When is CP soap no longer caustic?

[Patrice Ford]

I have seen different opinions online, but when can cp soap be handled without gloves?

 

[Steve85569]

CP will be ( in my humble experience) VERY drying for two or three weeks. It shouldn't be caustic after setting - but it will be very drying. I therefore handle "fresh" (uncured) soaps with gloves.
The local Harbor Freight store has them on sale often enough to keep me supplied nicely with disposables too.

 

[lsg]

Technically, you should be able to use a bar of soap withing a couple of days. That doesn't mean you should. The longer the soap cures, the more water it loses and it becomes harder and longer lasting. I think it also becomes milder. Four to six weeks curing time is recommended by most soapers. Castile soap take several months to cure. Have you heard about the zap test? A couple of days after cutting, just touch the tip of my tongue to the edge of the bar of soap. If you experience a little zap, (similar to licking a battery), then your soap is probably not mild enough to use. Wait a couple of days and try again.

 

[Patrice Ford]

CP will be ( in my humble experience) VERY drying for two or three weeks. It shouldn't be caustic after setting - but it will be very drying. I therefore handle "fresh" (uncured) soaps with gloves.
The local Harbor Freight store has them on sale often enough to keep me supplied nicely with disposables too.

Thank you!

Technically, you should be able to use a bar of soap withing a couple of days. That doesn't mean you should. The longer the soap cures, the more water it loses and it becomes harder and longer lasting. I think it also becomes milder. Have you heard about the zap test? A couple of days after cutting, just touch the tip of my tongue to the edge of the bar of soap. If you experience a little zap, (similar to licking a battery), then your soap is probably not mild enough to use. Wait a couple of days and try again.

Thanks! I have heard of that, but is there any other way to check the soap without the zap test?

 

[lsg]

Here is a link to a tutorial on testing CP soap:

https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/how-to-ph-test-handmade-soap/

 

[soapmaker]

I don't have any need to handle my soap after it is cut. I cut within 15-18 hours, wearing gloves and putting the bars on my curing rack. In a day or so IF I needed to touch them I would do so without gloves. But they need to sit there for 6 weeks and I don't usually have to touch them.

 

[Relle]

If you experience a little zap, (similar to licking a battery), then your soap is probably not mild enough to use.

Never actually licked a battery , not going to either .

 

[Patrice Ford]

Here is a link to a tutorial on testing CP soap:

https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/how-to-ph-test-handmade-soap/

Thanks!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

But here's a couple of questions - what pH means that your soap is not lye heavy? Are there no exceptions at all?

As we know, different recipes can have very differing pH values. So soap X could be safe and have a much higher pH than soap Y.

Now if soap Y is a touch lye heavy one time, it might have a pH closer to that of soap X. If that one time happened to be the first time you made that recipe, you don't know what the pH of that soap is when it is properly made.

When using pH to check for safety, you need a baseline measurement of that particular recipe when it isn't lye heavy. Otherwise the pH number simply tells you the pH of the soap. Is that lye heavy or not? pH alone can't tell you that.

So if you're looking for something other than zap testing, at least look at testing for excess lye rather than pH. It's a very different test, but will actually give you a useful result.

 

[lsg]

Never actually licked a battery , not going to either .

Relle, you are so bad.

 

[Relle]

Couldn't let that one go Isg, got to have a laugh.

 

[Kerry K.]

Be careful, I touched a spoon that had recent soap batter on it and vomited an hour later!

 

[DeeAnna]

NaOH quickly reacts to cause a chemical burn in the directly affected area. It is not a systemic poison. So it might easily have burned your skin, but it would not have caused gastrointestinal upset an hour later. A person's emotional reaction to the incident might cause delayed nausea, however.