Aged Soap Weeping

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Oct 16, 2014
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I’ve been making CP soap for a couple years and have several recipes. After 6 weeks of curing, they’re great; hard, good lather, no zap or lye pockets. However, all my soaps inevitably start “weeping” after sitting on the shelf for @ 5 to 8 months. They all starting beading a liquid on the outside. It’s a little sticky, no zap from it. I store the soap in my basement so it’s not overly hot or humid and I’ve tried both essential oils and fragrance oils, all result in same problem. I like giving away soap, but am concerned that if it sits in their shelves for too long, it’ll become weepy on their shelves as well. I've read some places that it might be related to attracting moisture from the air, but how then could anyone store soap in a bathroom w/o this happening. Any ideas?


My grime buster soap (superfat @ 3%)
Babasu @35%
Castor @ 10%
CO @ 35%
OO @ 20%
Beeswax 1%

My gentle soap (superfat @ 3%)
OO @ 20%
Grapeseed @ 30%
Castor @ 10%
Babasu @ 10%
Shea @ 15%
Kokum @ 5%
Sunflower @ 10%
Steric Acid/beeswax @ 2%
 
Hi Fred, and welcome to the forum.

My best guess is it is resulting from the humidity in your basement. It may be more humid than you think. Are you getting any orange spots on the soap? They might follow the sweating, especially with that much grapeseed oil in the second recipe.

Most people advise not to store handmade soap in the bathroom because without proper ventilation it can be humid there. I'd say most true basements (completely underground) are more humid than bathrooms.

You could bring some of your soaps upstairs and see whether that solves the problem. My guess is it will, and you will quickly be confident again about sharing your soaps with others.
 
Your well-cured soaps should be an absolute dream to use, and people should feel very lucky to receive them as gifts. I hope my thoughts -- and easy fix -- are correct. Please update this thread to let us know how it goes.
 

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