Finally tried out my first soaps

[Flutter]

It has been over 4 weeks now (I think) and I tried my soaps. Neither is very hard, but I think I used more soft oils that I should have. I tested the PH and it was 8, so I figured safe to use and went with it.

The lather is nice and I really like the way it feels over regular store bought soap. I am going to try to make a homemade loaf or slab mold and try another batch soon.

 

[toxikon]

Isn't it exciting to try out your first soaps?

Yes, if your recipe was high in soft oils and you happened to use full water, you will need a longer curing period to get your soap harder.

And pH strips don't really work well with solid things like bars of soap. You won't get accurate results. Lye-based soap will always been in the 8-10 pH range, so as long as they're passing the zap-test, don't worry about the pH. You can't really change it!

 

[Kamahido]

Welcome to the addiction! pH strips will not tell you if you have a lye heavy soap, nor will it tell you the (accurate) pH of you bar soap. Stick with the zap test and you will be fine.

 

[penelopejane]

If you share your recipe and your intention for the soap you will get a lot of helpful suggestions.

 

[Flutter]

In reference to PH ... I read some about it online before finding this forum and it seemed that people were torn. I decided to try the strips to avoid the zap - ie; risk of chemical burn to my tongue

I later up a bar and test the suds. I tested a store bought bar and mine and they were the same, so I figured it was good. I read that anything under 10 was safe, but closer to 8 was more ideal and less likely to cause irritation.

If you share your recipe and your intention for the soap you will get a lot of helpful suggestions.

I did post the recipe I used in another thread when I first joined. Everyone pretty much told me it was not a good one and used too many soft oils.

EDIT - Here is the other thread where I posted my recipes ... http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=63915

 

[Zany_in_CO]

In reference to PH ... I read some about it online before finding this forum and it seemed that people were torn. I decided to try the strips to avoid the zap - ie; risk of chemical burn to my tongue

:clap: Good thinking! On the other hand, pH strips aren't all that reliable and you may find that you don't need them as time goes by. Once you establish "cure time" for each soap you make, just lathering up will tell you whether or not the soap is fully saponified and maybe needs another week or so.

 

[IrishLass]

pH strips aren't all that reliable

Ditto that. The surfactant nature of soap messes with the indicator chemicals on the strips and can throw your reading off by 2 to 3 units.

Also- pH won't tell you the most important thing- namely if you still have unreacted lye in your soap or if it is safe-to-use yet or not. The normal pH of lye-based soap can range anywhere from about 8.5 to as high as 12.4 and still be perfectly safe to use......... or not. A proper tongue test will tell you for sure.

Regarding the 12.36 pH- in a dermatological Irritability Index test, Johnson's Baby soap with oatmeal (a lye-based soap) tested out at 12.4 on the pH scale and was rated the least irritating of all the soaps tested, while a Camay soap with a pH of 10.4 rated as most irritating. Go figure. It just goes to show that pH does not tell the whole story and should not be used as the 'gold standard' indicator of a soaps safety or quality or comfort.

There's a lot of misinformation on the net regarding soap pH, as well as how to conduct a tongue test- such as directly licking the soap, etc...(wrong way/bad idea), but if you conduct the tongue test the safe and proper way as explained by Dr. Kevin Dunn, it is highly unlikely you will ever get a chemical burn.

If you need to know the pH of your soap for other reasons, though (e.g. if your skin happens to be pH-sensitive), the best pH strips to use are plastic lab-grade strips. They are much more expensive, but they are much more accurate than paper strips. To properly use any pH strips with lye-based soap (plastic or paper) you'll first need to make a 1% solution of your soap to test (i.e., don't test the suds or the soap directly). Take 1 gram of your soap and dissolve it in 99 g of distilled water, then test with the strip.


IrishLass

 

[toxikon]

Zap-testing is an essential aspect of soap making. pH strips won't tell you if there's excess lye in your soap!

It's really not dangerous, just wet your (gloved) finger, swipe it against your soap, then gently touch the tip of your tongue. You can rinse your mouth right afterwards. Zapping feels like licking a battery, it's unmistakable so you'll know right away if your soap is safe to use or not.

 

[penelopejane]

So this is the soap recipe you used:
The Nerdy wife's Healing Skin Bar

12.5 oz (354 g) infused olive oil (44.64%)
3.5 oz (99 g) sunflower or sweet almond oil (12.5%)
8 oz (227 g) coconut oil(28.57%)
4 oz (113 g) kokum or cocoa butter (14.29%) (OR use tallow or lard)
3.95 oz (112 g) lye (sodium hydroxide)
8.5 oz (241 g) cooled herbal tea
at trace, stir in 1 tablespoon tamanu or rosehip seed oil
optional, at trace, stir in 20 g lavender essential oil + 10 g tea tree essential oil

There are not too many soft oils in this soap.
100% OO makes a rock hard soap after cure.
This should make a good soap.

The recipe she gives has a lye concentration of about 30% so it should have moved been ok.
Is it possible that when you added the tea you added more than was in the recipe? That will make a soft soap.
Or do you think you added more than 30 g of EO?

If you are CPing soap there is no need to add oils or the EO after trace (that applies to HP but not CP). You can mix them all in together and I think you will find that you get a more even mix if you do this.

If you followed this recipe exactly I can't see why you would end up with soft soap especially after a 4 week cure.
Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[Flutter]

I used EVOO (different from 100% OO?) and then shea instead of cocoa butter and ran it through a lye calculator. I'm pretty sure the water/tea measurement was right. I am not sure if I added more than 30g of EO or not. IDK - I left some out to cure longer, so we will see. It is soap, so I am calling it a win for a first attempt.

 

[penelopejane]

I always use EVOO but it's pretty cheap here. EVOO is the same as 100% OO but it first cold pressed.

 

[Cindy2428]

Curing/aging is more than just having fully saponified soap. Since you are trying to do things the right way from the beginning :bath1: start a soap journal/binder and document your findings.

Also weigh your soap once a week - once the weight doesn't change very much, your water evaporation will be complete and your soap should reach it's "hardness" property.
If you like this recipe, you can also tweak future batches by lowering your water %, add a little beeswax, etc.

Congrats on your successful first batch!

 

[SunRiseArts]

In reference to PH ... I read some about it online before finding this forum and it seemed that people were torn. I decided to try the strips to avoid the zap - ie; risk of chemical burn to my tongue

I later up a bar and test the suds. I tested a store bought bar and mine and they were the same, so I figured it was good. I read that anything under 10 was safe, but closer to 8 was more ideal and less likely to cause irritation.

That is normally what I do, I cannot bring myself to put the soap in my mouth .... plus I think is kinda unsanitary ...

 

[BattleGnome]

plus I think is kinda unsanitary ...

Technically... each time you lather soap you're dissolving the topmost layer and revealing "clean" soap underneath.

(Only a technicality, I won't force you to lick/eat soap)

 

[Janefromsacramento]

If you correctly observe the proportions ..., I did it the first time!
But I'm a newbie