Making a soap with honey..... *UPDATE*

[Guest]

I'll be using honey in my soap for the first time tomorrow. If anyone has any advice for getting the best possible results, I'm all ears.

I'm going with this recipe (a 2 lb batch):

Olive Oil: 75%
Shea Butter: 15%
Castor Oil: 10%
Superfatted @ 8%

2-4 tablespoons honey

Will also be using about .5 oz lemongrass EO.

Usually I soap with my oils and lye solution both at about 100° or slightly higher..... pour at medium trace, wrap my mold in a towel and place in a 170° over for an hour.... then turn oven off and leave it in for another hour.... then take it out and leave it wrapped on the counter until it's cooled down.

I've heard that honey can turn up the heat, so would anyone advise I do any of the above differently?

 

[AshleyR]

I doubt you will even need to put it in the oven to force gel with the honey in it.

I made a soap with honey in it a week or so ago and it got so hot (I didn't even put it in the oven!) that it separated on me. I'm 99% sure the heat was the reason it separated - I dumped it back into my soaping pot, mixed it some more and hot processed it and it was fine.

So, my only advice would be not to heat/insulate it! Oh - and the honey will most likely turn your soap bright orange no matter when you add it.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

Wow, didn't realize it would get that hot. I won't insulate it then. How much honey do you like to use ppo? I definitely want it to have a noticeable honey scent as well as the conditioning and lather benefits.

And bright orange? :shock: I was expecting more of a honey brown....

 

[AshleyR]

I used 1 tsp. PPO.

Are you using any FO? Any soap I've made with honey has turned bright orange, but I've always used a discolouring FO (oatmeal milk & honey, or just a plain honey one) that discoloured the soap to a tan colour anyway, so it didn't stay orange.

What you might want to try is just hot processing your soap from the get go. A few people here on the boards say they do that with any soap that has honey in it to avoid any catastrophies!

 

[scrapgabbie]

this is what happened to my honey soap

http://www.thesoapdish.com.au/soap_blog/?p=696

 

[ilovedoxies]

Wow, I use honey often and have never had any of these issues.

I warm it and add it at trace. I use a couple teaspons per lb. In whipped soap I whip it into my oils before adding my lye mixture.

Also, it will not hold it's scent. You'll have to use an fo or eo for that.

 

[7053joanne]

I have used honey several times and haven't had any trouble with it. But knowing that it heats up pretty good I didn't insulate.

 

[Vinca Leaf]

Wow! Awesome Volcano!!!

 

[MsBien]

I regularly use honey too, and I haven't had these troubles either but I'm sure happy to find out about the potential. I love what it does to the soap, and I've always gotten a nice warm light brown color.

Stacie

 

[Guest]

I used 1 tsp. PPO.

Are you using any FO? Any soap I've made with honey has turned bright orange, but I've always used a discolouring FO (oatmeal milk & honey, or just a plain honey one) that discoloured the soap to a tan colour anyway, so it didn't stay orange.

What you might want to try is just hot processing your soap from the get go. A few people here on the boards say they do that with any soap that has honey in it to avoid any catastrophies!

I won't be using any FO, just a small amount of lemongrass EO.

I've never tried hot process before...

 

[Guest]

this is what happened to my honey soap

http://www.thesoapdish.com.au/soap_blog/?p=696

:shock: Crazy!

 

[Guest]

I regularly use honey too, and I haven't had these troubles either but I'm sure happy to find out about the potential. I love what it does to the soap, and I've always gotten a nice warm light brown color.

Stacie

How much honey do you usually use ppo that results in the light brown color?

 

[Mandarin]

I regularly use honey too, and I haven't had these troubles either but I'm sure happy to find out about the potential. I love what it does to the soap, and I've always gotten a nice warm light brown color.

I agree. My honey soaps have never turned any other color unless I added color to it. No matter how much honey that I have used the color has always been in the light brown range.

 

[Guest]

I use honey quite a bit . I soap at room temperature 75 or 80 degrees , I have never had trouble with it overheating ( so far, touch wood).I don't mix it in the lye water , I just warm it up a little in the microwave and add it at trace. I don't insulate it .I sit on the floor in my soap room in the basement where it is cool.I usually just cover it loosely with plastic wrap.

hope this helps
Kitn

 

[AK_Homesteaders]

this is what happened to my honey soap

http://www.thesoapdish.com.au/soap_blog/?p=696

Those bars look GREAT ! ! ! I've been trying to get some bars to turn out "rustic" like that. Maybe I'll try adding my honey to my lye water instead of at trace. I usually add 1 TBSP ppo at trace, then set the mold on a folded polar fleece blanket and wrap it well. It turns about the color of your finished bars for a few hours, but as the bars cure, they turn a creamy, off-white. And I use goat milk, too. I was thinking of trying HP to get more of a rustic look to my soaps. But you managed to do it without even trying! I'm jealous!

Jenny

 

[honor435]

not sure that .5 is going to smell at all in 2 lb batch,
hp is so easy, put oils in crock on high, then add lye/water mixture( no need to check any temps) then cook til all looks like gel, then add fo. honey, stir then put into log mold or whatever you are going to use.

 

[Lindy]

I love honey soaps! I use 1/4 - 1/3 cup in a 6 lb batch. I find the honey scent stays with the soap and so far (touch wood) I haven't had any problems with it overheating. Mind you I don't wrap these soaps and just let them do their thing.

 

[Ilovesoap]

I use honey often too at 1 Tbs per ppo. I get a graham crackery like color always. I warm my honey in the microwave, add a little raw soap to it and then add it at trace. It's lovely in soap. It smells so good!

 

[Lindy]

Oh I forgot to add that I use a liquid honey which I put in at light trace....

 

[AshleyR]

I guess it is not as common as I thought for the honey to turn the soap orange! It has happened to me when adding the honey to the lye water and when adding it at trace - even when soaping at cooler temps. Weird. Just my luck!