Splotchy Soap - what happened??

[seattle_soaper]

Relatively new to soap making, only been doing it a few months, and came across an issue I haven't seen or read about yet on the webs. My soap appears to have pale splotches of varying sizes homogeneously distributed throughout. I used a lye calculator, and the following are the oils I used:

Olive Oil, extra virgin - 11.6 oz
Palm Oil - 7.75 oz
Coconut - 8.7 oz
Shea - 2.91 oz
Goat Milk/Water - 10.23
Lye - 4.34 oz

I also added about 2 oz of essential oils - lavender, patchouli and grapefruit.

I froze the goat milk before mixing it with the lye, so I don't think it burned at all. I stick blended the batter thoroughly, took about 15 minutes of blending to reach a light trace. I don't think the splotches are residual lye, they seem soapy. I don't think the oils I used are rancid, they are pretty recently purchased.

So what do you think is happening??

 

[toxikon]

Could be stearic spots! Shea is high in stearic acid, which has a higher melting point than other fatty acids. So if you soaped too cool with it, that could've been the cause.

 

[seattle_soaper]

Oh, that seems like it could be right! Thank you so much for the feedback - I haven't had a heat-related problem yet, but I guess that's something I need to start paying more attention to...

 

[Obsidian]

Looks like air bubbles to me, the ones that are cut open seem to be hollow. Did you notice any bubbles when you poured?

 

[seattle_soaper]

Yea, hard to tell in the photo, but they're not hollow at all, more like little white balls. And the batter was pretty smooth when I poured it in, not bubbly at all.

 

[KristaY]

Since you were working with milk, did you soap on the cold side? Are the splotches like raised bumps or just discolored? Since they aren't air bubbles, I lean toward stearic spots too. I get them when I soap at low temps (below approx 110F) using PO & shea.

 

[seattle_soaper]

Yes, there are raised bumps, and in reflecting back on the process I think it was colder than it should have been. I will have to start paying more attention to temperature. Ahh, so many moving parts in soap making! I guess that is part of the fun and the reward though.

 

[Arimara]

Yes, there are raised bumps, and in reflecting back on the process I think it was colder than it should have been. I will have to start paying more attention to temperature. Ahh, so many moving parts in soap making! I guess that is part of the fun and the reward though.

If you don't already have one, consider an infrared thermometer. That way, you have less of a risk of an reaction with unknown metal and your lye. Also, unless you don't ming browned milk soaps, it's suggested that you soap around 110F give or take your recipe. this is for both your oils and lye. try to avoid FOs or EOs that will heat up too/\.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Did if you dissolved your NaOH in the milk, it might be little soap balls - the fat in the milk starts to saponify with the caustic while you mix. Did you strain the milk/lye when you added it to the oils?

Many people make the lye solution with as little water as possible/they feel comfortable with and then add the remaining "liquid amount" as milk in to the oils before adding in the lye solution

 

[penelopejane]

That actually looks like milk spots to me. It can happen with powdered or normal milk. If you use the split method you will avoid them. Same advice as TEG ^^^