Shaving soap troubleshooting?

[FlybyStardancer]

So, I made a shaving soap based off of Songwind's soap. Everything seemed to go well.. I added the glycerine up front, but then did DeeAnna's two-step saponification method. I didn't use my stick blender, partly because I didn't feel up to cleaning it afterwards, and partly because I knew it was all fast-tracing oils and lots of added heat. So instead I mixed with a wisk, and then spatulas/spoons during and after the cook.

It took 40 minutes to go zapless. I put some of the batter in two lotion bar tubes, and then made the rest into a very rough log in parchment paper. Set them aside to finish cooling and drying. It's been two days, so I figured I'd go and cut & shape the log into pucks... Only when I opened up the parchment wrapping, the log appeared to ooze pearlescent liquid in places. Any ideas what happened? Should I do anything?

Recipe:
390g Stearic acid (52%)
360g CO (48%)
112g glycerine (15%)
15g citric acid
525g distilled water (for 25% conc.)
143g KOH (80%)
32g NaOH (20%)
22.5g FO (Brambleberry Tobacco and Bay Leaf)

Here's some pictures. And yes, there's a bit of discoloring on the log. That's from my dollar store spoon that I used.

 

[DeeAnna]

If you put any additives into the soap after adding the stearic, it could simply be FO or glycerin or whatever that's not fully incorporated. It's hard to mix stuff into this soap really well because it's so thick. If the softer parts are not zappy, that's my best guess for you.

If so, you can hand knead the soap with your hands like bread dough or use a sturdy kitchen mixer. Just go slow with the mixer and use the dough hook if you don't want to incorporate a lot of air. The regular paddle(s) and higher speeds will aerate it more.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Okay, went and tried to knead it together... It just turned into an oozy sticky mess with hard chunks in it. No zap. I'll have to put it in a mixing bowl and take my hand mixer to it...

 

[DeeAnna]

This stuff can make an awful mess, can't it. :roll:

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Huge mess! LOL I was wearing gloves to knead it, and very glad I did. I had to leave for work, so messing around with the mixer will be later. I'm already wondering if it'll end up like how a cream soap looks/behaves after a rot...

 

[DeeAnna]

"...I'm already wondering if it'll end up like how a cream soap looks/behaves after a rot..."

There are striking similarities between cream soap and a high-stearic shave soap -- they are far more similar to each other than I think most people realize. So, yeah, that's a possibility.

Some differences: Cream soap has more liquid in it (water and glycerin) than typical shave soap recipes. It can also contain added stearic acid as an added thickener and texture modifier, just like stearic is used in a lotion. I don't think that is typical for a shave soap either. Cream soap usually contains mostly KOH and some NaOH, while shave soap doesn't always contain the two lyes.

I made a shave soap as a soft cream soap recently -- I adapted a recipe from a 1912 perfumers' trade magazine, just for the heck of it. I'm not sure what I think about the sticky, waxy, soft texture of the finished soap; I think I like shave soap with a drier, moldable putty texture.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Hmmm... So maybe not as much water evaporated, and/or things weren't mixed as well as I thought? And I'll have to figure out how cream shaving soap works (versus the stiffer KOH-based soft soap).

 

[LBussy]

Another vote for glycerin. It's darned near impossible to completely incorporate it after. I ad the glycerin to my lye water.

I figured I had 3.5% water loss during the cook even with 2 full hours.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

LBussy--here's the thing, I added the glycerine at the beginning. I'm awful at remembering to add things at the end, so I try to minimize what I add at the end as much as possible. In this case it was only the FO added after the cook, but the liquidy-oozy stuff is definitely not just FO.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I add my glycerine at the end usually and I have not had a problem. Admittedly, I am working with smaller batches at the moment and have them only in containers.

 

[LBussy]

Could just be glycerin separating out. I had some problems with "spots" which I could see while the soap was translucent. I think it's pretty tough to incorporate things in it, and you may have noticed the glycerine does "cook out" a little.

I was considering pressing through a screen to mix at the end. Perhaps a potato ricer would work. I believe some folks use a mixer as well although I've not tried that.

If you can mix it, do so. If not just let it sit and see if it all evens out.