Recipes - Cold Process vs Hot Process

[shunt2011]

Good point. I'll have to experiment more. I made a HP bar last Saturday and started using it on Sunday. It was very lathery and sudsy! I shower twice a day and figure it has about 2 or 3 more showers in it. This is typically about how long a bar that I get at a gift shop or craft show lasts me.



I will do more longevity comparison tests when my CP is cured.

Then you've been ripped off. My CP soap cured 4-6 weeks will last 3-4 weeks for my husband. Just because you can use it doesn't mean you should. HP sometimes requires a longer cure than CP due to the amount of liquid needed to keep it workable. I can use my CP after a few days but don't. There's more than just water leaving the soap with cure. There are structural changes too I think that happen behind the scenes.

Also, make sure you are keeping it well drained.

 

[DeeAnna]

What Shari ^^^ said. The soap you fellows are using isn't fully cured or the recipe isn't designed for decent longevity or your soap bars are tiny. Or all of the above.

My husband is the type who rubs the bar of soap directly on his skin. Since he has a good pelt of body hair, that's tough on any bar of soap. I make pine tar soap for him alone to use, so I know exactly how fast he alone uses up this soap. A 4-5 ounce bar of his PT soap lasts him about 3 weeks with once-daily showers.

 

[Carl]

OMG, I've never had a bar of soap last me that long, LOL.

But I do keep it on the soap dish in the shower. Maybe I need to rethink where I store it between use.

 

[DeeAnna]

Good point, @Carl. Yes, if your soap can't dry out between showers, it's also going to be quite soft and wear away quickly.

 

[Dawni]

I agree with all that's been said above.
I may be new to soap making but I've been using handmade soaps for ages now and I've never used one that only lasted days.
The good ones take my family weeks to finish.. And I remember there was one bar that took months. I keep trying to find that maker but maybe she's stopped making soap since.

I think, especially regarding HP, it's semantics? People not knowing the differences between can and should, or between safe and best... And it all just snowballed into myths.

I know I can use my scraps immediately after the cook, but I know I should use the rest of the bar only after 4-6 weeks.
Or my CP soap isn't safe right after pouring but it will be in a few days. But like HP it'll be best after some weeks.

When I was doing research before I started soaping, I did come across sites saying you can use HP soap right after. Well they're right. You can. But it doesn't mean you should, and some sites also say that...

 

[xmasdeer]

There certainly is a difference in waiting 6 weeks for the soap to cure. My 100% olive oil and 50/50 olive/sunflower oil soaps are really hard after 6 weeks, less oily on the skin and feel lovely on the skin, unlike the first tests days after batching and 2 weeks after batching. I personally think I will be letting all of my soaps sit 6 weeks or longer on the shelf before anyone uses them.

 

[shunt2011]

When I made 100% OO soap, it had to cure 12-18 months due to the slime factor. I don’t make it anymore as I don’t like it. Makes my skin tight feeling.

Many here make a batch a year. There are also others like me who just don’t like it. If it works for you then go for it.

 

[earlene]

Besides the process and the cure time, it's also the make-up of the bar (the formula), not to mention how the bar is cared for once in use, that affects how long it lasts in use.

Example: 100% CO soap melts fast in use because it draws water to itself, so it doesn't last as long as my other soaps.
The oils used in each soap affects how long lasting that bar of soap may be when in use.

Any soap that sits in water and stays wet between use, is going to melt faster than if it is allowed to dry out between uses. I remove my bar of soap from the shower and allow it to dry on a soap tray that doesn't let the soap sit in pooled water. My husband leaves his on the shower shelf sitting in water between uses. If I left mine in the shower, it would get wet twice a day (or as often as the shower runs, were we a more-than-two-person family).

Whether HP or CP, formula and care of the soap in between use will really make a difference in how long the soap last. But also I tend to cure my soap a lot longer than some. I tend to keep it curing for months and now years. As you make more soap, you will have the opportunity to use older soap with a longer cure and may find that it lasts even longer than you expected from your earlier experiments. And with that longer cure, I have found that some soaps that were only so-so when supposedly sufficiently cured, are actually pretty darn good with an even longer cure.

 

[amd]

Last Christmas I was given CP soap as a gift, it lasted 2 days, almost melted in the shower. Last week we purchased soap in a little village, very expensive, and it lasted 4 days in the shower. As far as I am concerned, these people have lost a customer by not curing their soap, now that I know the significance of curing.

It may not necessarily be a curing issue. I have found this problem a few times in my OPSS (other people's soap stash), where many of the soaps will hang out for YEARS after I purchase them before they get used. A soap I used recently had been purchased July 2017, it was a 5 oz bar and lasted about a week in the shower - my husband used it once and I used it until it was a sliver, the kids didn't like the smell so they didn't touch it (I asked because the soap used up so fast). The first ingredient: coconut oil. I suspect that the maker used a huge amount of it to get a hard cheap bar. I won't be buying from them again as their bars were $8 each - and are uncolored. I don't mind paying $8 for a pretty swirled bar of soap, but this one has a double whammy of not lasting very long and being plain.

 

[ibct1969]

Thanks for all these comments, it is really getting interesting with these many hints and tips in conversation. Last Christmas I was given CP soap as a gift, it lasted 2 days, almost melted in the shower. Last week we purchased soap in a little village, very expensive, and it lasted 4 days in the shower. As far as I am concerned, these people have lost a customer by not curing their soap, now that I know the significance of curing.

Yes, for sure. Curing is super important for a few reasons. That is interesting though - about the melting bars. I wonder - are you are using a soap dish that allows the CP soap to dry between your showers? Our CP soap lasts for a a few weeks.

 

[threewildoils]

Hi,
Some time ago I posted in IG my little experiment, showing the importance of proper curing period. Planning on making HP soap soon and curious how different results will be.

 

[msunnerstood]

I went thru 2 bars a week of fully cured HP soap.

I'll admit Im confused by this. I HP exclusively and just the end cut of my cured bars last in my shower for 3 weeks with 4 adults in the house.

I am sure ingredients play a role in the longevity of the soap so maybe thats the difference?

 

[xmasdeer]

I don't know why the soap melted in the shower, we always keep our soap on a dish that holes in it for drainage and is not near the water unless you pick it up. The soap that melted was a gift and it was soft to touch, so I am assuming that it was freshly made. I also have no idea what it was made of. My own soap, even after a being freshly made, last longer than the gifted soap.