Do I need to add more lye?

[Rahil]

I used potassium and sodium hydroxide and used less than the amount that I was supposed to for the recipe. I want to rebatch the soap. Do I need to add more lye when rebatching this soap? Also why did the soap not turn black when I used fine activated charcoal? The oils I used were ucuuba, shea butter, olive oil, and coconut oil.

 

[DeeAnna]

I used potassium and sodium hydroxide and used less than the amount that I was supposed to for the recipe. I want to rebatch the soap. Do I need to add more lye when rebatching this soap? Also why did the soap not turn black when I used fine activated charcoal? The oils I used were ucuuba, shea butter, olive oil, and coconut oil.

If you want the best advice, you need to give the whole recipe with all ingredients in weights. A list of the fats you used isn't all that helpful.

What reason did you have for using using less alkali than the recipe called for? I'm puzzled why you would make that choice, so could you explain, please?

Why do you want to rebatch the soap? If you need to ask whether to add the missing alkali when rebatching, that tells me that adding the missing alkali is not a motivator for rebatching. So I'm curious about your goals for rebatching.

To answer your question, yes, you can add the missing alkali if you think that's the right thing for you to do.

Here are two recent threads on rebatching that give people's opinions on this technique -- Can I rebatch this soap and Should I rebatch or leave as is?

If you want to use activated charcoal to get black, then you need to add enough AC to get black rather than gray. I would normally use black oxide as well as AC to get a deep black shade. Since you're coloring the entire soap, expect your washcloth and the lather to be dark.

 

[Rahil]

If you want the best advice, you need to give the whole recipe with all ingredients in weights. A list of the fats you used isn't all that helpful.

What reason did you have for using using less alkali than the recipe called for? I'm puzzled why you would make that choice, so could you explain, please?

Why do you want to rebatch the soap? If you need to ask whether to add the missing alkali when rebatching, that tells me that adding the missing alkali is not a motivator for rebatching. So I'm curious about your goals for rebatching.

To answer your question, yes, you can add the missing alkali if you think that's the right thing for you to do.

Here are two recent threads on rebatching that give people's opinions on this technique -- Can I rebatch this soap and Should I rebatch or leave as is?

If you want to use activated charcoal to get black, then you need to add enough AC to get black rather than gray. I would normally use black oxide as well as AC to get a deep black shade. Since you're coloring the entire soap, expect your washcloth and the lather to be dark.

If I didn't use enough alkali, will my soap still clean the skin properly? I want to rebatch for the scent as well as add more alkali if needed. If I don't need to add more lye, then I'll just rebatch to change the scent.

 

[BattleGnome]

Adding the extra alkali will depend on how much you used in the first place. A full recipe will help us give a recommendation.

example: if your recipe calls for 5oz lye and 30oz of oil but you chose to use 2oz lye the recommendation would be to add more. If your recipe calls for 5oz lye for the 30oz oils and you added 4.5oz lye, it might not matter as much

 

[TheGecko]

If I didn't use enough alkali, will my soap still clean the skin properly? I want to rebatch for the scent as well as add more alkali if needed. If I don't need to add more lye, then I'll just rebatch to change the scent.

The amount of lye recommended is the amount needed to turn your oils/butter in proper soap. If you use less lye than recommended, depending on how less, youwill end up with a heavily super fated soap or a soap that will never properly cure.

Oh...your AC, you obviously didn’t use enough. For a true black, add some black oxide or mica

 

[artemis]

If I didn't use enough alkali, will my soap still clean the skin properly?

Most soap recipes include a "superfat," which is kind of like deliberately using less alkali. The soap still cleans properly. However, without the complete recipe (as you made it, not as it was originally), we can't really say anything about your batch.

I personally dislike rebatching, so as soon as a loaf like that cured, I would just use it anyway or gift the bars to friends or chop it up and use it as confetti in a new soap.

I would also be making smaller batches.

 

[DeeAnna]

If I didn't use enough alkali, will my soap still clean the skin properly?....

Maybe. Maybe not. I can't say for sure without a recipe to analyze.

You aren't doing yourself any favors by using less (or more) alkali just on a whim. You can only make an informed decision if you take the time to do the calculations.

You can add fragrance when you rebatch, but the existing fragrance doesn't go away during the rebatch process. So if you don't like how it smells now, it may not get better after rebatching.

 

[Rahil]

Thank you all. I'm going to add the left out lye. As for the fragrance, it isn't a bad scent and I think with the addition of Jasmine Sambac it'll enhance it.

 

[shunt2011]

You still didn’t answer the questions that we’re asked.