I got slime!

[Arthur Dent]

A little over a month ago I was in the mood to make a batch of soap, but discovered that I was out of lard (oh no!!!). I did however, have an unopened can of Crisco in the freezer, so made up a batch of veggie soap using the following (yes, I ran it through SoapCalc):

OO 50%
Crisco (new w/palm) 30%
CO 15%
Castor oil 5%

No scents and no colors.
According to my notes it traced in about 2 minutes.

This morning I decided it was time to give it a try in the shower. I was pleasantly surprised at the nice foamy lather. Not a big bubbler, but that's ok. And practically no detectable smell.
This afternoon I realized that the 15% CO hadn't so far started me itching... yay!
So tonight I used the same bar to wash my hands before supper... HOLY COW!!! Slime Fest 2015! I rubbed and rubbed and all I got was slime, like folks say they get with their Castile bars. I kept at it and added some more water, and eventually I did work up a little lather.
I'll try it again in my next shower, see what it does then.
My 100% Castile made the same weekend is still slime free and very nice.
I guess I'm not asking any questions, just making an observation.

 

[CTAnton]

I'm wondering if with that high a percentage of OO you need a longer cure to be fair in your evaluation Arthur....but I am curious as to what the mavens have to say!

 

[Jstar]

Im thinking the high OO with the addition to whatever is in the Crisco, which has made a difference in the cure from the 100% OO soap you did as well. I'd give it another test at maybe 3 months or longer

 

[not_ally]

Oh, no, Arthur. I agree, it is probably the olive, there must be some kind of dis-synergy (totally made up word) w/the Crisco, if you are generally OK w/high amts of olive. I am not, I use a little (less than 15% most of the time), but I do not like the feel at much more than that.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Dis-synergy, I like that!. I figure it has to be due somehow to the OO/Crisco combination, since the Castile (100% OO) batch I made the same day is not slimy at all. Also, I made a batch a couple of days later with 70 %OO, 25% lard, and 5% castor that is very nice right now, with no slime.
I tried that bar again last night in the shower, yuck. I have no idea why it was lovely the very first time and snotty slime ever since, unless maybe it has absorbed some water since the first use and that has triggered the snot.
Anyway, this bar and the rest of that snotty batch have been put on the back row of the top shelf on the curing rack, behind the 100% OO batch. Maybe sometime around Christmas it will be better.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Dis-synergy, I like that!. I figure it has to be due somehow to the OO/Crisco combination, since the Castile (100% OO) batch I made the same day is not slimy at all.

I think you are right about that combination. It would result in a soap with a lot more linoleic acid than you would have with just an OO or OO/CO soap. That's not a direction you generally want to go with castile, as it will make it even more eager to absorb water and fall apart.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

As an afterthought, I have doubts that castor oil is helpful in an OO soap and I wonder if it might contribute to this problem. I believe what ricinoleate may be doing is making other soaps more soluble. There is information that even small amounts of castor (3%) can contribute significantly to the clarity of liquid soaps by this mechanism, which seems like a reasonable explanation for how it functions in bar soaps as well. It would be especially helpful for expressing creamy lather in formulations containing a fair amount of palmitic and/or stearic. Oleate, however, is already quite soluble and tends to form slime rather than lather.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I tried this out a few more times over the last few days and found no significant improvement from August. Too much slime for the mediocre lather, so I pitched the rest of the batch. Lesson learned.

 

[IrishLass]

Did you ever try lathering it with a nylon pouf? I get the most awesome, luxuriant lather when I use my slimy 100% Castile with a pouf. Without the pouf, all I get is mucho slime and thin, scanty lather, if you can even call it lather, but the pouf works like magic on it.


IrishLass

 

[Obsidian]

I'm going to ask a really stupid question, any chance you got the crisco soap and the castile mixed up? The lather you are describing really does sound like castile snot.

 

[cmzaha]

I am thinking maybe the combination of soy oil and the high OO may have caused the slime. New Crisco with palm is not 100% palm like the shortening I use. Just a thought. I do agree with IrishLass that a bath pouf makes a huge difference with high OO soapies.

 

[Arthur Dent]

No, no chance of having them mixed up, I label everything and have it all separated. But that was a good question.
I admit that I didn't try a nylon pouf, that might have helped, but I don't have one.

 

[Obsidian]

Your slime/no slime issue has me perplexed, I wonder if it has something to do with your water? Would you be willing to test a bar of my aged castile? Its about 14 months old. If you PM me your addy, I'll send you a bar.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Sure, and I'll send you a bar of mine! PMing you shortly.