Feedback wanted - trying to make a slooooow recipe

[Picklekin]

Hi folks,

I had been making soap along the lines of 35 palm, 20 coconut, 25 olive, 10 soybean, 5 shea and 5 castor for a while with reasonable success... but I was findings that it moved pretty fast, making it hard to do fancy designs.

Last week I had a go at the following, with the theory that upping the olive oil would slow everything down:

However, it didn't really seem that much slower, even when I soaped at 30C (86F).

I also noticed a slight oily residue after a week which I didn't love, it does seem nice an hard even after a week but I haven't tested it yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a recipe that allows time for nice designs but still ends up with a nice hard, long-lived bar?

 

[AliOop]

If you are open to replacing the palm with lard, that will make a huge difference. Lard is very slow-moving and also makes wonderful soap!

 

[dibbles]

I second lard for slow moving. Otherwise, are you using regular or pomace olive oil? What is your lye concentration? Did you use a fragrance/essential oil that could be part of the problem? I've never used soybean oil, but also haven't heard of it causing problems. Nothing in your recipe sticks out to me. Are you using the stick blender sparingly?

 

[AliensrReal]

Castor oil can speed up trace as well as coconut oil. I third the lard suggestion and even trying rice bran oil as well.

 

[glendam]

Are you using fragrance s in your soap? And if so, slow moving ones? Going easy with the stick blender? Do you have a water discount?

 

[Picklekin]

Thank you for all your feedback. I should have mentioned I prefer to keep the soap vegan, the UK seems to have less tolerance for lard!

I have been using 35% lye solution, I will give 30% a go next time. I don't think it can be over blending, but it could be the fragrance, although I have used it before, I will try a different, more tested one next time.