Soap Failure!

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YoursTruly

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Joined
Sep 29, 2020
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Location
Nigeria
Hello,
M first soap failed!šŸ˜­
Everything was going on well until i poured the lye water in the oils and it thicken immediately.
Please can anyone tell me why and how i can save the batch of soap. I used a recipe i found here because its oils and butters are available and cheap. 50% palm kernel oil, 45% shea butter and 5% cocoa butter.
 

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Im no expert (only done 3 batches) but that sounds like a lot of solids šŸ¤” the cocoa butter and the shea butter.
But then you said the recipe was posted here so I dont know šŸ˜… maybe the temperature of the lye ?
 
I think you have to check your recipe. You need a combination of soft oils and hard oils. You used only hard oils. Its not surprise that it went solid immediately. Try using olive oil or canola oil...
 
I do not have a thermometer. The lye was a bit warm when i poured it into the oils. Could it be that the lye was too hot?

I think you have to check your recipe. You need a combination of soft oils and hard oils. You used only hard oils. Its not surprise that it went solid immediately. Try using olive oil or canola oil...

I will do just that.

Is there anything i can do to save the soap or should i just throw it away!
 
I will do just that.
can you post here the link of your recipe?

Is there anything i can do to save the soap or should i just throw it away!
some people shred it or cut it and use it mixing it in a new batch with a new recipe. it could give a cool effect. But i imagine that is super crumbly. So... dont know...
 
Hi YoursTruly,

Your recipe contains only hard oils, which is a problem. Do have access to oils that are always liquid, and stay liquid ((except coconut oil). Olive, sunflower,rice bran oil, safflower?

One way to judge temperature is to stick your finger into The oils. If you can very comfortably keep your finger in it, itā€™s good. Do NOT stick your finger into lye water, but place your hand on the outside of the lye solution to judge the temp. When in doubt, let it cool more.

Here is a basic Recipe with your ingredients that will help you get an idea of what a recipe with your ingredients and liquid oils might be like:

25% palm kernel
10% Shea butter
10% cocoa butter
55% olive oil

Depending what others oils you can get, thereā€™s other recipe options. A classic soap recipe is: 30% coconut or palm kernel, 30% palm oil, 30% olive oil.

I donā€™t know if you can save the soap. I bet another person will be able to answer that soon.
 
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I would love to see the posting for that recipe, only because I never recall seeing that recipe posted in this forum, but then my memory does tend to fail me at times. :eek: I do make a high shea recipe but that is not my recipe. I also cannot imagine anyone using 50% PKO since it is a cleansing oil replacing Coconut oil, and even with the high shea it just will not be a great soap. PKO is not the same as Palm Oil.
 
Not really a whole lot you can do with a batch of saponified hard oil except maybe to grate portions into another soap, but thatā€™s a lesson to be learned down the road.

Honestly, Iā€™d just toss It and more forward.
 
Thank you all for your support!

After my first failed batch, I had to make another batch of soap...although a smaller batch (weight of oil-200g)
This time, I allowed the lye water to cool to almost room temperature and slowly poured it into my oil (100% liquid palm kernel oil).
It worked and turned into soap:nodding::winner:

It will serve as dish wash soap when it cures after 4 weeks!

I will like the soap gurus to please check out this recipe for bathing that I came up with
Palm Kernel Oil 35%
Palm Olein 25%
Canola 40%
Super Fat 5%
Water as percent of the oil weight 38%

What do you think?

Hi YoursTruly,

Your recipe contains only hard oils, which is a problem. Do have access to oils that are always liquid, and stay liquid ((except coconut oil). Olive, sunflower,rice bran oil, safflower?

One way to judge temperature is to stick your finger into The oils. If you can very comfortably keep your finger in it, itā€™s good. Do NOT stick your finger into lye water, but place your hand on the outside of the lye solution to judge the temp. When in doubt, let it cool more.

Here is a basic Recipe with your ingredients that will help you get an idea of what a recipe with your ingredients and liquid oils might be like:

25% palm kernel
10% Shea butter
10% cocoa butter
55% olive oil

Depending what others oils you can get, thereā€™s other recipe options. A classic soap recipe is: 30% coconut or palm kernel, 30% palm oil, 30% olive oil.

I donā€™t know if you can save the soap. I bet another person will be able to answer that soon.


