Soft Soap

[Chopin]

Hi there, I'm new to soap making.

I recently tried this recipe: olive oil 40% (6.4oz)
coconut oil 25% (4.0oz)
avocado oil 20% (3.2oz)
almond oil 15% (2.4oz)
water 38% (6.08oz)
lye (2.24oz)

After two weeks the soap is still very soft, almost like play dough.
I am not sure whether it went through gel phase or not, there has been no colour change and the soups are opaque. I used individual silicon moulds, so maybe it cooled down too fast?
I also read somewhere that you should add less water to high % olive oil soaps, but I followed soapcalc's directions and used 38% water. Could that be the problem?

Please could you let me know what I did wrong and if I can fix it.

Thank you so much.

 

[OliveOil2]

For a hard bar you are best with at least 40% hard oils, you only have the coconut, and have a high amount of olive and avocado which are soft. Are you drying to go Palm free, or avoid animal fats?

 

[Obsidian]

Yeah, its probably from the water amount. Its nothing to worry about though, it will eventually get hard. Gelling probably wouldn't have made much a difference. Next time you make soap, try lowering to water amount to 34% on soapcalc.

 

[Seawolfe]

My bastiles with 70% OO, 25% CO and 5% Castor made with soap calcs default water can usually be unmolded in 24 hours - 48 at the most. So it shouldn't be the recipe. Your soap calcs all check out for a 5% superfat soap. Whether you gelled or not (probably not in individual molds) it should be firm after 2 weeks in my experience, mine certainly are - have you taken the soap out of the individual molds?

One possibility is the lye, if its old and absorbed a lot of water it would be clumpy and problematic - was it good, dry lye?
Another possibility is your scale - did you use a decent digital scale? Does a nickel weigh 5 grams on it? In small batches accuracy becomes critical.
Did you use a stick blender and reach a good trace? Was it like gravy or pudding?

Thats all I can think of for troubleshooting.

 

[seven]

I'm with Seawolfe on this, it could be your lye or scale. Did you make other soaps with the same lye? How are they?


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[scotsman]

It could be the lye. I live in Florida and during certain parts of the year it can be quite humid here. I have to keep my lye locked up airtight or it will absorb the moisture in the air. I have to measure out the lye moments before I add it to the water because it will get clumpy in a matter of minutes. Never had it throw off a recipe yet but i have had a couple containers of lye that I had to toss because they absorbed air. I've heard that Olive oil in large amounts will make a hard bar but requires a much longer cure. I've wanted to make a Castile soap for some time but I'm afraid I do not possess the patience to wait out a 6 month cure, lol! I find myself testing my end pieces as soon as they pass the zap test. They say patience is a virtue and if that is the case then I have a long way to go in that department, lmao!

 

[Ellacho]

If lye or scale is not the issue, it could be the water content IMO. Usually, I use 30% water in making soaps. Even with bastile or castile(only 10% of coconut or none), I've had not experienced a batch of soap being too soft after 48 hours or so.

But then, recently I've made the brine salt soap with 36% of water(followed the original recipe)for the first time, it made a huge difference! After 24 hours, it was too soft to take soap out from the mold. It took me 2.5 days to take the soap out. I had to wait another day to cut the soap. But no worries. It will take a little longer to dry out the water and it will harden eventually.

 

[grayceworks]

It has been removed from the silicon molds, right? Leaving it in there too long will delay the bottom from drying well, and also not give as much surface area overall for the soaps to dry. If it's still too soft to unmold without smushing it, freeze it till firm, careully unmold onto wax paper or freezer paper or similar, and let them thaw in the fridge a few hours to prevent condensation from the sudden temp change, the put them somewhere with good airflow to finish drying and curing. If they are still soft after several weeks cure, then it may be either the lye, causing a higher superfat than anticipated, or the recipe, I know one of mine that's high in avocado oil tends to be not as hard as some of my other soaps, but the way it makes my skin feel is worth it.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

Did you put any oxides or anything in it? Twice now I have used too much red oxide and ended up with soap so soft one of them I had to spoon out of my pipe mold 5 months later, it was still spoonable. I rebatched that one and it was ok. The last one was not as bad, and I didn't use as much, but still soft. It is usable now, but I can still push my finger in a bar, 2 months later.

 

[Chopin]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

I will definitely check my lye and scale before my next batch.
The soaps were still in their moulds, as they were so soft, but I've taken them out now.

What may have been the problem is that there are two different sorts of coconut oil on soapcalc, and I wasn't sure which sort I had. In the end I used the lye value for the 76 deg coconut oil, which was less than that of the 92 deg coconut oil. Does anyone know how to tell the difference between the two sorts?

Anyway, I'm going to leave the soaps for another week and if they haven't hardened by then I will try rebatching.

 

[Obsidian]

The coconut oil from the grocery store is 76*. The 92* is a specialty oil, it would be marked.

 

[seven]

Grayce gives a really good tip for removing soap from silicone molds: freezing it first. I always use this tip every time to ensure a smooth unmold.


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