Soaping at room temp?

[PinkCupcake]

A friend says he mixes his oils and lye water when they are both at room temperature. When I asked him why, he said it was the way he was taught.

Does anyone know of any benefits to soaping at room temperature?

 

[jenneelk]

Slows trace for some recipes which is good when wanting to do designs.
I mostly work at 95 or so but will do 80 with my 2 recipes I like for detail soap that take more time to finish. Just have to watch it isn't a recipe that will give false trace by thickening from the cool and not the thicker emulsification that you want.
I think many on here work at room temps.

Also you can melt oils and lye night before and wake to have it cool and done. Maybe just a quick melt if need be for the oils to loosen and that's it.

 

[azimuth]

I usually soap at 80 degrees or below, mostly for the benefit of knowing I will have some time to play with it, designs and peaks, etc

 

[savonierre]

It is quicker imho, I get my lye water mixed up , melt my hard oils, add the soft oils, get my FO and colorants ready and make the soap.

 

[Faerie Whispers]

I use 1 base recipe and usually once a month I will measure out 6-10 batches of oil for the month that I keep in smallish buckets with lids. I don't have any little ones left running around so when I decide to soap I will get up in the morning, mix up my lye water for however many batches I want to do that day and let it sit while I clean house (or lurk on here:shifty then I can just mix it all up and toss it in the molds and I am not standing over it waiting for correct temps. I do live in Arkansas though where even in the winter most of my solid oils are really soft or liquid at room temp in my kitchen.

 

[PinkCupcake]

Oh, I get it! I haven't attempted any swirls or designs like that yet. But it's good to know that I can get a little more time to play if I use a cooler temp. Thanks for all the replies. I'm still very new here (and to soaping) but everyone has been so helpful!

 

[heartsong]

it also helps with touchy "drama queen" fragrances that like to accelerate or seize.

 

[Savvynurse]

Not only "drama queen" fragrances but also with milk and honey. Experience is the best teacher

 

[Saswede]

I also soap at room temp - or low temps - mainly because I don't want my soap to gel. As EOs evaporate faster as the temp rises, I try to keep the soap cool to avoid losing fragrance from the EOs. And I've found that the soap color stays more clear too.

Also, and I might be imagining this because I've never read about it anywhere or heard anyone else say this (!!), I find that it's easier to get the soap out of my acrylic mold if it doesn't gel. (It's never really hard to get the soap out, but it does seem to take a little more effort to get gelled soap out of the mold.)

 

[PinkCupcake]

I hadn't thought about gelling. So far, I have gelled my soaps, although I've only made a few batches. I really like the way it looks, but I might have to try not gelling. Thanks for all your responses. I've learned a lot today!