Just seeing this after I posted mine recipe for review.
I have access to canola which is cheaper than olive oil.
The classic soap recipe oil percentages total 90%...what oil can i use for the 10% left?
I will surely give these recipes a try but this time, it will be scented with lavender fragrance
 

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Just seeing this after I posted mine recipe for review.
I have access to canola which is cheaper than olive oil.
The classic soap recipe oil percentages total 90%...what oil can i use for the 10% left?
I will surely give these recipes a try but this time, it will be scented with lavender fragrance


Hey congratulations on your soap! Washing dishes or clothes would be a good use for it - I expect 100% palm kernel oil soap to be very drying on the skin.

The 5% superfat for bathing soap is good, and very common with soapers.

My mistake on the missing 10% - thanks for catching that. I believe many people add 10% castor oil to the recipe. If you don't have that, 10% shea butter would be lovely. (For your information, many people find 30% coconut or palm kernel oil to be drying on their skin - I am one of them and don't go above 20%. You can make tests recipes with different amounts, cure 4 weeks, then see what your skin likes.

For the recipe you posted above, canola oil can cause the soap to develop "dreaded orange spot" or "dos" as we call it. 40% canola is more than is usually recommended. 15 to 20% is better. But I know you may have limited choices for oil, and there's no reason why you can't experiment and see how it works out.

I'm not familiar with palm olein. I believe it is a soft/liquid oil, unlike palm oil, and palm kernel oil so I put this in soap calc and come up with this recipe. I hope another soaper sees this and adds their opinion too.

http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/ViewRecipe.asp
Here is an article that might help you learn how to choose oils to make your own soap recipe. If that doesn't help you, we'll find something else.
https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/secret-to-the-best-soap-recipe/
 
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I am not sure lard is an option in Nigeria. I would up the Palm Olein or regular Palm if it is affordable to 37% lower the PKO to 25% Canola to 25% Shea at 13% give your soap a nice cure of 6-8 weeks. I would keep the lye Concentration around 30% with the higher Palm Oil/Palm Olein since is it trace faster. Soap cool and if it goes into a false trace in the beginning just stir and wait for the batter to begin to warm and thin out. I soap a similar high palm recipe with my oils still cloudy and just wait for the lye to react (start to saponify) and thin out the batter. If I start out with too warm oils and lye my batter will trace very fast.
Here is an article that might help you learn how to choose oils to make your own soap recipe. If that doesn't help you, we'll find something else.
https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/secret-to-the-best-soap-recipe/
This is just my opinion but the two soap failures I remember came from this site. I just do not go by a lot of her opinions.
 
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I am not sure lard is an option in Nigeria. I would up the Palm Olein or regular Palm if it is affordable to 37% lower the PKO to 25% Canola to 25% Shea at 13% give your soap a nice cure of 6-8 weeks. I would keep the lye Concentration around 30% with the higher Palm Oil/Palm Olein since is it trace faster. Soap cool and if it goes into a false trace in the beginning just stir and wait for the batter to begin to warm and thin out. I soap a similar high palm recipe with my oils still cloudy and just wait for the lye to react (start to saponify) and thin out the batter. If I start out with too warm oils and lye my batter will trace very fast.

This is just my opinion but the two soap failures I remember came from this site. I just do not go by a lot of her opinions.

Really!
Then does someone know of a better trusted free source of info on oil qualities for soaping? I thought smf had a sticky but didnā€™t find one. The op could really benefit from understanding this.
 
I started researching on oil qualities for soaping and I realized that the fatting acids profile should be taken into consideration when selecting oils.
I have also learned that certain saturated fatty acids e.g palmtic, lauric etc can accelerate trace and will make a hard, bubbly bar while unsaturated fatty acids e.g oleic can slow down trace and provide conditioning properties.

Arrgh..can now understand clearly the mistakes in my first batch!

Thank you :)
 
Finally, with a saturated to unsaturated ratio of 56:44, I made a carrot and tumeric soap without fragrance! Waiting to unmold and cut. i am so happy it turned out well and itching to try out other recipes.
Thank you all for the supportšŸ˜ @lenarenee @cmzaha @TheGecko @sebs @lunasol. You are amazing!
 

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Finally, with a saturated to unsaturated ratio of 56:44, I made a carrot and tumeric soap without fragrance! Waiting to unmold and cut. i am so happy it turned out well and itching to try out other recipes.
Thank you all for the supportšŸ˜ @lenarenee @cmzaha @TheGecko @sebs @lunasol. You are amazing!

You are so welcome! It's an honor to be able to help new soapers learn! Years ago, it was the people here on this forum that helped me learn to make soap.
 

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