Lotus
Well-Known Member
Please tell me! How do you know your soap is done curing? I hear so many people say that "their soap took 6 weeks to cure." I figured 4 weeks was the going rate. What constitutes a cured bar of soap?
Mother used to make me wash my mouth out with soap. I became an addict. It's her fault.
So did my Mom that's why I can't bring myself to do the zap test!
In another soap group, they said, weigh your soaps. The water evaporates as the soap cures. When it's done, it doesn't lose any more water, so it is "done," and it will weigh the same for 4 days running. I every other day after week four. This is something I've only recently started doing, so try it out and see if it works for you for awhile. I think 4 weeks is the going rate because after a month the soap is aged enough - the elements have come together and it's fairly hard and the lather has matured some. Just speculation .
I think it depends a bit on the conditions while curing and the soap recipe too. If you can maintain a warm room temp in your curing area then it should be done in 4 weeks for a standard bar, maybe double or even triple for a castile bar. As i understand it, curing is an ongoing process though and the longer you can leave it the better it gets. It's a bit of a balancing act!
So for my bars that are still pretty soft around the edges, I can assume it will take a bit longer (they're a bit olive oil heavy)?
Edit: now I have another forum question.
In another soap group, they said, weigh your soaps. The water evaporates as the soap cures. When it's done, it doesn't lose any more water, so it is "done," and it will weigh the same for 4 days running. I every other day after week four. This is something I've only recently started doing, so try it out and see if it works for you for awhile. I think 4 weeks is the going rate because after a month the soap is aged enough - the elements have come together and it's fairly hard and the lather has matured some. Just speculation .
How long have they been sitting?
I think it depends a bit on the conditions while curing and the soap recipe too. If you can maintain a warm room temp in your curing area then it should be done in 4 weeks for a standard bar, maybe double or even triple for a castile bar. As i understand it, curing is an ongoing process though and the longer you can leave it the better it gets. It's a bit of a balancing act!
I'd wondered about that. Do you think a dehydrator has any effect on soap? Sure it will dehydrate faster since dehydrators do that, but does it also age the soaps?
I sometimes have set the oven on warm and put the soap box in it to speed up the process. I then checked it every every so often to make sure everything was ok and pulled it out after 8 hours. I guess it works because I have never waited 6 weeks to try a soap. On average, I prefer to get my PH down to 8.5 before I sell or give away my soaps. For personal use, I am a little more liberal.I've heard you can use a dehumidifier to speed up a cure by about 30% as long ss the room is warm enough too. I'd like to try this once I've got enough soaps into my curing room to nake it worthwhile. I tried putting soaps in my food dehydrator once the lye had been absorbed but unfortunately they warped quite badly. I think curing needs to be slow enough that the water on the inside of the bar balances that on the outside. It's a bit like baking a cake! Mmm, cake
Please tell me! How do you know your soap is done curing? I hear so many people say that "their soap took 6 weeks to cure." I figured 4 weeks was the going rate. What constitutes a cured bar of soap?
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