White Spots on Soap? Any Ideas why?

[EmJay1]

Hi All,

I keep getting these white spots developing in my soap during curing - see attached pic. They aren't lye spots, and are just cosmetic, but I want to get rid of them. Any idea why they are happening? My soap recipe does have a lot of Shea butter in it. I was thinking maybe the Shea butter is crystallizing as it cools? Don't know. Any help would be super appreciated.

Thanks so much
Xx

 

[TheGecko]

Looks to me like not everything is getting melted properly or you're not thorough in your blending.

 

[EmJay1]

Looks to me like not everything is getting melted properly or you're not thorough in your blending.

Ahh, thank-you. I'll watch out for this next time. I make soap in very small quantities (maybe 200g), which can make it difficult to blend.

 

[KimW]

Ahh, thank-you. I'll watch out for this next time. I make soap in very small quantities (maybe 200g), which can make it difficult to blend.

I'm currently making several small batches of 175g. What has worked best for mixing to emulsion/trace is putting the soap batter in a completely sealed container and shaking to emulsion/trace, rather than blending/stirring. I use small plastic tubs with screw on lids, or condiment bottles. I usually don't worry if there are a few small bits of hard oils still floating after melting, but with these small batches I've discovered I really need to fully melt the oils, and make sure my lye solution is up to at least 90F. Hope that's of some help!

 

[EmJay1]

I'm currently making several small batches of 175g. What has worked best for mixing to emulsion/trace is putting the soap batter in a completely sealed container and shaking to emulsion/trace, rather than blending/stirring. I use small plastic tubs with screw on lids, or condiment bottles. I usually don't worry if there are a few small bits of hard oils still floating after melting, but with these small batches I've discovered I really need to fully melt the oils, and make sure my lye solution is up to at least 90F. Hope that's of some help!

super helpful, thanks Kim

 

[Ladka]

I got similar if not identical white spots in my last batch made of goat tallow. The recipe:
Tallow, Goat about 50 %
Olive Oil HO about 20 %
Lard, Pig Tallow (Manteca) about 20 %
Coconut Oil, 92 deg about 10 %

I poured into various moulds and CPOP-ed the entire batch.
When I cut a pice of soap into three the cut was shiny smooth. When I looked at it the next itme it had these white spots on the cut surface but not on the top or side surfaces.

There were/are no spots on soap from other moulds which are smaller and none of them got cut.
Any idea what caused it?

 

[Wendjie]

Hi All,

I keep getting these white spots developing in my soap during curing - see attached pic. They aren't lye spots, and are just cosmetic, but I want to get rid of them. Any idea why they are happening? My soap recipe does have a lot of Shea butter in it. I was thinking maybe the Shea butter is crystallizing as it cools? Don't know. Any help would be super appreciated.

Thanks so much
Xx

Hello! Did you find out what it was? How did you get rid of IT? I have the same and still searching why....