Who says Aging isn't good?

[redhead1226]

If your talking about growing older, well I'll debate you on that. But this time I'm talking about soap!

I have been a soapmaker for over a decade. And with that being said.... I have made A LOT of soap! Always going through the experimentation stage, I can tell you I have hundreds of recipes and made tens of 1000's of bars. In my first few years I gave away a lot of soap, to try to gauge opinions. But I always saved a few bars. I have hundred's of bars of soap that frankly are very very old. I have every soap documented in Soapmaker 3 and know exactly what is in each one.

Sooooo. today I tried about 50 bars of soap. ( I have the cleanest hands) and notes that I originally made say some were good, some were bad and some were so so.

Well they are a pretty good now! Some spectacular and many that I'm in love with that I didn't like so much before. The ones I tested are 6-10 years old! We all know that the longer the cure, the better the soap. But this is extreme aging! What I notice is incredibly affected is the lather. Bubbly, creamy and rich. And my skin feels fantastic. I'm going to make a few of them again so I have a real test to compare to at an 8 week cure.

I'm not suggesting that you save all you soap for years but this is absolute proof that the results are spectacular.
As a side note - Some of the fragrance really held well.

Thanks for reading!

 

[penelopejane]

Would love to know which fragrances held well - if they are still around!

Congratulations on your good note taking and management.

 

[Clarice]

Wow. Inspiring!

What oils / butters did you find most Improved with age?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[shunt2011]

It really is amazing what time will do to soap. I love my older bars though I don't think I have any older that 6 years now. I try to keep 1 to test at long term. Thanks for sharing! Just proves that a good cure does wonders.

 

[redhead1226]

Would love to know which fragrances held well - if they are still around!

Congratulations on your good note taking and management.

Interestingly enough - The men's fragrances held nicely. Ill make a list and let you know in the next few days.

 

[earlene]

Thank you for your report, redhead1226. I have notice that as well. It actually surprises me that some soap I absolutely hated at a 2 month cure is just a mild and pleasant as any other of my soaps after 3 years of aging. I have one such in my bathroom sink-side dish right now that I have started using after 2 years. When I first tested it at 4 weeks, it was very drying to my skin and I just couldn't handle it at all. So I re-worked the recipe and still hated the new soap I made and just gave up on trying to re-work that recipe. Now it's just fine. So it's good to know that others have the same general experience.

 

[SaltedFig]

It the extra bubbles that gets me ... like you @redhead1226, some of my really old soaps, that I thought were good latherers before, are now just amazing to wash with - bubbly AND gentle!

The essential oil scents that have stuck around have been the woodsy and spicy scents ... I can still detect that in bars well over a decade old, so those scents aren't going away ... I also think I can still smell a hint of honey, but it's hard to tell (it's "behind" the other scents, more supporting and rounding out the smell, rather than being distinct itself).

I think my favourite aged soap oil is sweet almond oil (I was using sweet almond oil a lot in my olive soaps of about 15 years ago, and those bars, while not super hard like the higher olive soaps, have held up really well and feel wonderful).

 

[redhead1226]

It the extra bubbles that gets me ... like you @redhead1226, some of my really old soaps, that I thought were good latherers before, are now just amazing to wash with - bubbly AND gentle!

The essential oil scents that have stuck around have been the woodsy and spicy scents ... I can still detect that in bars well over a decade old, so those scents aren't going away ... I also think I can still smell a hint of honey, but it's hard to tell (it's "behind" the other scents, more supporting and rounding out the smell, rather than being distinct itself).

I think my favourite aged soap oil is sweet almond oil (I was using sweet almond oil a lot in my olive soaps of about 15 years ago, and those bars, while not super hard like the higher olive soaps, have held up really well and feel wonderful).

That’s what I was saying. The men’s scents!!! Woodsy! And yes the lather so bubbly, creamy and gentle. I’m making lots of soap to put away with scents that can handle it lol. The beauty of being a long term soap maker. We get to enjoy these a decade later. The newbies have a long way to go lol. Thankyou for sharing with me.

 

[redhead1226]

Wow. Inspiring!

What oils / butters did you find most Improved with age?

Thanks for sharing.

I don’t use many butters normally. More so on newer soap recipes. So can’t speak to those right now. But the faves of the bunch were over 50% lard, olive , coconut and avocado. I’ll have a better sense of it when I really analyze this endeavor. I’ll report back.

 

[earlene]

I think my favourite aged soap oil is sweet almond oil (I was using sweet almond oil a lot in my olive soaps of about 15 years ago, and those bars, while not super hard like the higher olive soaps, have held up really well and feel wonderful).

That's good to know, SaltedFig. I used to us Almond Oil a lot when I first started, but when I had trouble finding it for a while, I got out of the habit of including it in any recipes. I should see revisit that.

 

[Clarice]

The beauty of being a long term soap maker. We get to enjoy these a decade later. The newbies have a long way to go lol. Thankyou for sharing with me.

I can barely stand waiting four weeks!

 

[aksamitka]

@Clarice I can only relate with you
@redhead1226 Thank you for sharing your experience with us!
Even though I have been making soaps for six years, I have only few soaps older than one year. I need to try maturate them a littel bit longer.
As far I have only one expeirence in the subject of ageing.
I used to experimented with difrent type of fats. Once I did a soap with high concentration (above 50%) of butter from cows milk. I read about it before and I was prepared for stinkyness. Ofcourse warnings were true and nobody in my family wanted to used that soap. But I wanted to give this soap a try, because It was gentle with creamy lather. After something around one year of curing I just sneaked one bar to a soap dish and nobody even noticed. They told me that was a great soap and at the end we used all bars. I also have similar experiences with soap high in sesame seeds oil (to strong smell even for me).
Now I don't do this type of experiments but conlusion will be that: longer curing can be also a remedy for a not so pleasant smell

 

[nonna oakie]

What I have friends/relatives tell me, is funny to me. Just Saturday I saw friends that told me they still have the soap I gave them a couple of years ago. It was a "deer" that he only looks at, never uses.