12% Honey CP Soap

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aihrat

Gently gently
Joined
Mar 28, 2017
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Location
South Africa
Hello everyone! ^^ I hope this will be useful for anyone who's disappointed with the 1 teaspoon ppo recommendation for honey usage in CP soap.

I loooove the smell of honey and beeswax. Once or twice a year, I'll buy a box of raw honeycomb and spread that on my partner's freshly-baked sourdough bread. It's simply unbeatable.

When I first started soapmaking, I was most excited about bringing that fresh, sweet, floral scent to my soaps. My eagerness was quickly tempered upon learning that honey heats up cold process soap like nothing else! I found that at 1-5 tsps of honey ppo, the lather improves from the sugar in the honey but that wonderful honey smell is completely absent after the soap has cured.

So far, the most effective way I've tried for boosting the honey smell of honey soap is a small amount of rose EO blend. A local supplier (I live in South Africa) sells a slightly more affordable natural rose EO blended from a variety of different rose strains. It's still awfully expensive...but in reach for a splurge. And yet, still no true honey fragrance.

I recently came across this site that purports to sell a soap with 10% honey. Aside from the eyeroll-inducing marketing copy, I was intrigued. Could traditional soaps really not solidify with a 10% honey content? What's it like to use soap that costs 50 USD for an 80g bar? And at that price point, why was the soap still full of so many synthetic additives? By then, I was determined to make my own simple, high-honey-percentage soap. Or least find out first-hand what kind of gloopy mess I'd end up with if I tried.

I looked around on the internet some more, and found that a 10% CP soap had already been done by One Leaf Soap. Their honey soap looked absolutely gorgeous! So I had proof that high-honey soap could be accomplished.

Only problem was, their recipe included palm oil, and I am determined not to use any in my soaps. If the problem with honey soap failing to solidify was with the high water/non-fat additive content, intuitively it would seem that a water discount and a higher percentage of hard oils would be needed to compensate. But as someone who desperately wants to make palm-free soap, increasing the hard oil content without making the bar more drying to my coconut-sensitive skin was a challenge. I'd used beeswax at 1-2% to harden my bars before, but the lather seemed to suffer, even at that percentage and with an added 5% of castor oil to compensate. Another option was to use sodium lactate, but I'd rather soap without it - especially since it's almost impossible to get ahold of in my country.

After a bit of research, and slowly increasing the honey proportion in my batches from 1% to 5%, then from 5% to 8%, I was satisfied with my recipe and methods to try a 12% honey soap. I chose to attempt a recipe with 12% honey in the hopes of learning something new about the boundaries of honey soap. Not 12% of oils, but 12% of the entire recipe. I'm quite happy with how it turned out despite the technical challenges!

Here are a couple of things I did when making my batch:


  • - Used a 50% lye solution (a very steep water discount) to balance out the added water from the honey, and to raise the temperature (and shorten the duration of) the gel phase. This decreased the risk of cracking and volcanoes.
  • - Used individual silicone moulds to encourage heat dissipation
  • - Used a higher proportion of cocoa and shea butter (instead of coconut oil) in the recipe to harden the bars
  • - Skipped the beeswax to take full advantage of honey's lathering qualities
  • - Used a lower superfat to help with the hardness
  • - Soaped very cold to buy some time before placing in the freezer - both my oils and my lye solution were at room temperature (20 degrees celsius)
  • - Stick blended the oils and honey to incorporate them well before the lye was added, to prevent needing to blend well after trace and risking heat-up in the pot
  • - Placed the individual moulds into the freezer overnight immediately after pouring
  • - Transferred the batch to the fridge after the freezer phase for an additional 4 days (this part wasn't very intentional, I went on a business trip and left them in there to keep on the safe side)
  • - Left out any colourants and fragrances for this batch
  • - Scattered silica gel around the curing area to assist with drying

Here they are after 2.5 weeks of cure:

leE0yGe.jpg


I had a tiny bar I made from the scrapings of the pot and tested it after the batch no longer zapped. Interestingly enough, the center is bright orange! Compared with the One Leaf Soap version, my soap seems to have gone through an intense partial gel that stopped short of the outside of the bar. At 2 weeks cure, the test bar foamed with dense, creamy, luxurious tiny bubbles. The lather washed off cleanly and left my hands feeling smooth. The honey smell was very faint when the bars were first unmoulded, but increased in intensity as the bars cured. They now smell lightly of honey and deep caramel. The delicate floral overtones didn't make it through the saponification process but the soap still smells amazing.

