I like this soap but it is leaving a film behind on my skin. I think maybe lowering the cleaning number and increasing hardness would be great but I can’t seem to accomplish that. Any ideas are very appreciated I’m a newbie . Thank you for your help.
Too cleaning or soft...? Please help
- Thread starter Hammer
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
How old is the soap? You've got a lot of liquid oil in the soap so it's going to need a good cure. High olive oil soaps can be slimy. I don't use OO more than 15-20 ish %. Your 5% Sunflower really isn't doing anything. I never use any oil at less than 10% other than Castor.
Palm, Lard, Tallow, Soy Wax, or Cocoa Butter will all lend to upping the hardness of your soap. High CO only adds solubility to your soap shortening the life of your soap and upping the cleansing number. The film you are feeling could be soap scum if you hard or hard water.
I agree with @shunt2011 that your soap needs a longer cure. Even HP has to cure 4 weeks minimum. For a soap with that much olive oil plus sunflower oil, I'd probably cure it for six weeks.
I took your advice and lowered the OO to 20% and CO to 25% added 15% cocoa butter. Worked out beautifully. Made bar harder with less clean so maybe less slime on my skin hehe.
Thank you very much for all your ideas
Thank you very much for all your ideas
You really can’t judge a soap until it’s had a good cure time. Fresh soap is not anywhere near it’s best.
You talk about the soap leaving a residue on your skin, but you're not too clear what you mean by that. Would be nice to have a better idea of what you mean.
Honestly, soap shouldn't leave a residue on the skin. It can clean more strongly or it can clean more mildly, and that can alter how your skin feels after bathing. But an actual residue, like something sticky on the skin? Not so much.
What can create a residue is if you use lye-based soap in hard water. The soap reacts with the hard-water minerals to form soap scum that sticks to the skin. Is that maybe what is happening in your situation?
If so, the solution is to soften the water. The usual solution is to use a whole-house water softener.
Honestly, soap shouldn't leave a residue on the skin. It can clean more strongly or it can clean more mildly, and that can alter how your skin feels after bathing. But an actual residue, like something sticky on the skin? Not so much.
What can create a residue is if you use lye-based soap in hard water. The soap reacts with the hard-water minerals to form soap scum that sticks to the skin. Is that maybe what is happening in your situation?
If so, the solution is to soften the water. The usual solution is to use a whole-house water softener.
The rest of my bars are not leaving a residue. So I don’t think it’s hard water. I have public water and don’t have any other indications that the water is hard. Since none of the other bars do it I think it must be this particular soap. The residue is I guess like a soap scum.... I don’t know how else to describe it. It lathers beautifully I don’t know what it is. It does have oatmeal n honey in it....
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2015
- Messages
- 3,685
- Reaction score
- 2,988
How did you add the honey? Also, how much did you use?
