My soap looks weird and wrinkled

[lathered_up]

I notice that my bars of soap look weird after they have finished curing. By weird I mean that they have a lot of warping and are indented in the areas where I have done some swirling. I assume this is from the water evaporating? I use soap calc and use full water at 38%. I have tried adding some clay to my recipes and that helps with the lather and I think is helping by absorbing some of the water, but I still get bars with indentations and warping.

Really this is just a cosmetic thing and so far the bars work and feel great. I just want them to look smooth and beautiful too.:grin: Would discounting my water help? I haven't tried this yet, and I don't use too many soft oils. Does anyone else have this issue? I don't have any pics to post so maybe my description sounds strange but truly, my soap looks shrunken and wrinkly . Any suggestions?

 

[theath2010]

That's hard to say and sounds unusual. I dont discount my water and when my soaps are cured they do not looked morphed in any way. If you have a picture it might help myself and others to give you advice on what it could be.

 

[lsg]

I use full water also and I have not had that trouble. Pictures might help gives us an idea of what is happening.

 

[JennH]

What type of colors are you using? I had a soap where I split the batch and added pureed carrots and the plain sections and carrot sections cured differently. I think it was because of the extra water in the carrot.

 

[Marilyna]

What you're describing might be common with hot process. Do you do hot or cold process? I can't think of any reason it would do that with CP.

 

[houseofwool]

I've gotten some wrinkly weirdness if the soap has overheated slightly and expanded a bit. If the top skins over before the soap settles again, it has been a bit wrinkly.

 

[Mommysoaper]

Sorry this is happening for you! I HP and CP my soaps and haven't come across this issue yet. I do water discount, but not much, my CP soaps and haven't had any strange wrinkling or indentations occur. Hope you get it figured out! sounds frustrating!

 

[lathered_up]

I do cp all the time and use some titanium dioxide and mica from BB but I know I'm not using too much because this happens even when I don't use anything to color my soap. All my batches come out fine, it's during the cure time that things take a turn. The only other thing I can think of is that it is very hot and dry where I live. I don't know if my soap is loosing water too fast or getting too hot while it cures.

This was my recipe for my last batch I soaped:
10% cocoa butter
27% coconut oil
7 % castor oil
45% olive oil
11% palm oil

5% lye discount

Do you think I might have a problem with my recipe? I tend to be in love with castor and olive oil. My other recipes are heavy handed with these oils too. Ugh... so frustrated. Other than looks, my soap works great. I may try my hand at hot process and see if the same thing happens. :crazy:

 

[CaliChan]

Were were you keeping your soaps?? If you put them in the sun or in a hot room they can morf (more than 75 degrees)...other then that i dont have a clue

 

[lathered_up]

Ha! I bet that's it. I don't have good AC out here and during several months out of the year it stays very warm or downright hot. I'm going to have to find a better climate controlled place to cure my bars. Oh, I really hope this works. Thanks so much for your help guys!

 

[DeeAnna]

Someone recently told about putting her soap in a dehydrator. The outside of the soap dried faster than moisture could migrate from the inside, so the soap warped and distorted. So I think maybe you're on to something, Lathered.