Some misc observations on the soap:


  • - Hah! The soap did harden, and unmoulded within a week.
  • - The batter heated up almost immediately after the lye hit the water. It was hot, hot, hot!
  • - The bars are still a bit soft at 2.5 weeks. I can carry them around without leaving fingerprints on a rainy day, but as you can see in the picture, any gentle trauma will leave marks :p The marks on the pictured soaps were from falling, domino-style, after tripping past my curing rack. I'm looking forward to finding out what this batch is like after 8-12 weeks!
  • - The tiny test bar seems to hold up well with washing so far. Given the softness, I'm surprised that a 8g bar has lasted more than 8 washes.
  • - A light dusting of soda ash formed on the top of the bars 2 days after unmoulding. Given that the bars were frozen and refrigerated for an exaggerated amount of time, I'm surprised there wasn't more. Fingers crossed it stops there.
  • - These bars are seriously spongy. Even with the surrounding silica gel, it's like they know when it's raining before I do. With honey being hygroscopic, the resultant soap is extremely sensitive to ambient moisture. On dry days, the soaps are dry, but on wet days, they tend to get slightly slippery. This would present a challenge when wrapping and storing.
  • - Thank goodness for individual soap moulds - as someone who prefers their soap fully ungelled but loves soaping with rich additives, individual soap moulds do tend to mask the aesthetic issues with partially gelled soaps :p

Next steps?


  • - Noting any changes to the soap's properties as it passes the 6 week, 8 week, and 12 week mark. Will it reach its optimum usage age at 90 like the HACCI site says?
  • - I've heard that you can get dehydrated honey, although not in my country. I'd be super curious to see someone trying a similar style of soap with dehydrated honey though! Dehydrated honey would overcome the challenge of too much moisture and possibly contribute to a harder bar.
  • - My municipality supplies slightly hard water and I've recently begun adding citric acid and extra lye to my soap batches as a chelating agent. I will try this with the same recipe to see if it alters any part of the soapmaking process or batch properties.
  • - Increasing the suitability of the bars as a facial soap by decreasing the comedogenic oil content, such as cocoa butter and coconut oil. Could I retain the hardness of the soap this way?
  • - Trying beeswax again in the recipe, introducing it at 0.5% to see if helps combat the moisture absorbency without sacrificing lather.
  • - Assessing the performance of the soap during packaging and storage.

Anyways, hope this helps for those considering larger amounts of honey. I loved the results of this experiment and would really love to hear more stories and learnings from people who do high honey-content soaping!

~ racter
 
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Wow, thanks for sharing! What a fascinating read. The soaps turned out beautiful, looking forward to hearing how they perform with a longer cure. I wonder if mixing your lye solution and oils & honey in a ice water bath would help prevent some of the heat.

When you zap tested the bar, did it taste sweet!?
 
I've gotten a decent honey scent from using 5% raw beeswax along with the regular 2 tsp honey ppo. Not sure how long it it lasts, I haven't checked on it for quite a while. It did heat up pretty dang fast and I got partial gel the first time I tried the recipe but I kept it cool the second time and prevented gel.
 
This is very cool! I look forward to hearing more of the results!

Out of curiosity, is the avoidance of palm due to deforestation? If so, there are various sellers who claim to use sustainable and free trade harvesting practices. That might give you some use of palm without too much guilt - if you wanted a comparison batch.
 
Wow, thanks for sharing! What a fascinating read. The soaps turned out beautiful, looking forward to hearing how they perform with a longer cure. I wonder if mixing your lye solution and oils & honey in a ice water bath would help prevent some of the heat.

When you zap tested the bar, did it taste sweet!?

Thank you - I'll keep you all updated! :)

Surprisingly, the soap doesn't taste sweet when I zap tested it. It might have been because I tasted such a small amount or was too distracted with the gross taste of soap though :p

I've gotten a decent honey scent from using 5% raw beeswax along with the regular 2 tsp honey ppo. Not sure how long it it lasts, I haven't checked on it for quite a while. It did heat up pretty dang fast and I got partial gel the first time I tried the recipe but I kept it cool the second time and prevented gel.

That's awesome! When I first used raw beeswax in my soap it was for the scent as well, but at 2% the smell wasn't pronounced enough and my partner noted that the lather was reduced. How did you find your lather at 5%? Did you compensate with lathering oils?

