Outer ring

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Biancak

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Hi everyone,
I am New to soap making and have just cut a soap I made 2 days ago. It is sweet orange and cacao, however I noticed it has a purple ring around the outer? I only used pure essential oil? Any ideas?
thanks in advance
C01B2348-EF8E-4CAE-A4A1-A5BBE6365B6B.jpeg
 
Can you share your recipe? It looks great! I get a rind when I use rosehips or cocoa powder. The color then moves inward. It is trippy.

I don't know how I missed this before -- probably distracted by the nice looking soap -- but if you have not done so already, cure your soap on wax paper or freezer paper -- not a metal rack.
 
@Biancak
What were your temperatures during mixing and saponification? Have you insulated or CPOP'd the soap loaf? The shape of the discolouration resembles partial gel (although this is usually darker and “glassy” in the inside, not outside). The light colour could also be a strange appearance of glycerin rivers or stearic spots. But also essential oils can lead to discolouration in contact with air (seems plausible due to the uniform width of the dark rim).

The first step is to wait a day or two. If it indeed is some reaction with air, it will happen on the freshly cut surface too, and the rim will disappear by itself. You'll have to cure it anyway.
Btw, whatever it is, it is too late to fix with this batch anyway. So let's see first if time solves this problem, and then panic. 😁


ETA: You said cocoa? Not as if I hadn't observed strange, uneven colour reactions of cocoa powder in soap batter not so long ago as well.
 
Thanks everyone for your help. My temp mixes were both 38 degrees when mixed together. Overnight the ring has disappeared, and now the whole face of the soap is the strange purple colour. The outside of the soap is the creamy choc colour I was aiming for! I have read on a few other pages people have had similar reaction using cocoa powder?

I don't know how I
Can you share your recipe? It looks great! I get a rind when I use rosehips or cocoa powder. The color then moves inward. It is trippy.

Hi zing, I use 58g lye, 104 water, 454 olive oil as a basic. Then add whatever I like to create! Double or triple ingredients to make a larger batch! Hope this helps!
 

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I occasionally get that 'rind' upon cutting, and it does cure out - usually within a matter of days. It's not a partial gel.
I always gel my soaps BTW - but it doesn't happen on all my soaps - just some of them. I think it might be a heat thing - I've had it with beer soap and coconut milk soap.
 
Thanks everyone for your help. My temp mixes were both 38 degrees when mixed together. Overnight the ring has disappeared, and now the whole face of the soap is the strange purple colour. The outside of the soap is the creamy choc colour I was aiming for! I have read on a few other pages people have had similar reaction using cocoa powder?
It’s the cocoa powder. The purple will go away after a few days and then it will be the chocolate brown color. When I use cocoa powder it always does this.
 
similar reaction using cocoa powder?
Even if I I'm entering OT-dangerous terrain here: what type of cocoa powder did you use? Was it “Dutched” (runny and dark brown aka easy to dissolve/make hot chocolate with, and with some alkali like potassium carbonate or calcium hydroxide listed as a minor ingredient), or not Dutched (pale tan colour, clumpy and sticky, stubborn to dispersion in water/milk)?
 

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