Soap, Humidity, and Rain

[OLSoap]

I am aware that Cold Process soapmaking retains the glycerin in the soap and glycerin is a natural humectant which attracts moisture.

Last weekend my partner and I set up a booth at a Strawberry Festival and Craft Sale. It was very humid and rained a great deal. Our booth was inside a huge barn and we were in the middle of the barn away from the doors. As the Festival went on, we noticed our soaps were "attracting" moisture and began to look sweaty and feel tacky. :shock: This is the first time we were outside in humid, wet weather with our soap.

Has anyone else experienced this condition?

Is this sweaty and tacky reaction of our soap to be expected in humid weather?

What can we do (other than accepting indoor booth space) to keep this from happening to our soap? We wrap our soap with a paper cigar band and do not shrink wrap or box them.

Is there something we can add to our formula to control this more?

We make our soap with a very simple formula: olive oil, coconut oil, lye, water, fragrance oil, and/or colorants and botanicals.

Carole

 

[agriffin]

This is normal. The glycerin attracts the moisture from the air. Be sure to let everything air out/dry out after the show.

 

[April]

Hi:

I read on another post in this forum that someone used a fan to keep their soap cool. I don't know if there is electricity provided, but if there is, a fan might help. If no electricity, you might be able to use a solar or battery operated fan.

Yes, I don't have air conditioning in my house and when it gets hot and humid outside, my soap sweats. It's horrible.

I hope this helps.

Warm regards,

 

[OLSoap]

Thank you both for your replies.

I was hoping someone would tell me this was normal. I'm glad we didn't do something wrong when we made the batches!

So far we don't have many summer craft shows planned, but if we can get electricity, I will be sure to bring a fan.

Carole

 

[April]

You're welcome.

You have a nice website. I don't use Palm Oil either. Good for you.

 

[OLSoap]

Thanks, April. I built our website myself. Now we just need to save up some money so we can get a shopping cart installed because it is something I don't know how to do and it is complicated.

 

[WilsonFamilyPicnic]

This is normal! You've done nothing wrong. Soap is fine if you take it out and get gets a little sweaty at a show. I just bring mine home, open up all the boxes and turn the dehumidifier on pointing toward them for a day to make sure they dry out well.

 

[honor435]

Im in mn and my soap has been sweating too, i have a seperate cottage and put on the dehumidifier and that seems to help, i hate it too! Its weird that some of them sweat and some not! The ones with the butters seemed worse.

 

[OLSoap]

We haven't tried any butters yet, but would like to carry some eventually. Thanks for the tip about them sweating more than those without butters! We do have a dehumidifier at home and now that we have the air conditioning on, that has helped get them back to normal very quickly.

 

[lovethyscent]

Mine do that normally in my house! I just hate it.

 

[awi]

I had a person at a craft show tell me one time to store your soap in the refrigerator to keep them fresh. Is this true? Do you all agree with this?

 

[kayeway]

Sweaty Soap

I have been worried about this as well. We live in South Texas and have enough soap now to try and sell...but Summer down here would be hard on the soap and us...being outside all day! Might wait until September. We are hoping to do Cigar bands...how did you do yours?

 

[kayeway]

Olive Leaf

Carole and Chris-
Your soaps look wonderful! And love the website and your labels. Any tips for us on labels would be appreciated we are just now starting to research how to do the cigar bands. I was unaware of the problem with the rainforest and Palm Oil :-( Do your soaps take a longer curing time without the Palm? How long do you let it stay in the mold? We have two 3 pound wooden molds we are using. The texture of your soaps look great and each one has its own unique character...Love, Love them!

 

[agriffin]

I had a person at a craft show tell me one time to store your soap in the refrigerator to keep them fresh. Is this true? Do you all agree with this?

I don't agree with this. If you take your soaps out to sell or give away they will sweat. And the moisture from the sweat will increase your chances of soap going bad.