This is very cool! I look forward to hearing more of the results!

Out of curiosity, is the avoidance of palm due to deforestation? If so, there are various sellers who claim to use sustainable and free trade harvesting practices. That might give you some use of palm without too much guilt - if you wanted a comparison batch.

Thank you! I smell the soap sometimes when I need a pick-me-up. :p

Yes! My concerns come from deforestation and the labour and human rights violations that come from displaced people previously living in forests that have been cleared for palm plantations. I know that RSPO palm oil is an option, but personally am quite uncomfortable with the possible gaps and oversights in the certification process. That's nothing against the initiative, but with so much of a profit motive going for dodgily producing palm oil even under RSPO, I'd rather be safe than sorry. :)

Sounds wonderful. I am curious how it's going to feel as a facial soap? I don't use soap on y face, but my SIL wants a facial soap.

That's a tough one for me at the moment as well - I don't know about your SIL's water situation, but having hard water complicates things in the facial department so I can't answer for my own recipe until I can experiment under the right conditions. The tiny, creamy, honey-scented bubbles seem perfect for a facial soap, but I've heard different people's facial skin reacting differently to CP/HP soap. At least we know the One Leaf Soap's honey soap is marketed as a facial bar and seems quite popular )
 
Thank you! I smell the soap sometimes when I need a pick-me-up. :p

I understand this well. Before my arms started giving me problems, I was my happiest when making bath melts. The scents and activity would make any bad day feel better.

Yes! My concerns come from deforestation and the labour and human rights violations that come from displaced people previously living in forests that have been cleared for palm plantations. I know that RSPO palm oil is an option, but personally am quite uncomfortable with the possible gaps and oversights in the certification process. That's nothing against the initiative, but with so much of a profit motive going for dodgily producing palm oil even under RSPO, I'd rather be safe than sorry. :)

I understand, and it is hard. It can also become confusing once it has a business umbrella over it. It's like the organic industry in the US; there are thousands of farmers at the farmers market who grow organic - but don't have the thousands of dollars to get the little organic certification.

Because it's so confusing and complicated, I sometimes find myself saving the money by purchasing less "green" products, and donating the difference to organizations designed to combat the issues I'm concerned about. I figured if I sent every dollar I saved from buying green paper towels or housecleaning product to non-profits fighting agricultural runoff and deforestation than hopefully my money would be more useful.
 
Thank you for sharing that! thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I have never had good success with honey soap - my last one cracked right up the middle. So my hat is off to you. Ill be interested to see how it is after a longer cure.
 
I went through all my soap and couldn't find any bars left so I must have given it all away. I'll have to make more soon, should have kept at least one bar so I could test it as it aged.

From what I remember, the lather wasn't as dense or creamy but it still had plenty of large fluffy bubbles. I was wrong about the amount of honey used though, it was 2 tsp for 32 oz of oil. Next time I make it, I will use 2 tsp ppo and less SF. This is the recipe I used, I did not add any more oils for lather.

http://www.evernote.com/l/ANgZpmE1aGJDtLdQeOyIrB0j_16LMh_dWJU/
 
I understand this well. Before my arms started giving me problems, I was my happiest when making bath melts. The scents and activity would make any bad day feel better.



I understand, and it is hard. It can also become confusing once it has a business umbrella over it. It's like the organic industry in the US; there are thousands of farmers at the farmers market who grow organic - but don't have the thousands of dollars to get the little organic certification.

Because it's so confusing and complicated, I sometimes find myself saving the money by purchasing less "green" products, and donating the difference to organizations designed to combat the issues I'm concerned about. I figured if I sent every dollar I saved from buying green paper towels or housecleaning product to non-profits fighting agricultural runoff and deforestation than hopefully my money would be more useful.

I had to google 'bath melts' and they look so soothing and lovely! I'm so sorry they've become harder for you to make, I hope you still have chances to get back into that uplifting space.

I definitely feel a similar frustration navigating products, labels, and economics. And I agree that it's not as simple as conscious consumerism, where if you "buy green" it will magically change the world. I think buying responsibly and funding organisations fighting for a better world have to work together and I think your approach might even work better that conscious consumerism alone. I love knowing that there are people who care deeply about actually making a difference, in very complex territory. :)

Thank you for sharing that! thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I have never had good success with honey soap - my last one cracked right up the middle. So my hat is off to you. Ill be interested to see how it is after a longer cure.

Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry your soap cracked in the middle - was it in a loaf mould? I'd never be brave enough to try so much honey in a loaf mold, I'd be worried about setting my freezer on fire! Smaller individual moulds have been my secret weapon for high honey. :twisted:

I went through all my soap and couldn't find any bars left so I must have given it all away. I'll have to make more soon, should have kept at least one bar so I could test it as it aged.

From what I remember, the lather wasn't as dense or creamy but it still had plenty of large fluffy bubbles. I was wrong about the amount of honey used though, it was 2 tsp for 32 oz of oil. Next time I make it, I will use 2 tsp ppo and less SF. This is the recipe I used, I did not add any more oils for lather.

http://www.evernote.com/l/ANgZpmE1aGJDtLdQeOyIrB0j_16LMh_dWJU/

Oooh, I hope you'll make more...for SCIENCE! Your recipe looks lovely. 2 tsp ppo is more than what a lot of soapers recommend, and I see you've added 5% castor oil which probably helped a bit in making the lather fluffier and stabler. The lard might have also helped with the lather, though I've never soaped with lard because it's ridiculously expensive where I live. The pollen sounds like a really nice touch - did it add any smell to the bars?
 
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I always use castor and lard in my soap, they are standard oils for me. Its really too bad you can't use lard, it really is wonderful stuff. I need to check my supplies, if I have enough lye I will whip up a small batch and try to prevent gel in individual molds.

Unfortunately I don't have any of my good dark raw beeswax so I'll have to use some lighter raw instead, I don't expect to get much if any scent from it.

The pollen added nothing to the soap except a bit of color and some extra sugar as its pretty sweet tasting. If I have time, I'll try and get pictures but this recipe moves pretty quickly.

EDIT: ok done. Unfortunately this batch won't help you determine if wax will help with the honey scent since I didn't have good wax to use but its always interesting to see how it behaves when soaped.

I did things a bit different this time, pollen and honey both went into the lye solution. I wanted the initial heat reaction between the sugars and lye to happen before I mixed it with the oil.

It worked very well, the solution got quite hot and kind of thick but by the time I mixed it in the oils, it was room temp. It went through quite a color change though.

I hit the batter with a stick blender just enough to mix everything together then hand stirred. It got thick fast but not insanely so. I had enough time to pour each bar but by the time I got the the last one, batter was setting up pretty thick. Could have been a issue if it was a bigger batch using individual molds.

Water with dissolved pollen. 2 tsp in 4.50 oz water
2dahbif.jpg


after adding lye and 1 tsp honey.
33bzmm0.jpg


freshly poured, hoping it lightens a bit but it does sort of look like caramel right now.
2lk4320.jpg
 
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Welcome Aihrat! :wave:

Thank you for sharing your adventurous experiment with us! You'll have to keep us updated as to how it turns out down the road!

I used sugar at 10% ppo once as an experiment (the white, granulated kind), and the resulting soap stayed soft/spongy for well over a year (I could still dent it by pressing with my finger). It sure lathered up awesome, though. It turned out so copiously bubbly that if I hadn't been the wiser, I would've sworn it was one of my 100% coconut oil bars with a 20% S/F. My usual, go-to amount of sugar is 5% ppo.

Honey is amazing in soap, and I find it to be even more bubbly in comparison to an equal amount of sugar ppo. In my honey/beeswax soap, I use honey at 5% ppo, along with beeswax @ 3% ppo, and I very lightly scent it @ 2% ppo with Wild Mountain Honey FO from Peak's (just enough to boost, then outlast the quickly-fading natural scent from the honey). The FO is amazing and very long-lasting. The 2% amount that I use makes my soap continue to smell lightly of real honey/beeswax with a tiny bit of a floral undertone 2 years down the road (and counting).

Whenever I work with honey, I apply a trick I learned from a fellow soap-maker: I dilute the honey in some of my batch water to thin it out first, then I add it directly to my cooled-off lye solution before adding it to my oils. The solution turns a dark burnt orange and heats up to about 161F/71C, but no volcanoing or hissing or anything like that. When I do it this way, I don't get any of the usual problems associated with using honey in soap- no overheating in spite of me CPOPing it to encourage gel*, no cracking, no weeping honey spots in my finished soap.

