soap when considering using a blender to make soap. Then if you decide to go forward make sure no one else is in the room and that you are wearing all the safety gear including goggles and full face mask. Or better yet, please don't use the blender. Use an immersion blender in a pot or bowl instead.

 

[FloridaSoaper]

I use Rooto lye and it is fine. I do strain it after I mix with distilled water and before I use it.

What do you strain your lye through, a fine mesh strainer, or like a cheesecloth or something? I can't see a fine mesh strainer (metal), catching anything in the lye? Is there a problem with contaminants in Rooto lye? Just curious because I've never heard of this...

 

[ToniD]

I use a small stainless steel mesh strainer. I have a small amount of white something that floats on top of my 50% lye solution, and I read about people saying they strain it, so I started doing it. There is always a small amount of whatever it is that is in my strainer.

 

[soapbuddy]

I have used a cup blender and it comes to trace within three minutes and that is thick trace. There is a guy that actually has a website that has a full list of blender recipes and since you can only do 13 oz. at a time, they are perfect for test batches. I cannot remember the website though. I let my bastille cure for around 3-4 months because when I first used it, there was absolutely no lather. Now, it is super bubbly and the lather is excellent. Maybe try some other ingredients and did you superfat any?

I'm not trying to be contrary, but please think about the potential dangers of flying lye/caustic soap when considering using a blender to make soap. Then if you decide to go forward make sure no one else is in the room and that you are wearing all the safety gear including goggles and full face mask. Or better yet, please don't use the blender. Use an immersion blender in a pot or bowl instead.

I agree. Please don't use a blender. Too many things can go wrong. Get a stick blender. If they are expensive in your area, try your local thrift store.

 

[carebear]

But still wear your eye protection even with the stick blender. :?

 

[FloridaSoaper]

I use a small stainless steel mesh strainer. I have a small amount of white something that floats on top of my 50% lye solution, and I read about people saying they strain it, so I started doing it. There is always a small amount of whatever it is that is in my strainer.

Weird, ok thanks for filling me in. I will pay closer attention next time I mix my lye and see if there is anything floating on mine.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

You sometimes get weird (harmless) floaters if the container hasn't been scrupulously cleaned, rinsed and dried. :wink:

 

[carebear]

I never bother with the floaters. I used to strain them out but I've found that just ignoring thm works just as well!

 

[PrairieCraft]

It seems to me like the sugar added to the water, even if mixed in before the lye is added, causes some of the floaters. Is this right? I used my lye solution too cool once and ended up with funky little chunks in my soap and I'm sure it was from the sugar re crystalizing. Usually I don't let me lye get that cool so it's not a big deal but even at room temp I get a skin of floaters on top. I've been thinking of trying simple syrup instead of straight sugar but wonder if that would even make a difference and be worth fiddling with your water number to adjust for the water in the syrup.

 

[carebear]

I think that floaters are mostly bits of soap forms by the reaction of the lye and some residual lye either on your mixing spoon or in the container you make the solution in.

 

[paillo]

I have used a cup blender and it comes to trace within three minutes and that is thick trace. There is a guy that actually has a website that has a full list of blender recipes and since you can only do 13 oz. at a time, they are perfect for test batches. I cannot remember the website though. I let my bastille cure for around 3-4 months because when I first used it, there was absolutely no lather. Now, it is super bubbly and the lather is excellent. Maybe try some other ingredients and did you superfat any?

I'm not trying to be contrary, but please think about the potential dangers of flying lye/caustic soap when considering using a blender to make soap. Then if you decide to go forward make sure no one else is in the room and that you are wearing all the safety gear including goggles and full face mask. Or better yet, please don't use the blender. Use an immersion blender in a pot or bowl instead.

I agree. Please don't use a blender. Too many things can go wrong. Get a stick blender. If they are expensive in your area, try your local thrift store.

THIS, TOTALLY!!!!!

 

[guavaman]

Wow, that's a lot of responses. Thanks everyone.

My suggestion: Get a crockpot and do HP in that. HP is meant to be "messed with" - stirred often, and you can very easily see each of the stages it goes through that way. I like the information on this page, was extremely helpful in making my batches (done 3 HP so far, the other 19 have been CP) successful (and usable the next day). http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/FA ... aking.aspx

After watching more videos on hot process, I do believe the original video I followed oversimplified it. I never saw anything like separation, etc described in that linked page. I did HP because I was kinda impatient and wanted to try it as soon as I could, but I think for simplicity's sake, I'm going to try CP. Lazy is good... Looks like crock pot HP can take about 4 hours. Since I was only making a tiny batch, I don't think I'd want to spend that much time on it.

Come to think of it, after pouring the HP into my mold, I wrapped it in towels to cure for 24 hours. I noticed it was still warm probably 10 hours after pouring, so I guess the chemical reaction must have been continuing. (I doubt 12 oz of OO soap starting @ 150 degrees would take 10 hours to cool down on its own.) I assume HP soaps are supposed to be mostly soaponified by the end of cooking. So if this was still generating heat after the fact, I guess I didn't take it far enough.

Yes, you would get very thin trace using 100% OO and the default setting for water on soapcalc. As long as it did not separate, you are fine.

No, no separation. It looked homogenous throughout the process.

a couple of possibilities could be: did you use all materials for your pots and utensils safe for making soap? Did you use a scent? Was it skin safe? (Or, even if it was skin safe, are you possibly sensitive to scents? Some give me a burning sensation on my skin) Did you use any other additives? Just stuff to think about....

Everything I used was stainless steel (pots, stirring spoon, beaters, etc), so I don't think that's a problem. No scent at all. Pure EVOO, filtered water, and Rooto lye. (I'm not really going for fancy soaps, just trying to reproduce the OO soap I'm used to.)

I get itchy when I use fresh olive oil soap but can you post the amount of oil and lye you used so that we can check.

Well that's good to know. Hopefully it'll mellow out as it ages a bit more. I first tried using it after about 5 days, so maybe I'll give it another try a week from then.

I threw away the envelope I wrote down the figures on but it was something on the order of 350g OO, 133g water, 45g lye. (I just plugged 350g into soapcalc and used the same settings as before to get the water and lye, but that's close to what I remember.)

I'm not trying to be contrary, but please think about the potential dangers of flying lye/caustic soap when considering using a blender to make soap.

I hear ya. I knew it wasn't the brightest thing to do when I did it (kept having visions of it exploding haha.) The hand beater is not the greatest either as it tends to flick whatever you're mixing out of the bowl. I would have used my kitchen aid, but the mixing head's aluminum. I'll probably get a stick blender before my next batch, I was just excited to get something going as quickly as possible and see if it worked before investing in the process.

Thanks again everyone!
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[Bubbles Galore]

You throwing your notes away Guavaman? I suggest keeping all of your notes from each batch in an exercise book so that you can refer back if needed. Sometimes you want to go back a long way in time to remind yourself of something. It's invaluable to keep notes. :wink: