What made my soap have sticky residue?

[neeners]

So I had feedback from a couple friends who were my test subjects for this soap below, goats milk soap, 1.2oz total EO blend of tea tree, eucalyptus, peppermint and lemon.

they said the soap left a residue that was sticky after drying off. what could have caused this in my recipe?

 

[Trinity]

Strange the recipe looks good to me. I have never used that blend of EO's before but I don't really see how that could make such a difference. The only thing I am wondering about is the cocoa butter but we'll see what the experts have to say

 

[neeners]

thank you!

well, my bf and I have used it, and we didn't notice the residue. I've had feedback from another couple, and they didn't mention it. so I'm not sure if it's their water reacting to something weird....

I've read castor or shea can make things sticky, but I didn't think I had enough to make that much of a difference......

 

[lsg]

The percentages for each oil and butter look good. How long did the soap cure before they used it? Are your friends used to using homemade soap or are they used to using bars that contain commercial surfactants? Homemade soap does not rinse away as well as detergent in hard water.

 

[neeners]

this soap was made Nov 13, 2013, and they used it recently (I gave it as Christmas presents). I'm thinking that could be the case, lsg.

I just wanted to have experts double check my recipe, in case it was a fluke (and not me being biased about my own soap....).

 

[DeeAnna]

My guess is their water is pretty hard. The calcium and magnesium ions in hard water will kick the sodium off your soap molecules and react with the fatty acids to make calcium and magnesium soaps instead. These soaps are insoluble in water, so they end up sticking to the skin (and bathtub or shower) and feeling icky.