New to soap making...first attempt didn't work..need help!

[piscesjavagirl]

Hi folks!

I just tried to make my first "no cook" soap today and it turned out oily and not so good. Not sure what to do or if it can be fixed.

Recipe is as follows:

Making no cook soap balls:

3 cups soap flakes
1 1/2 tsp laundry starch
5 tbsp bottled water

First you are to grid the flakes into a gritty powder, then add the starch (add color and stir with a fork) heat the water and pour water into the dry mixture and mix with a fork or spoon. Then knead until it resembles pastry and divide and roll into balls...smoothing out any irregularities.

Sounded simple enough. Wasn't sure where to get soap flakes so ordered some palm kernel flakes online. Was unable to "grind" into a gritty powder as they were so oily. After doing some online research I found a place that said that laundry starch is like corn starch. So I used corn starch. I heated the water and rolled into balls...but it's just a ball of oily mess. The place I ordered the soap flakes from had the ones I ordered in the "soap flake" category. Can I save my stuff and make it into actual soap and not balls of greasiness? Please help if you can!

Thank you!

 

[Genny]

Re: New to soap making...first attempt didn't work..need hel

I'm going to be honest, that's not going to make any soap. If it didn't have the palm kernel flakes in it, I'd suggest use it for your laundry, but it'd probably be too greasy for that.
Palm Kernel Flakes are no where near the same as soap flakes.

Even the recipe that you posted would not be a soap that you'd want to use on your skin, not with laundry starch in it.

If you're interested in learning how to do melt and pour soaping (sometimes called soap casting), here's a good tutorial:
http://teachsoap.com/basic-melt-and-pour-soap/

 

[Hestey]

Re: New to soap making...first attempt didn't work..need hel

Palm kernel flakes are not soap at all. They are hardened flakes of palm kernel oil (or butter). What you have is a mess that really can't be used for anything. The company really shouldn't have those listed under soap flakes! Sorry

 

[piscesjavagirl]

Re: New to soap making...first attempt didn't work..need hel

Wow...that really stinks.

 

[sudbubblez]

Re: New to soap making...first attempt didn't work..need hel

This did not produce soap. Palm kernel flakes are an oil/fat and don't turn to soap without lye. What you have is oil balls.

I think what you may have needed is any kind of bar soap and then made it into flakes by using a cheese grater.

If you purchase some lye, you can actually turn these into soap via "rebatching". I would then use that product as a laundry or kitchen soap, not for washing the body as 100% palm kernel is going to be very drying to the skin... also because after rebatching something initially measured in volume not weight, its likely to be lye heavy which would be appropriate for dishes and laundry but not for skin.

When you get your hands on some lye I recommend rebatching in a crock pot or on the stove. The oven would work too but it takes a lot longer. If you rebatch directly on the stove burner, you cant walk away from it without risking actually burning the soap. The most preferrred method for cooking soap on the stove is a double boiler.