Sticky and tacky goat's milk/high olive oil soap

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ahauer88

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Hi,

Last Friday night I made this goat's milk soap from the Nerdy Farm Wife: https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/how-to-make-goats-milk-soap-from-grocery-store-items/

Ingredients were:

22oz Olive Oil
8oz Coconut Oil
5 oz chilled water
5 oz canned/condensed goat's milk (Meyenberg)
4.2oz lye

I followed the steps exactly but also put in:
1 tsp ground oats
1.5 tsp sodium lactate
~1.5oz oatmeal, milk, and honey FO

I put it in the freezer once it reached a medium trace and I poured it into individual bar molds. I took it out of the freezer Sunday while frozen solid, turned it out onto a cookie sheet covered with freezer paper.

I have never made goat's milk soap before nor have I made one that high in olive oil so maybe that's the issue, but now on Wednesday the soap feels not so pleasant. It is soft, sticky, and tacky. I left everything alone on the sheet except for one bar I goofed up when I poured, and when I run my finger along the edge of it, it is soft enough that it rounds it off. I am used to making a palm/olive/coconut soap in equal amounts and it unmolds and feels "normal" within a day or two especially when CPOP.

I am a bit afraid that this is the consistency I am stuck with. Can I expect this sticky/tacky/soft feeling to go away in time as it cures? I feel like at this rate it is never going to cure properly but maybe I will be surprised.

In case olive oil is the issue I remade this recipe using a 30% tallow/40% olive oil/30% coconut oil blend last night because that's what I had on hand, it will be an experiment if nothing else.

Is this common with soaps high in olive oil or goat's milk soap or both? thanks for any pointers!
 
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I make a bastille soap similar to this and yes it's typical to be super soft and sticky. It takes about 8 weeks to fully cure. If you want a harder set up then use sodium lactate. I usually un-mold it after 48 hours then let it sit for another 48-72 hours and then cut it and let it cure for around 8 weeks. The longer it cures the better though.
 
Unless it's a typo, that seems like an awful lot of water! 100 oz liquid with 30 oz fats? If it's not a typo, that may be part of the problem, then it just needs more time.
 
Unless it's a typo, that seems like an awful lot of water! 100 oz liquid with 30 oz fats? If it's not a typo, that may be part of the problem, then it just needs more time.

Oops!! Yes, that is a typo! I fixed it. Sorry about that. My o's turned to zeroes somehow. :)

I make a bastille soap similar to this and yes it's typical to be super soft and sticky. It takes about 8 weeks to fully cure. If you want a harder set up then use sodium lactate. I usually un-mold it after 48 hours then let it sit for another 48-72 hours and then cut it and let it cure for around 8 weeks. The longer it cures the better though.

Thank you for the reply. So does it harden up after 8 or so weeks or will there always be a bit of a sticky feeling to it?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Oops!! Yes, that is a typo! I fixed it. Sorry about that. My o's turned to zeroes somehow. :)
This looks better :)
You just probably need to wait with it. I'm not experienced in this kind of soap, but that seems to be the case with a lot of high olive oil soaps. I would not worry too much about it yet.
 
I think I'll wait a bit longer before starting to freak out, then. :) It sounds like what I'm seeing is pretty normal. Thank you both!
 

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