high olive(hp) not hardening

[honor435]

how long does it take? my hp is usually hard in a week, not this, never did this high olive oil soap, dont really like the smell(lavender), but wonder if its going to harden up?

 

[jcandleattic]

Regular CP OO soaps can take up to 5 weeks (sometimes longer) to harden. I would say HP may take 2-3 weeks.
Not 100% though, as I've only done HP once or twice...

 

[carebear]

what was the concentration of your lye solution?

and remember, olive oil takes forever anyway.

 

[kaseencook]

I normally don't do olive oil, because it is expensive, but got some pomace olive oil that was on sale the other week, and did a 100% OO batch of HP. I use discounted water (27% water as a % of oils, so it was 270g water to 1000g oil), and a few hours after moulding is was as solid as a rock, the hardest soap I have ever made in only a few hours! It was even getting hard to stamp...

I also had some soap remaining after I filled my first mould, so I beat it with the egg beater, and moulded it. That soap was even harder, very nice to cut, very clean edges as well and the surface was a lot less tacky and more dry feeling. It looked about the same as the non-whipped, but it floated. The whipping probably facilitated even more evaporation.

I think reducing the water might be worth a try to get harder OO.

 

[Lindy]

When I do 100% OO I superfat @ 5% and water discount by 10%. I find that doing this with CP I have a hard bar of soap within a week or so. Castille & Bastille are my favourite soaps.

Cheers
Lindy

 

[Jeremy]

I have had my 100 % PO lavender soap curing for 4 weeks now and it's pretty darn hard. I have just started doing water discounts and that it supposed to help speed up the curing time.