Need your urgent feedback

[Wessam]

Happy Valentine everyone
I was packing my soap bars to gove them to my office colleagues tomorrow for the valentine... hoever one of the batches (photo attached) is 5 weeks old... but i could see some white spots (pockets?) in several parts of the bars of this specific batch (as if some parts of the bar is turning whit..). is this soap safe to use?

 

[MorpheusPA]

Happy Valentine everyone
I was packing my soap bars to gove them to my office colleagues tomorrow for the valentine... hoever one of the batches (photo attached) is 5 weeks old... but i could see some white spots (pockets?) in several parts of the bars of this specific batch... is this soap safe to use?

That orange spot actually concerns me more as it looks like DOS--Dreaded Orange Spot. Or, rancidity from the oil rotting in the soap. While probably still entirely safe to use, most of us would call it...well, distasteful...and wouldn't gift that soap.

The orange seems to run through the soap and the white spot is just a place the decay hasn't reached yet.

So no, I wouldn't give those away just on general principles.

What was the recipe? We can probably suggest something less DOS-prone for you!

 

[Cindy2428]

I see the small spots but can't tell if it's lye. You do have a good case of DOS (Dreaded Orange Spots) though. Indicative of rancidity. The soap is still safe to use but generally unsightly. I like the mold you used. Have you used the soap? Did your recipe include a large amount of soft oils?

 

[shunt2011]

I'd say the small spots may be just air holes, however as the others stated, I'd be more concerned with the possible DOS on the soap. What oils/additives did you use to make the soap and how did you cure them? Some oils are prone to DOS unfortunately. If it is indeed DOS I would not gift them to anyone.

 

[Wessam]

the brown spots were dry thyme leaves who could not survive the lye... i have no problem gifting it to my friends with the brown spots... what i am afraid of is the spots where the soap went white! I cannot remember the recipe, but it was pure olive oil and i used for lye calculation this site
http://www.brambleberry.com/pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx
probably it was 250 gm of olive oil. So regardless of how it looks is it bad for the skin?

 

[MorpheusPA]

the brown spots were dry thyme leaves who could not survive the lye... i have no problem gifting it to my friends with the brown spots... what i am afraid of is the spots where the soap went white! I cannot remember the recipe, but it was pure olive oil and i used for lye calculation this site
http://www.brambleberry.com/pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx
probably it was 250 gm of olive oil. So regardless of how it looks is it bad for the skin?

Gotcha. Yeah, leaves and natural plant bits tend to be devoured by the Lye Monster.

White spots can be lye heavy, so zap (tongue) test those. if it feels like you licked a 9 volt battery's contacts, it's lye heavy and shouldn't be used.

They can also simply be places where the colorant (thyme in your case) didn't disperse well, or stearic spots. Both of those are harmless.

So basically, if there's no zap, it's safe to use.

 

[Wessam]

I tested it with my tongue... tastes like mild soap... no zap

 

[newbie]

No one wants to crush your Valentine's hopes but a 100% Olive Oil soap will not be nearly ready to give its best lather. At 5 weeks, it's likely to be slick and snotty and not bubble up much. Most of us cure an olive oil soap for at least 6 months, and I do a year (as do many others). I'm not certain this soap at this age would get your colleagues wanting more of your soap.

If the brown is only where you see the thyme, then it is not likely DOS but I pick up a couple places where I see orange, so it's worth taking another close look at it. The little white spots don't look like lye, but wipe your finger of one of them and then place your finger on your tongue. It it zaps, it's lye but it doesn't look like that to me. You could place your tongue directly onthe bar, but as it's meant to be a gift, that might not be the best idea.

 

[MorpheusPA]

No one wants to crush your Valentine's hopes but a 100% Olive Oil soap will not be nearly ready to give its best lather. At 5 weeks, it's likely to be slick and snotty and not bubble up much. Most of us cure an olive oil soap for at least 6 months, and I do a year (as do many others). I'm not certain this soap at this age would get your colleagues wanting more of your soap.

True, it's not at its best, but it's still soap. Durability and lather will be very sub-optimal this young, however.

I've used Bastille (75-85% OO) at four weeks and it's OK. Nothing stellar, but workable. At 2 months, it's good. At 3, great, and at 6, it's stellar.

You could place your tongue directly onthe bar, but as it's meant to be a gift, that might not be the best idea.

Lick! The! Soap! Lick! The! Soap!

 

[newbie]

Oh yes. Still soap but I have to assume Wessam is dressing to impress, so to speak. If a person is not familiar with 100% OO soap and uses it young, what they get from it is not going to send them back for more.

Depending on what the other 15-25% is in a bastille (like Coconut oil for instance), there will be enough to give some bubbles at 4-8 weeks. Straight up OO soap is not that pleasant even at 2 months.

 

[Wessam]

Thank you guys.. I already licked the soap... only feels like soap.. no zap...
and as it is only a matter of curing time, (and since i have already wrapped 2 batches so i'd probably ask them not to use it use the soap before another month. Thank you all for you support... you are the best

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

You need it to cure for closer to six months than for two, or the lucky people will be getting something extremely sub par

some people won't use Castile for 12 months! Some consider 3 months to be a minimum, but most settle on 6 months. 2 months would need to be totally dry between uses or it'll be rather grim

 

[MorpheusPA]

Thank you guys.. I already licked the soap... only feels like soap.. no zap...
and as it is only a matter of curing time, (and since i have already wrapped 2 batches so i'd probably ask them not to use it use the soap before another month. Thank you all for you support... you are the best

Another month will see it to Slimy When Wet. Two would be better, and even that's kind of minimal.

