New Soap

[SPowers]

I just finished making a new recipe - basically a Bastille soap I think. 75% OO; 25% CO. It called for some honey & colloidal oatmeal. The only thing I did differently was to add some TD to one pot and Matcha Green Tea powder to 2 other pots with some TD in one to make it lighter. It all seemed fine and it poured nicely into the mold.
There was however, a zillion little tiny bubbles on top... I whacked the mold on the counter a couple times and spritz it with 99% alcohol which didn't seem to make much difference. I used a skewer and poked a few which seems to work then decided to use the stick to swirl it around the top hopefully popping the bubbles along the way. When I did that, I noticed that a 'skin' was forming on the top and pulling the skewer through it just pulled it up into a glob. I took a palette knife and basically skimmed as much of it off the top as I could get without making too much of a mess. I re spritzed it with alcohol then put it in the oven to cpop.
Not sure what will happen but just wondering if anyone has experience this type of thing?? TIA

ps... got my first lye burn today! And didn't know it til I felt a burning sensation on my foot (yes I know, I had slippers on). It only burned for a minute if that but when I looked at it about 15 min later, there was a brown circle on my foot with a red rim (abt a 1/2 ") all around it. Fortunately it was very minor but shows me what something bigger has the potential of doing! Wearing my shoes from now on!

 

[AliOop]

Sounds like the top of your soap was setting up. Sorry about the lye burn. Those are no fun.

 

[Catscankim]

Somebody else here might know better, but i think you can, or should have put vinegar on it to neutralize the lye

 

[AliOop]

Somebody else here might know better, but i think you can, or should have put vinegar on it to neutralize the lye

Unfortunately, using vinegar to neutralize the lye on skin is very dangerous. Sadly, I was also taught that from the website where I got my first soap recipe, and many soapers still believe that today.

The problem with vinegar is that it creates an even stronger exothermic reaction with lye than water does. You can test this for yourself by adding equal amounts of lye to vinegar and water, respectively. Because it is more acidic than the water, the vinegar heats up exponentially higher. More heat = worse burn.

The MSDS for lye (and the instruction on the back of every lye container) says to flush the skin with cold water, and keep flushing until you can get medical attention, if needed. Following those safety instructions can mean the difference between a burn, and a severe burn. If the lye got into one of your eyes, flushing with water instead of vinegar could be the difference between an injury that will heal, vs. permanent blindness.

 

[Catscankim]

Omg thank you for that! I have been keeping vinegar handy everytime i made soap because of what i read. Although i wouldnt put it in my eyes no matter what...

I am so glad i found this place. Lots of great advice here.

 

[AliOop]

Yes, hopefully no one would put vinegar in their eyes, right?? But ya never know. I also kept vinegar around in copious amounts, and would pour it on my hands or arms if I thought I might have spattered a bit of lye. I'm so fortunate that someone clued me in before I really hurt myself!

 

[shunt2011]

The skin was formed from spaying with alcohol then trying to swirl. Ask me how I know.

 

[SPowers]

Fortunately one of the first things I learned was NOT to put vinegar on a lye burn. It had to have been the tiniest of specks that hit me - but that shows the damage that can be done. This morning it looks almost like a bad bite - black in the middle and pinkish around it but it doesn't hurt and really hardly hurt at all... good to learn a lesson without too much pain!
Thanks for the bit about the top setting up... I've never had a soap with so many tiny bubbles in it before therefore I've never messed with it after I sprayed it. I though the alcohol would just smooth it out but alas it did not. It looked ok when I wrapped it up and I'll take a peak in a few hours to see the final result.

 

[Misschief]

The skin was formed from spaying with alcohol then trying to swirl. Ask me how I know.

That's the reason I never spray my soaps with alcohol. I don't like the resulting look of it.

 

[shunt2011]

That's the reason I never spray my soaps with alcohol. I don't like the resulting look of it.

I always do and don't have an issue as long as I don't try to swirl them. My tops come out smooth and nicely swirled.

 

[cmzaha]

I wish everyone would learn to read the msds sheets or at least the warning labels on products, where it states how to handle spills, or refers you to read the msds info.

 

[Megan]

Yep, never spray alcohol until you are done! There's no "touching up" once you spray it on there...

 

[josianeg]

I always do and don't have an issue as long as I don't try to swirl them. My tops come out smooth and nicely swirled.

I don’t understand... I thought I was supposed to swirl before spritzing with alcohol?

 

[SPowers]

I think that's what Shunt is saying... she does the swirling and design before she spritzs with alcohol.

I went back to the top to see the entire thread not realizing it was my topic and where I talked about my lye burn... almost 5 months later and I still have a red spot ot my foot! That is some dangerous stuff!

 

[josianeg]

I think that's what Shunt is saying... she does the swirling and design before she spritzs with alcohol.

I went back to the top to see the entire thread not realizing it was my topic and where I talked about my lye burn... almost 5 months later and I still have a red spot ot my foot! That is some dangerous stuff!

I think I was very lucky with the burn on my arm, which initially was very red and the hairs had ... kinda dissolved?

I was still wearing gloves when, while cleaning up, a bit of uncured CP soap batter got onto my upper arm.

I don’t know if this is what most people experience, because being autistic (Asperger Syndrome) I tend to have weird responses to pain: either my threshold is very low or very high.

