One Recipe, 3 different essential oils, 3 different textures. How can I prevent this?

[icemaythil]

Hi,

Made a batch of soap last Friday. I split the soap mixture into 3 portions and used the following essential oils in each portion and poured them separately - Lemongrass, Lavender and Palmarosa . One week later they are still not firm and I am unable to remove them from the mold. The lemongrass has gelled and is soft, the palmarosa has heated up and is firm but still stuck to the mold and the lavender is still soft. How can I prevent this?

I have used the same recipe before and didn't face this, except for the palmarosa which just took a week longer to unmold.

Recipe:
Sesame oil 35%
Rice bran oil 30%
Coconut oil 25%
Castor oil 10%
Water 33%
Superfat 10%

Attached photo of the 3 soaps. Left to Right: Palmarosa, Lemongrass, Lavender

Thank you.

 

[shunt2011]

Hello and welcome.

Please be sure to go over to the introduction forum and tell us a little about yourself & your soapmaking experience.

Okay, from what I can see you've got a lot going on with your recipe. You've got a lot of liquid oils and with 10% Castor oil and a 10% Superfat it's going to be a soft soap for quite some time and may even be sticky. A lot of the texture difference is likely caused by the Essential Oils you used or over blending. Some move faster (florals) and can cause seizing, ricing etc. Lemongrass is very easy to work with, never had an issue with it. Lavender has also given many soap makers problems with DOS.

Also, Sesame oil may be prone to DOS as it's got a short shelf life. And you've got a pretty high SF. So watch your soaps for that.

I would drop the Castor to 5-7%, lower the sesame or eliminate it totally and up your Rice Bran. Lower your superfat to 5%.

 

[Dawni]

Or with that superfat you could up your coconut to 30% if you want. It'll be harder but it'll be very soluble still so won't be a long lasting soap. You won't need too much castor then, 5% is enough.

If you still wanna use sesame oil you'd probably be safe with a small amount like 10-15% and just don't stock this particular soap for long after it cures. I heard it bubbles great.

The rest of it can be taken up by a hardener if you have access to any... Butters, soy wax, lard or tallow, palm? Or not, but maybe an oil that gets hard and has a longer shelf life, like olive?

When you made it before with no problems how was the weather? Hehehe.. I find it affects me because my kitchen where I work is technically outside (enclosed only on 3 sides lol) so the time it takes for my soap to harden depends on how hot/cool and humid/dry it is. I don't notice much what the effects are while soaping though (I HP).

 

[icemaythil]

Hello and welcome.

Please be sure to go over to the introduction forum and tell us a little about yourself & your soapmaking experience.

Okay, from what I can see you've got a lot going on with your recipe. You've got a lot of liquid oils and with 10% Castor oil and a 10% Superfat it's going to be a soft soap for quite some time and may even be sticky. A lot of the texture difference is likely caused by the Essential Oils you used or over blending. Some move faster (florals) and can cause seizing, ricing etc. Lemongrass is very easy to work with, never had an issue with it. Lavender has also given many soap makers problems with DOS.

Also, Sesame oil may be prone to DOS as it's got a short shelf life. And you've got a pretty high SF. So watch your soaps for that.

I would drop the Castor to 5-7%, lower the sesame or eliminate it totally and up your Rice Bran. Lower your superfat to 5%.

Hi, thank you so much, that is really helpful. I'll try reworking the recipe based on the points above. I have soap from almost 9 months back from the same recipe, no DOS so far only some colour and fragrance loss.

 

[icemaythil]

Or with that superfat you could up your coconut to 30% if you want. It'll be harder but it'll be very soluble still so won't be a long lasting soap. You won't need too much castor then, 5% is enough.

If you still wanna use sesame oil you'd probably be safe with a small amount like 10-15% and just don't stock this particular soap for long after it cures. I heard it bubbles great.

The rest of it can be taken up by a hardener if you have access to any... Butters, soy wax, lard or tallow, palm? Or not, but maybe an oil that gets hard and has a longer shelf life, like olive?

When you made it before with no problems how was the weather? Hehehe.. I find it affects me because my kitchen where I work is technically outside (enclosed only on 3 sides lol) so the time it takes for my soap to harden depends on how hot/cool and humid/dry it is. I don't notice much what the effects are while soaping though (I HP).

Hi Dawni, thank you for the suggestions, I will try to make some adjustments to the recipe. You are right it has nice bubbles and is very conditioning. I have been trying to create palm free recipes, which is why I have been trying variations from my original recipes. I do have access to plant butters and have used kokum successfully, but I haven't found a local reliable source.

I tried this last winter when the room temperature was cooler, I made bigger batches and both lavender and lemongrass set within 24 hours and I could unmold them, Palmarosa took a week. Which is why I am perplexed about how it is behaving this time. Other than that the only other variations I can think of are probably the lye and oil qualities as they were from different sources.

 

[Dawni]

Kokum would make it hard, yes. I'm jealous lol most online shops I've seen from there sell it at less than half they price I'm getting here. Same with mango butter.