So I weigh my soaps daily from the day they are cut & the weight loss gradually gets less as it should be. But I'm assuming that after 4 weeks, if the scale is barely moving then waiting another 2 weeks isn't necessary?
Reason I'm asking is because I constantly have friends asking "How much longer before my soap is ready?" (I thought I was impatient during cure, but WOW they are much worse - lol)
One advice I would give you is; don`t hover over the scale, worrying about how much or little weight the soap loses from week to week, wether it is a gram or more. You can not tell if a soap is done that way.
Think about soap as a cake. Some cakes are light and airy, needing shorter time in the oven. Then you have your heavier cakes, with lots of butter, flour and a hefty helping of sugar. The timer may go off, but that doesn`t mean it is ready. So you stick your knife or toothpick inside it and see that there is batter clinging on to the toothpick. Ok, it needs more time. As time passes the cake is getting firmer and you check on it again. Ok, it need a bit more time still....
Soap is like that. It have to take the time it needs. It is not like x grams of weightloss in one week equals
exactly x % ready soap.
So really, the best thing you can do is to get to know your recipe/soap, test over time and see how it behaves when you wash your hands with it after 4 weeks, 5 weeks, 6 weeks etc.
No matter how impatient your friends are, just tell them that you want to give them a high quality product to try, and that process can`t be rushed. Just like you don`t want to serve them cake that is uncooked in the middle.
You will find, no matter what, that the soap
will improve over time, even though the water loss may not be huge from day to day or week to week. More bubbles, easier to get it to suds, rinses off better, and other factors.
@amd said it wisely, "The more important factor of curing is the soap crystalline structure."
Unfortunately you can`t set your timer to go off when
that has happened, so that is why you need to see how your soap and recipe behaves over time.
My recipe will be quite good at 4 weeks, much better at 6 weeks, great at 7, and awesome at 8 weeks (12 is wowsah..)
But I don`t give it away until it has matured for at least those 7 weeks. But that is because those I give my soap to they use it straight away (no hiding them i sockdrawers of linen closets for three years) so I want them to experience great soap right of the bat.
PS! Why not measure the soap once a week instead of every day? You`ll see more progress that way. Think of it as being on a diet. If you weigh yourself every single day you will not see much improvement. But once week will reveal more of the progress.
YESYESYES
Shure thing! I will do tomorrow though, it is nighttime here now.