Soap soft after 4 weeks

[Audrey o’connor]

Hi everyone.
Im mew to soap making and my master recipe is still slightly soft after 4 weeks, where am i going wrong?
Olive oil 595g
Coconut 297g
Caster 28g
Cocobutter 10g
Shea but 28g
Beeswax 14g
Lye 139
Liquid 311
Superfat 5%
It all makes me a 2lb bar

 

[KiwiMoose]

Hi Audrey - without plugging this into soap calc I would say at a glance that you may have to wait a bit longer given that you have about 60% Olive Oil in your recipe. Ultimately this will make a hard bar, but it just takes longer to cure than most of the other oils. It's probably a lot better around the 6 month mark or more.
Also I can see at a glance that you have a fairly low lye concentration - probably around 30%? You might want to increase that to about 34 or 35% next time and it will be harder, quicker.
An alternative for next time is to change up your recipe to include more hard fats - Shea and Cocoa Butter (it looks like you're doing veggie soaps) or you can use Soy Wax which I use successfully at 20% of my recipe. I moved to Soy Wax from the butters because it's a fraction of the cost ( but still include Shea at 5% because it's the cheaper of the two).
You've done nothing wrong - it sounds like this will be a nice recipe once cured, it's just that it may take a while. Many people on here would recommend you don't go over 25% CO though as it can be drying. I use it at 20%.
And welcome to SMF!

 

[TheGecko]

I’m no expert, but I’m guessing it’s the 60+% Olive Oil and 30% Lye Concentration which means a longer cure time.

I was told to increase my Cocoa and Shea Butters to 10% or leave them out since they contributed nothing at 5% and your amounts are even lower (1.03% CB and 2.88% SB).

 

[Audrey o’connor]

Hi Audrey - without plugging this into soap calc I would say at a glance that you may have to wait a bit longer given that you have about 60% Olive Oil in your recipe. Ultimately this will make a hard bar, but it just takes longer to cure than most of the other oils. It's probably a lot better around the 6 month mark or more.
Also I can see at a glance that you have a fairly low lye concentration - probably around 30%? You might want to increase that to about 34 or 35% next time and it will be harder, quicker.
An alternative for next time is to change up your recipe to include more hard fats - Shea and Cocoa Butter (it looks like you're doing veggie soaps) or you can use Soy Wax which I use successfully at 20% of my recipe. I moved to Soy Wax from the butters because it's a fraction of the cost ( but still include Shea at 5% because it's the cheaper of the two).
You've done nothing wrong - it sounds like this will be a nice recipe once cured, it's just that it may take a while. Many people on here would recommend you don't go over 25% CO though as it can be drying. I use it at 20%.
And welcome to SMF!

Thankyou, but I don’t understand the percentages in recipes... can you recommend what I use in grams for me so I get the idea I’m still learning.... should I decrease water too? What should I add instead of all that olive oil?

I’m no expert, but I’m guessing it’s the 60+% Olive Oil and 30% Lye Concentration which means a longer cure time.

I was told to increase my Cocoa and Shea Butters to 10% or leave them out since they contributed nothing at 5% and your amounts are even lower (1.03% CB and 2.88% SB).

hi thankyou so what should I add or reduce in oils in grams?

 

[KiwiMoose]

It’s easy when you are doing a one kilo batch. 20% of CO is 200g for example.
I’d try something along the lines of
20% CO, OO, Rice Bran and 15% Shea, the balance 5% castor and then other oils of choice

 

[Dawni]

If you used a calculator, when you input in grams or ounces the percentages show up... It's easier since not everyone makes the same batch sizes. Percentages give a better idea at a glance of how much actually went into the soap.

See these

I will agree about the amount of olive oil needing a longer cure. Not only will it get harder, it will also lather better and be less drying, especially since you have that much coconut in there with it. I'm one who doesn't use more than 30% olive oil and usually between 14-18% coconut only (but I also superfat low) because more than that and my skin feels tight.

If it was me I'll increase castor to 5-7% and take it out of the coconut, increase shea and cocoa to minimum 10% (I usually go higher myself) and take it out of the olive oil.

Also, if you look at my second screenshot, the water is less than yours with the lye being similar. That example uses a 2:1 lye ratio. More info on that here, and why less water is recommended for high olive soaps here.

 

[KiwiMoose]

This is quite a handy guide that might help too: https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/the-most-popular-fatty-acid-profiles-in-soapmaking/

 

[Audrey o’connor]

Ah thankyou everyone..a bit clearer now

 

[Relle]

Seeing you are in Australia I would stick to grams and don't confuse things by converting back saying your soap makes about 2 lbs. It's one or the other. Round up your soap to 1000 grms instead of trying to work out your oils with 972 grms, makes it so much easier when measuring out.

 

[SoapySuds]

My one bastile recipe was similar to this, no beeswax though, and I cut and unmolded my bars in about a week after initially pouring them, it took about a year before they were hard and a beautiful white color. They will be ready in a year. You picked a wonderful recipe for being a new soaper, but terrible if you want soap now.

In the meantime, if you’re making soap for yourself, a good alternative would be canola and soybean instead of the olive oil with a bit of palm oil, or if you’re being palm free, some babassu. There are organic and non gmo canola and soybean oil options available at the store, rice bran oil is another good alternative. Cocoa butter upped, add soy wax, experiment with the soap calc.