It's not like it isn't soap, it's just that metallic salt of oleic acid (olive oil soap, in other words) really likes water and absorbs it easily. They turn to scuzz unless they're so thoroughly cured that the water has difficulty penetrating. Even then, it has to be dried between uses or...well, scuzz.

If I may be so bold as to suggest, your next gift could be 50% olive, 50% palm. That'll cure beautifully in four to six weeks. Drop the palm by 10 and add 10% coconut for some bubbly lather.

 

[Wessam]

Thank you guys... I am new to this soap making adiction and al your advices are gold to me

 

[ClaraSuds]

I tested it with my tongue... tastes like mild soap... no zap

Sometimes glycerine rivers can appear as white patches rather than the typical translucent lines. Like the soap in this pic. One of my recent batches did this. It's fine as long as theres no zap.

http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/troubleshooting-crackling-glycerin-rivers-in-soap/

 

[IrishLass]

For what it's worth, my Castile's produce a smorgasbord of slime no matter how old they are. lol

Last month I nearly jumped for joy when I found a forgotten 5-year old bar of Castile made with 100% OO and a superfat of 5%, and darned if the lather didn't go all snotty on me the minute I lathered it up with my hands in the shower.

Normally, I use a nylon poufy thing to lather it with (which makes a decent, copious amount of lovely, decadent lather out of it), but I wanted to see how it did in my hand, with it being 5 years old and all.

Results? The lather turned out to be typically sparse with goop' a plenty, just the same as my much much younger Castiles.

When I put it back in the soap dish after lathering with it, it was like the soap didn't want to break connection with my hand, and it protested by producing long tendrils of egg white-like goopiness that stayed attached to me as I pulled my hand away from the dish.

I was able to stretch the goop out quite a long way before contact with my hand was finally broken, but the long tendrils of goop were still attached to the soap itself, and they hung down from it in the same way that saliva hangs down from a drooling dog's mouth. It was quite spectacular, really. lol

What was even funnier to me was that when my son took a shower later on during that same day, he accidentally grabbed my Castile (which had dried out by that time), instead of his own bar of soap (we each have our own bars of soap in the shower), and when he was done showering he came out of the bathroom and promptly proceeded to ask me what on earth kind of soap that was, because it had practically no lather and was very goopy and slimy! Well, we're nothing if not completely honest at our house. lol I told him that's what he gets for not using his own bar of soap.

IrishLass

 

[ClaraSuds]

Castille is one soap thats best with a brush, or puff. My 2 week old castille is hardly any different from my 14 month old castille. The only exception is bar hardness. Nothing magical happens in the 12 months inbetween. It's not a soap that lathers in the hand only. But use it with a brush/puff and it's incomparable....to me anyway.

Best soap for shaving lather, thick dense and stays put while you pull the razor across. Not sure about men's shaving needs, that's different. But for fine leg hair and the like, very good. I don't get slime but thats probably because I wet the brush, not the bar.

 

[cmzaha]

For what it's worth, my Castile's produce a smorgasbord of slime no matter how old they are. lol

Last month I nearly jumped for joy when I found a forgotten 5-year old bar of Castile made with 100% OO and a superfat of 5%, and darned if the lather didn't go all snotty on me the minute I lathered it up with my hands in the shower.

Normally, I use a nylon poufy thing to lather it with (which makes a decent, copious amount of lovely, decadent lather out of it), but I wanted to see how it did in my hand, with it being 5 years old and all.

Results? The lather turned out to be typically sparse with goop' a plenty, just the same as my much much younger Castiles.

When I put it back in the soap dish after lathering with it, it was like the soap didn't want to break connection with my hand, and it protested by producing long tendrils of egg white-like goopiness that stayed attached to me as I pulled my hand away from the dish.

I was able to stretch the goop out quite a long way before contact with my hand was finally broken, but the long tendrils of goop were still attached to the soap itself, and they hung down from it in the same way that saliva hangs down from a drooling dog's mouth. It was quite spectacular, really. lol

What was even funnier to me was that when my son took a shower later on during that same day, he accidentally grabbed my Castile (which had dried out by that time), instead of his own bar of soap (we each have our own bars of soap in the shower), and when he was done showering he came out of the bathroom and promptly proceeded to ask me what on earth kind of soap that was, because it had practically no lather and was very goopy and slimy! Well, we're nothing if not completely honest at our house. lol I told him that's what he gets for not using his own bar of soap.

IrishLass

Thankyou so much for the vivid hysterical description of your castile. I am still laughing. I have to agree even after a year my castile with 1% superfat still is snootty

 

[shunt2011]

Snotty here too. I dislike castile. I've made it twice and no more. I have soaps that are so much better. have a nice lather and good conditioning. No SNOT. Even some with no color or fragrance. I think I still have some of my first batch I ever made in 2010.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Snotty here too. I dislike castile. I've made it twice and no more. I have soaps that are so much better. have a nice lather and good conditioning. No SNOT. Even some with no color or fragrance. I think I still have some of my first batch I ever made in 2010.

I gotta say, I left Castille behind a long time ago. But I still like my conditioning, so tend to make Marseilles and Bastille. It's all the advantages of Castille, but without the snot.

It always amazes me what just a little coconut oil will do to an olive oil soap. From zero to hero, without compromising the conditioning qualities!