Cetyl alcohol in CP soap

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nframe

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I read that cetyl alcohol will increase and stabilise the lather in CP soaps so of course I had to try it. I used it at 2% of the oil weight and melted it beforehand. When I poured it into the batter (which was nearly at trace) it turned into blobs. Stirring was not enough to dissolve them so I used the stick blender. The problem is that I then had a thick trace. When I poured the soap into moulds, I could see that there were still blobs remaining. I put the moulds in the oven at 80C and left the oven on for 30 minutes. I hope that the heat from the oven will dissolve the cetyl alcohol. Do any of you have any experience of this?
 
No but I use cetyl alcohol in my syndet shampoo bars and it has a very high melt point. It stands to reason that if it cools below that point it will re-harden. You would most likely need to keep the oils/batter at a high temperature to avoid the cetyl alcohol re-solidifying. And of course by soaping at that high of a temperature would mean that your batter will likely trace quickly.
 
No but I use cetyl alcohol in my syndet shampoo bars and it has a very high melt point. It stands to reason that if it cools below that point it will re-harden. You would most likely need to keep the oils/batter at a high temperature to avoid the cetyl alcohol re-solidifying. And of course by soaping at that high of a temperature would mean that your batter will likely trace quickly.
Exactly! So I guess that's the end of the experiment...
 
I agree you'd have to handle it like soaping with beeswax. But why not do a hot process method? I'd think that would work well to keep the cetyl alcohol melted, if you don't mind the rustic look of HP.
 

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