Splotchy soap

[SomethingGoodAustin]

Weeks before my very first craft fair, and the tension must be getting to me because I have had a run on batches of soap goings sideways. The latest case of soap sideeye happened today. I unmolded and cut a goats milk shaving soap, made just yesterday, only to find it riddled with light-colored splotches. I don't think it's lye, and it doesn't look like stearic spots. The formula I used is very high in stearic acid (it's based on a forum member's shaving soap recipe, which he was kind enough to share):

Stearic 46%
Coconut 76 26%
Castor 10%
Shea butter 5%
Hemp/jojoba 14%

I also use goats milk and add a spoonful of raw honey along with 20% glycerin and the requisite bentonite clay. I have made this formula several times before with no problem.

The only thing I did differently this time was to melt my stearic separately, in a crock pot, while I melted my other oils on another pot on my stove. I added my lye solution to that pot, blended to trace, put in my additives, blended some more, and then put it in the crockpot with the melted stearic. Temp for the stearic was around 120 degrees Fahrenheit, I think, but it appeared to be completely melted. The soap batter in the first pot was cooler, since I was working with frozen milk cubes. Should I have soaped at a hotter temp? Pic here: http://instagram.com/p/vxHztLCL1n/

ETA: forgot to mention I used a 50/50 mix of KOH and NaOH, dissolved slowly in the frozen milk. Superfat was about 8%.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Could well be stearic ponds (instead of rivers!).

I take it that they don't zap?

Just to say, if you're adding in 20% glycerin then the clay is not requisite - you can choose between the two, but having both together is not required.

 

[SomethingGoodAustin]

It is zap-free as far as I can tell. I think perhaps the stearic cooled off a bit too much--when I added my lye-milk solution (which was barely tepid) it probably brought the temp down below melting. I'm going to rebatch it this weekend and see if I can make something useful out of it.

I haven't tried shaving soap without clay, but you're probably right--perhaps next round I'll make a small test batch for comparison purposes.

Thanks!