Red Clay in Cold Process Soap

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Barbsbreakingbath

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So this is my third batch of soap, I made it from a Bramble a Berry recipe for salt soap where the salt is dissolved in the lye to make a brine. I ended up with a lot of undisolved salt which I tried to keep out of my batch. I also followed the recipe for colorant exactly.
However, this soap tasted really salty when I did the zap test, and also zapped my tongue. Worse than that, when I wiped the soap off with a damp cloth, the red transferred onto the cloth, big time. Is this normal? I used the recommended amount.
While I think I'm going to love coloring soap, I think I'll pass on the clay and salt for now. Does anyone have any thoughts on why these problems? I'm going to put the soap aside for a few weeks and see if the lye cures out. I can't rebatch because of the runny color, and I really can't use it for laundry soap.

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What % of salt did you add to the water and when? From what I've read (someone with more experience with soleseife please correct me if I'm wrong) the max amount you should use is 25% salt, dissolved in the water first, then add the lye. Lye needs at least equal volume water to dissolve.

Did you use the Dark Red Brazillian clay? Did you mix it in water? I've only used Rose Clay which gives me no problems. Possibly the dark red gives off more bleed? Hopefully someone else will have an insight on it.

Can you please post the full recipe so we can help troubleshoot? Right now I'm shooting in the dark! :confused:
 
Krista, thanks
3.52 oz lye
7.33 oz water
1.2 oz Avocado oil
.6 oz castor oil
16.6 oz coconut oil
3.8 oz olive oil
1 oz Himalayan pink salt (14%)
2 oz fragrance oil
1 T rose clay dissolved in 3 T of distilled water
I did see one mistake that I made- the original recipe was super fatted at 10% to make up for the drying coconut oil, when I doubled the recipe and ran it through a lye calculator I used 5%. Also I'm thinking that even though I doubled the recipe, maybe I didn't need to double the clay, and the smaller amount would have worked. The instructions are to add the salt after the lye.
 
Brine soap is supposed to be salty, thats kind of the point. One thing to keep in mind is many people feel BB's recipes aren't that great, they really seem more geared to encourage shopping then to produce a nice soap. The instructions to add the salt after the lye is wrong, as you discovered, the salt won't dissolve that way.

It is fairly common for darker/bright colored soap to make colored lather. The clay shouldn't stain your wash cloths so I wouldn't worry too much. Next time you make colored soap, don't add all your colorant up front, just add a little bit at a time until you get the color you want.

How old was the soap when you zap tested it? I usually wait at least a week before I test.
 
What % of salt did you add to the water and when? From what I've read (someone with more experience with soleseife please correct me if I'm wrong) the max amount you should use is 25% salt, dissolved in the water first, then add the lye. Lye needs at least equal volume water to dissolve.

Did you use the Dark Red Brazillian clay? Did you mix it in water? I've only used Rose Clay which gives me no problems. Possibly the dark red gives off more bleed? Hopefully someone else will have an insight on it.

Can you please post the full recipe so we can help troubleshoot? Right now I'm shooting in the dark! :confused:
Krista, thanks, the recipe is the posting right belo your original post on the thread(there are only 3 posts)
 
Krista, thanks
3.52 oz lye
7.33 oz water
1.2 oz Avocado oil
.6 oz castor oil
16.6 oz coconut oil
3.8 oz olive oil
1 oz Himalayan pink salt (14%)
2 oz fragrance oil
1 T rose clay dissolved in 3 T of distilled water
I did see one mistake that I made- the original recipe was super fatted at 10% to make up for the drying coconut oil, when I doubled the recipe and ran it through a lye calculator I used 5%. Also I'm thinking that even though I doubled the recipe, maybe I didn't need to double the clay, and the smaller amount would have worked. The instructions are to add the salt after the lye.

Did you buy clay from a soap making supplier?
Was the water you used to mix the clay part of the water from the recipe or extra water?

The BB recipe says 0.5 oz EO you doubled it to 2 oz?

What I do is reserve about 50g (or more as required) of water from the recipe and mix the salt into part of it and mix the clay into another part of it. The lye needs at least an equal amount of water to dissolve. I use 1 teaspoon of pink clay for 2.5 pounds of oil and it is dark and sticks. I think you are using too much clay, water and EO.

After mixing with water I SB the colour and salt into my oils and then add the lye water when it's at about 110 * F. I have trouble with colours except clay! So I think this method will work for you. 5% SF should be fine.
 
