Need to cut my soap faster.

[MarinaB]

Usually I made mono oil soap using coconut oil. I like that soap, very hard and lathers very well.
Right now I started to make 3-4 oils soap with tallow, cocoa butter, castor oil, olive oil, coconut oil. It takes so long before I can cut my bars. Can I somehow speed up the process? Add salt? Thank you!

 

[atiz]

Usually I made mono oil soap using coconut oil. I like that soap, very hard and lathers very well.
Right now I started to make 3-4 oils soap with tallow, cocoa butter, castor oil, olive oil, coconut oil. It takes so long before I can cut my bars. Can I somehow speed up the process? Add salt? Thank you!

Why would you want to cut it faster?
But yes, adding salt can help, or people also use sodium lactate. Ensuring that the soap gels also helps.

ETA: it greatly depends on the recipe too. I can usually cut within 8 hours, and I don't use sodium lactate. I use a bit of beeswax which also helps, and quite a lot of hard butters.

 

[Megan]

I don't add salt or SL anymore and I can still cut my bars within a day if I gel...and that's at 60% soft oils (although I'm tweaking my recipe soon for other reasons)

 

[MarinaB]

Atiz, my working schedule is a problem. I try to bring my soap with me, but our office is smelling too much.

 

[atiz]

Oh I see -- I don't have experience with sodium lactate, but that's what people seem to use the most. I think a little salt also helps.
I tend to soap either in the weekend of in the evening, and cut the next morning.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I always use Sodium Lactate and gel my soaps and I never have To wait 24 hours. I generally use about 60/40 hard to soft oils.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Using sodium lactate or salt will help harden the soap and speed up the unmolding/cutting wait time. But the recipe and if you gel it, will play a larger role in the wait time. I have made soap without salt or sodium lactate it and with palm oil of some sort and coconut oil plus force gelling it, it is ready to cut in 18 hours.