*I CPOP by turning my oven on for only 2 minutes (which heats it to around 110F/43C) before putting my insulated soap inside it, then I immediately turn the oven off, shut the door and leave the soap inside for 18 to 24 hours before taking it out to unmold/cut.


My finished honey soaps turn out to a light golden tan color (the perfect color for a honey soap): http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=536290&postcount=1


IrishLass :)
 
I always use castor and lard in my soap, they are standard oils for me. Its really too bad you can't use lard, it really is wonderful stuff. I need to check my supplies, if I have enough lye I will whip up a small batch and try to prevent gel in individual molds.

Unfortunately I don't have any of my good dark raw beeswax so I'll have to use some lighter raw instead, I don't expect to get much if any scent from it.

The pollen added nothing to the soap except a bit of color and some extra sugar as its pretty sweet tasting. If I have time, I'll try and get pictures but this recipe moves pretty quickly.

EDIT: ok done. Unfortunately this batch won't help you determine if wax will help with the honey scent since I didn't have good wax to use but its always interesting to see how it behaves when soaped.

I did things a bit different this time, pollen and honey both went into the lye solution. I wanted the initial heat reaction between the sugars and lye to happen before I mixed it with the oil.

It worked very well, the solution got quite hot and kind of thick but by the time I mixed it in the oils, it was room temp. It went through quite a color change though.

I hit the batter with a stick blender just enough to mix everything together then hand stirred. It got thick fast but not insanely so. I had enough time to pour each bar but by the time I got the the last one, batter was setting up pretty thick. Could have been a issue if it was a bigger batch using individual molds.

Water with dissolved pollen. 2 tsp in 4.50 oz water
http://i68.tinypic.com/2dahbif.jpg

after adding lye and 1 tsp honey.
http://i67.tinypic.com/33bzmm0.jpg

freshly poured, hoping it lightens a bit but it does sort of look like caramel right now.
http://i65.tinypic.com/2lk4320.jpg

Wow, what a colour! Thank you for sharing your recipe with all the pics, my honey batter has never turned so dark caramel, but it's probably owing to the fact that mine are in the oils and not added to the lye. I've found lower than 4% honey tends to accelerate my batches, but above that it moves slower, possibly owing to the added water content. It might also be my habit of pouring at emulsion. :p

Very excited to see how it turns out and if the colour is similar to IrishLass's honey bar!

Welcome Aihrat!

Thank you for sharing your adventurous experiment with us! You'll have to keep us updated as to how it turns out down the road!

I used sugar at 10% ppo once as an experiment (the white, granulated kind), and the resulting soap stayed soft/spongy for well over a year (I couild still dent it by pressing with my finger). It sure lathered up awesome, though. It turned out so copiously bubbly that if I hadn't been the wiser, I would've sworn it was one of my 100% coconut oil bars with a 20% S/F. My usual, go-to amount of sugar is 5% ppo.

Honey is amazing in soap, and I find it to be even more bubbly in comparison to an equal amount of sugar ppo. In my honey/beeswax soap, I use honey at 5% ppo, along with beeswax @ 3% ppo, and I very lightly scent it @ 2% ppo with Wild Mountain Honey FO from Peak's (just enough to boost, then outlast the quickly-fading natural scent from the honey). The FO is amazing and very long-lasting. The 2% amount that I use makes my soap continue to smell lightly of real honey/beeswax with a tiny bit of a floral undertone 2 years down the road (and counting).

Whenever I work with honey, I apply a trick I learned from a fellow soap-maker: I dilute the honey in some of my batch water to thin it out first, then I add it directly to my cooled-off lye solution before adding it to my oils. The solution turns a dark burnt orange and heats up to about 161F/71C, but no volcanoing or hissing or anything like that. When I do it this way, I don't get any of the usual problems associated with using honey in soap- no overheating in spite of me CPOPing it to encourage gel*, no cracking, no weeping honey spots in my finished soap.

*I CPOP by turning my oven on for only 2 minutes (which heats it to around 110F/43C) before putting my insulated soap inside it, then I immediately turn the oven off, shut the door and leave the soap inside for 18 to 24 hours before taking it out to unmold/cut.


My finished honey soaps turn out to a light golden tan color (the perfect color for a honey soap): http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=536290&postcount=1


IrishLass

Hello IrishLass! Thanks for the welcome!