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Thank you, although I've noticed they will help you troubleshoot the recipe if you ask. It sounds like they didn't know the correct method for making this soap to begin with though.
I tested the soap after 24 hours. I will put it in a corner and wait for a week or two before I Test again
 
It would be better if you check recipes through us before making.

You had exactly the results you were going to get with that recipe and method. So, you did exactly what the instructions said.

Next time, pull half the water out, and mix half of that amount with the salt, then half with the clay. Mix each of those to the oils using the stickblender. Then mix the lye into the remaining water. Then add that to the oils. Use less clay, also. You will get a lighter color, but it should bleed less, also.

By the way, that soap is beautiful!
 
Your soap is lovely to look at. I agree with Susie on how touse the clay and salt. As for your FO you made just over a 2 lb batch so 2 oz isn't unheard of depending on the usage rate recommended for the one you used. I generally use 1 oz ppo myself unless it's really strong.
 
Your soap is lovely to look at. I agree with Susie on how touse the clay and salt. As for your FO you made just over a 2 lb batch so 2 oz isn't unheard of depending on the usage rate recommended for the one you used. I generally use 1 oz ppo myself unless it's really strong.

Isn't 20 oz just over a 1 pound batch?
 
Did you buy clay from a soap making supplier?
Was the water you used to mix the clay part of the water from the recipe or extra water?

The BB recipe says 0.5 oz EO you doubled it to 2 oz?

What I do is reserve about 50g (or more as required) of water from the recipe and mix the salt into part of it and mix the clay into another part of it. The lye needs at least an equal amount of water to dissolve. I use 1 teaspoon of pink clay for 2.5 pounds of oil and it is dark and sticks. I think you are using too much clay, water and EO.

After mixing with water I SB the colour and salt into my oils and then add the lye water when it's at about 110 * F. I have trouble with colours except clay! So I think this method will work for you. 5% SF should be fine.
Sorry, I didn't mention that I used a fragrance oil instead of an essential oil. I still probably used a little too much.i think the usual rate is about .7 oz ppo for most fo's, the retailer didn't have a recommendation, so I went with 1 oz fo per pound of finished product (entire recipe was about 33 oz). I don't think that's too far out of the ball park? I realize now that I shouldn't have doubled the clay (rose kaolin from WSP) when I doubled the recipe.
Thanks for the advice, since this was only my third batch, I'm going to leave salts, milks, fruit puréed, etc alone for a while until I get some more batches under my belt. However, I think I'm in love with coloring soap.
 
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My bad, not awake yet. I included the water and lye by accident....needed more caffeine. You are correct. That's too much for sure. :)
Thanks, I think I figured that out, it seems like the standard usage rate is about .7 oz to 1 oz per pound of oil? Typically, for a recipe like that I'd use about 1.4 oz of fragrance oil. That's what was recommended in my other 2 batches, where I used a BB fragrance oil and BB calculator. I don't know what I was thinking. Well, if nothing else, I've got soap that may photograph well, that I can use on my web site some day.
Also, the lesson I learned is that just because you double the oils, lye and water doesn't mean that you double the colorant
 
Thank you

I normally stick with using %/PPO as my usage rate on fragrances. Not %/per pound of oil. So 5% is PPO-which is conveniently available right on the lye calculator.
I did check the IFRA guidelines on this fragrance, and I am still under, so feel ok about using it for myself, if the zap resolves itself. Well on to the next project.
Thanks to all of you I've learned a lot.
 
I did check the IFRA guidelines on this fragrance, and I am still under, so feel ok about using it for myself, if the zap resolves itself. Well on to the next project.
Thanks to all of you I've learned a lot.

The IFRA rate is the max you should use without harm.
I think Susie means she uses oz ppo not oz per pound of soap batter.
I use 1/2 oz ppo. In your recipe you used 4 x that. That's fine if you like that amount, it's a personal choice thing.

I was just commenting that in a small recipe such as yours that amount might affect the final soap and soap colour.
 
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Sorry, I deleted that post because I did not mean to be obscure. And I was mistaken on top of that. I use 0.5 oz fragrance Per Pound of Oil (PPO). Not 5%.

Y'all have to excuse me, I have been making multiple batches of soap for days. I am going to blame it on the liquid soap, and the FO fumes, and...
 
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