Momsta5
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
Today I tested my last batch of CP soap to see if it could be used. Since I share soap with family I wanted to make sure it was ready. It had stopped dropping weight.
First I cut to the center of a bar. It is still a little soft in the center/outside is nice and hard. Observed no liquid, DOS, oil slicks or holes on the bar. This soap did a partial gel but looks okay.
Did 4 tests:
So I went over the recipe:
Is it possible the plastic is leeching something into the water and therefore my soap/water solution is contaminated?
Had to test this further. Had no other distilled water on hand, knew tap would turn pink. Okay, here is the gross part. I took a center cut of a bar. On the left I used a drop of my own spit (ick but I needed something to test with) and on the other side I put a drop of tap water. Then I added a drop of the pheno solution. Instant pink on the tap water side, zero pink on the spit side.
Repeated this with a new soap sample and distilled water. Spit on one side and distilled water from the bottle on the other. Spit side was clear and distilled side was dark pink!
I am thinking the distilled water was somehow contaminated and that it caused a false positive with the pheno. I am curious what our soapy experts think about this.
I'm going to go ahead and cure for an additional two weeks. Hoping that the center will harden up a bit more and just to have a milder bar. Thank you all for your time. Look forward to your thoughts.
Today I tested my last batch of CP soap to see if it could be used. Since I share soap with family I wanted to make sure it was ready. It had stopped dropping weight.
First I cut to the center of a bar. It is still a little soft in the center/outside is nice and hard. Observed no liquid, DOS, oil slicks or holes on the bar. This soap did a partial gel but looks okay.
Did 4 tests:
- zap-no zap but about a minute later a tiny bit of burning that I associate with the EO/FO blend (Brambleberry Pure Honey FO and Litsea Cubeba EO)
- Tested it to wash hands with (good creamy lather, no drying or burning)
- Dissolved soap in distilled water and tested using my pH test strips (tested at an 8 )
- Using a pre-made 1% phenolphthalein in alcohol solution dissolved soap in distilled water and after pheno drops darned if it didn't turn dark pink/fuchsia!! :shock:
So I went over the recipe:
- Castor 2.6oz, Coconut Oil 10.6oz and Olive Oil 29.1oz/H2o 16.07oz and lye 5.91oz
- Verified my cure time (5 weeks today)
- Made sure that I didn't accidentally get tap water/other liquids on anything I was working with.
- Then I looked at the bottle of distilled water (large spigot type) and realized it was the last little bit in the bottle that I'd used.
Is it possible the plastic is leeching something into the water and therefore my soap/water solution is contaminated?
Had to test this further. Had no other distilled water on hand, knew tap would turn pink. Okay, here is the gross part. I took a center cut of a bar. On the left I used a drop of my own spit (ick but I needed something to test with) and on the other side I put a drop of tap water. Then I added a drop of the pheno solution. Instant pink on the tap water side, zero pink on the spit side.
Repeated this with a new soap sample and distilled water. Spit on one side and distilled water from the bottle on the other. Spit side was clear and distilled side was dark pink!
I am thinking the distilled water was somehow contaminated and that it caused a false positive with the pheno. I am curious what our soapy experts think about this.
- Was this a reasonable testing process to rule out a drying and or lye-heavy soap?
- Am I being overly paranoid after no zap? :crazy:
- Has anyone ever used spit in their test to rule out lye-heavy soap with phenolphthalein solution before?
I'm going to go ahead and cure for an additional two weeks. Hoping that the center will harden up a bit more and just to have a milder bar. Thank you all for your time. Look forward to your thoughts.