Wow, your 5% honey soap looks amazing and soooo delicious! It looks like both you and Obsidian use the honey-in-lye method. I'm intrigued by the possibility of no heat-ups or volcanoes in the mould, even in CPOP. The honey-in-oils method can get pretty stressful running to the freezer while the soap heats up in the moulds.

Your 10% sugar soap adventure gave me a good chuckle. :D I did add a looot of hard oils to my 12% recipe, so even though it's spongy as hell (currently sweating in rainy weather as I type), it's not soft enough to mould. After hearing how well your sugar soap lathered after a year, I'm definitely going to keep some for a year too.

Thank you for sharing your honey-in-lye secrets! I thought a loaf mould would be a no-no from the heat buildup, but maybe I might just dare trying a loaf mould with my 12% honey recipe. :twisted: Your soap is a delicious colour, too. I wouldn't have guessed it would turn out that way, judging by how dark Obsidian's lye water looks in their pics. I'm slightly worried the amount of honey I plan to use would completely smother the lye (135g honey and approx. 107g lye for 900g oils), but I suppose I'll have to try it to find out.

One day I'll be able to get ahold of honey fragrance oil...for now though, no dice :(
 
Out of curiosity, what does the beeswax add to the soap? Is it a just the added honey scent?

For my soap I used raw but cleaned beeswax and it adds hardness and a tiny bit of smell at 2%. Obsidian says they used raw, uncleaned(?) beeswax at 5% and it definitely adds to the honey smell though. I'm jealous that that can get raw, uncleaned wax!
 
For my soap I used raw but cleaned beeswax and it adds hardness and a tiny bit of smell at 2%. Obsidian says they used raw, uncleaned(?) beeswax at 5% and it definitely adds to the honey smell though. I'm jealous that that can get raw, uncleaned wax!

Obviously we need to start sweetening up some beekeepers... ;D
 
Out of curiosity, what does the beeswax add to the soap? Is it a just the added honey scent?

It adds extra hardness to mine, and I confess that the label appeal doesn't hurt either. ;) The only soap I use it in is my themed, honey/beeswax soap pictured in the link in my other post above, which I make with my all-veggie, 50% olive oil formula. I don't sell, but it makes a nice gift combo along with a tube or 2 of my honey-flavored lip balm (made with a honey flavor oil, not real honey).


IrishLass :)
 
I'll get some pics of my soap today. They have lightened considerably but not quite as light as Irishlass's, I'm sure its the pollen that altered the final color.

I use wax because I like how it feels in soap. It seems to leave a film that makes the skin feel smooth and soft. The added honey scent was just a nice side affect. I get my wax directly from a beekeeper, its been melted and filtered through cloth but thats all, it smells amazing.

For some reason this batch is quite soft still, the bars didn't come out of the mold nicely at all. Most are a bit rough looking but I'm not too concerned with looks anymore. I rarely even bother with scent or color unless I'm making soap to give away.
 
Hello IrishLass! Thanks for the welcome!

Wow, your 5% honey soap looks amazing and soooo delicious! It looks like both you and Obsidian use the honey-in-lye method. I'm intrigued by the possibility of no heat-ups or volcanoes in the mould, even in CPOP. The honey-in-oils method can get pretty stressful running to the freezer while the soap heats up in the moulds............

Thank you for sharing your honey-in-lye secrets! I thought a loaf mould would be a no-no from the heat buildup, but maybe I might just dare trying a loaf mould with my 12% honey recipe. :twisted: Your soap is a delicious colour, too. I wouldn't have guessed it would turn out that way, judging by how dark Obsidian's lye water looks in their pics. I'm slightly worried the amount of honey I plan to use would completely smother the lye (135g honey and approx. 107g lye for 900g oils), but I suppose I'll have to try it to find out.

Thank you! :) You should try the method. It was scary for me the first time I did it- seeing my lye water turn such a dark burnt orange color that it looked black from a distance had me worried that my soap would turn out just as dark- but my worries were for nothing. The soap came out a lovely light caramel color to my delighted surprise.

Before using this method, my honey soaps would sometimes turn out with honey spots/dots that would weep out of my soap, and I also had to keep a close watch on them so they wouldn't crack from overheating, which some would do anyway in spite of using a slab mold and putting in the fridge, etc... Since mixing the honey in the cooled-off lye water, all of those annoyances have disappeared for me and I can use an insulated log mold and let it go through complete gel in a gently warm place without fear.


IrishLass :)
 

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