Part of soap soft

[penelopejane]

Standard recipe I use all the time. 2 tsp salt added to water. Mixed all to emulsion 1450g whole mix (1000g oil) separated 360 g batter and added 20 g FO BB Cinnamon Sugar as a discolouring FO to that part. 32% Lye concentration 2% SF. Poured well.

In US that is: 51 oz whole mix (35 oz oil) separated 12.5 oz batter and added 0.75 oz FO BB Cinnamon Sugar.

All went well. I CPOP'd it and it gelled. Looked great and has now cured 4 months and the plain part is hard and good but part with the discolouring FO is soft after use.

If I was to do this again should I reduce the oil in the part that the FO was added to or reduce the water in that part?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

What is the recipe? People might suggest something that won't work when shooting blind

 

[CaraBou]

According to BB's fragrance calculator, that is a low dosage FO. It looks like they recommend using only 2% for the "strong" level. That would be about 7 g for your 360 g of batter. Based on that, I think you should drop the amount of FO that you use next time.

 

[DeeAnna]

You used about 5.5% FO in that portion of your batch. If you want that much FO in the soap as a whole, then increase the amount of soap batter in which you put this total amount of FO. Or if you want to stick with scenting the 360 g of batter, then reduce the percentage of scent added to that portion.

As CaraBou pointed out, 5.5% is way higher than BB suggests for this FO. One reason might be this issue with the soap remaining soft when the FO is used at higher rates. Another reason might be that cinnamon can be a skin irritant/sensitizer. (I realize your overall rate for the FO in this soap is within safe levels for skin safety.)

 

[penelopejane]

Thank you Carabou and DeeAnna,
What a dummy I am. It smells nice at that rate anyway! :mrgreen:
This soap is touchy stuff!

PJ

 

[CaraBou]

It's easy to get into a routine like 5'ish percent fragrance. These events just serve as a reminder, which we all need sometimes. I have a few labels I can't read anymore (due to the print dissolving in spilled FO, lol). Mostly I just let them sit there unused, staring blankly with their silent, boisterous bouquet, but occasionally I get brave and soap them blindly. Yes, this has backfired on me more than once.

I had the same thought as DeeAnna - it could be IFRA recommendations rather than anything to do with soap characteristics. But it's something to control next time to see what you get. Could just be Gremlins striking again.