Do I cut my salt soap when it's hot???

[soapqueen]

Just made my first salt soap tonight. I read somewhere on here that you should unmould and cut after 2-4 hours. It is now 2 hours and it is pretty hot. If it is still hot after 4 hour do I still unmould??

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

Mine took about 12 hours before it felt firm enough to the touch for me to consider unmolding.

I think it has a lot to do with your selection of oils. I did not use 100 % coconut like most of the recipes I have seen.

After unmolding mine it still felt a little soft so I had to leave it a while (about another hour) before I cut it.

 

[southernvtsoap]

I make my salt soaps with 90% CO, 5% shea butter, and 5% castor. I add 75% of oil weight in sea salt and always unmold and cut within 2 hours. If I wait any longer, they crumble on me.

 

[soapqueen]

Thanks Magallia,
I've used 70% CO, 20% shea, 10% castor, but only 7% superfat and no water discount. I'm just afraind that as it's hot it will gel, anddon't want to try unmoulding it only to find tht it is liquid in the middle. It seems pretty firm now, so I think I'll unmould and see what happens.....fingers crossed. Now I'm worried that it will be too drying as I didn't do the huge superfat that others recommend...we shall see.

 

[whisks]

i just made my first salt soap 2 or so days ago, but waited to get my nizzy mould before trying it. i'd cut your soap pretty soon because my soap crumbled very easily, so it was lucky i used a mould. i'd be inclined to cut the pieces fairly big because of the srumble factor. of course, if your soap doesn't crumble, you can cut it any way you like.

 

[soapqueen]

Darn, just checked it and it's definitely partially gelling.

 

[soapqueen]

I can't cut it when gelling can I? So what can I do but wait until it cools a bit, which could be hours???
I used 1/2 the weight of oils in salt, so maybe it wont be so crumbly? What ration of salt to oil dod you use?

 

[MagiaDellaLuna]

I used 50 % of the oil weight in salt.

My oils were a little unconventional as I wanted half the batch for shampoo soap.

I used 60 % PKO, 20 % OO and 20 % Castor. I superfatted 15 % and soaped at room temp and mine did not heat up at all, but it also did not crumble and is curing beautifully.

 

[soapqueen]

Maybe I soaped too hot. Usually I combine lye and oils around 115 degrees, yesterday tried goats milk soap so used 95 degrees. With the salt soap, because I was using so much coconut and shea, and only 10% soft oil, I thought it best to increase the temp. to 125, in case I got false trace syndrome.....
I'm definitely not having a lot of luck this weekend. Still, even if it has partial trace markings, I'll be happy if it cuts all right. I was just looking forward to a really white bar, as I don't use titanium dioxide, so don't often have that pleasure. I'll report back on final outcome.

 

[whisks]

i used 100%coconut with 20% superfat and 80% salt....maybe that's why it was crumbly? i tested it for zapping, then used a broken piece to shower with. it's very nice, but i'm sure it will be nicer as time goes by. i'loved how it was so white - the whitest of anything i have made.

 

[soapqueen]

Yes, I'm hoping mine will be white. Strangely, I made a pure olive oil soap with virgin OO (I usually use pomace which is a gold colour) - the virgin was really dark green, and yet when the soap cured it was very white.