I feel a weird tingling/light burning sensation on my arm that I would have ignored if it hadn’t been visible (I could see the batter on my arm). I washed it off with cold water and left my arm under the cold running water for a while.

My friend and I just tossed everything dirty in the bath to be washed in 2-3 days when it would be safer!

For the rest of the evening I applied cold wet compresses on it. It was pretty itchy, red, a little swelled and very sensitive. The next day, the redness - like the hairs that had been there before - was almost completely gone and there was no pain.

Lesson learned... But I’m slowly leaning towards HP process preference, even if complex colour designs are mostly out of the question.

 

[earlene]

That itchy tingling burning sensation sounds like what I feel if raw soap gets on my wrist or forearm, so I think that's a normal reaction. We need to be very careful not to splash while working with raw soap. But sometimes it happens, even when we are being very careful. A spatula slips or whatnot and a splash occurs. So what I do is watch for any mishap that might cause a splash onto my skin or the surrounding work area and IMMEDIATELY deal with the splash.

My skin is more important than the soap.

You can still have mishaps with HP, so just maintain vigilance for possible splatters and deal with them immediately and you should be pretty safe.

By dealing with it, of course that entails copiously rinsing my affected skin with tap water immediately. If the spill or splash on my covered worktable, depending on size & location, I leave it for later cleanup or wipe immediately as needed. I cover my workspace with easily washable old towels atop the plastic table cloth. I have only once had it soak through to the plastic/oilcloth table cloth & that was with HP that volcanoed over the crock. Obviously an immediate clean-up situation. But for the most part, any small spatters or spills (during pouring, for example) just gets on the towels, which get washed a day or so later after the soap spot saponifies. I only use vinegar on non-living surfaces, but only after wiping up with rags or paper. As mentioned above, NEVER use vinegar to treat a skin lye-burn!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I've been using Lavender EO 5% in carrier oil for burns ever since I read about this legend in the world of perfumery quoted below. It not only soothes the burn immediately but the burn also heals quickly without scarring.

Quote from Robert Tisserand's Blog
“In 1910 French chemist and scholar René-Maurice Gattefossé discovered the virtues of the essential oil of lavender. Gattefossé badly burned his hand during an experiment in a perfumery plant and plunged his hand into the nearest tub of liquid, which just happened to be lavender essential oil. He was later amazed at how quickly his burn healed and with very little scarring. This started a fascination with essential oils and inspired him to experiment with them during the First World War on soldiers in the military hospitals.”

 

[earlene]

Zany, yes a legend: it is also a myth in that there was no large VAT or TUB of the EO; it is at the very least a huge exaggeration of actual events.

I do not doubt the validity of lavender in an acceptable dilutant as treatment for burns, but the whole 'he plunged his hands into a large vat' full of the EO is just outlandishly ridiculous. I mean, who ever has a large open vat full of any essential oil in their lab? That is an irresponsible method of storage, and an action which I doubt a responsible scientist or chemist would even consider. And it worries me that there are numerous people who believe it and therefore endorse &/or recommend doing exactly the same thing without proper dilution.

I know you are not one of those, but there are others here who have bought into the myth in terms of straight up un-diluted EO as treatment for burns and make these irresponsible recommendations to others. Which is why I am including the following links, the last of which addresses how to dilute lavender for skin application. I personally cannot attest to the efficacy of the treatment, as I have never practice this, but I would caution to only use for minor burns. I was burned severely (by fire) as a child and have the lifelong scar to remind me. My first response to a severe burn is to NOT touch it and head directly to the Emergency Room. Minor burns, can safely be treated at home, but severe burns I would never touch; the pain is too great.

For further reading on this particular story:
https://www.tisserandbenelux.eu/aromatherapie/gattefosse
https://oilwellessentials4health.wo...sential-oils-during-the-past-century-part-ii/
https://roberttisserand.com/2011/04/gattefosses-burn/
https://www.webmd.com/beauty/news/20180813/essential-oils-promise-help-but-beware-the-risks
https://blog.planttherapy.com/blog/2020/01/17/how-to-use-lavender-essential-oil-for-burns/

 

[Zany_in_CO]

@earlene Well said, as always!

And yes, you are correct...

there are others here who have bought into the myth in terms of straight up un-diluted EO as treatment for burns

I am not one of those although I have in the past used it undiluted. Now that I know better, I keep a 2 oz. bottle of 5% Lavender in jojoba oil and some cotton balls handy on my pantry shelf in the kitchen where I soap. I'm always amazed at how well it works... especially how soothing it is immediately after application. I have a low threshold for pain, can you tell?

 

[violets2217]

@earlene Well said, as always!
View attachment 51552
And yes, you are correct... I am not one of those although I have in the past used it undiluted. Now that I know better, I keep a 2 oz. bottle of 5% Lavender in jojoba oil and some cotton balls handy on my pantry shelf in the kitchen where I soap. I'm always amazed at how well it works... especially how soothing it is immediately after application. I have a low threshold for pain, can you tell?

I keep any oil serum in my bath with jojoba, almond and castor oil and a wee bit of tea tree, frankincense & lavender EO’s for my face when it feels really dry. Actually it’s also used in my hair sometimes and is just a multi purpose oil moisturizer! It is so soothing and minimizes the redness after I wax or pluck! Lol! I’ll need to keep it with me when I soap too! Good to know!!!