Wondering about embed soaps staying unexpectedly compact?

[melonpan]

I've made just one or two embed soaps so far and my general understanding from reading on the forum and my limited experience is that they will eventually split apart where the different pieces are connected.

So it was much to my surprise that I realised today that two of my embed soaps are not actually coming apart! I offer exhibit A and B.

The interesting thing is that other soaps in the same batch (my nicknamed "Frankenstein" batch done in October last year), that I have used before, split apart when they were much bigger.

The only difference with both of these soaps that are holding their embeds is that I started using them to about halfway their size, then I was away from home for more than a month, so they kind of had time to rest before I started using them up again. I'm wondering if this could have improved their compactness? Or could it be just their longer curing time?

I'm genuinely curious if anyone else has noticed something similar, or if it just a random/fortunate coincidence!

 

[DeeAnna]

...my general understanding from reading on the forum and my limited experience is that they will eventually split apart where the different pieces are connected....

I'm not sure I agree with your perception that soap with embeds often comes apart. I know there are many threads here where people ask for help with this problem, so you might get the impression that the problem is quite common. But if a person isn't having problems, they generally don't say much. So the threads really can't tell you the true numbers of people who use embeds with good results versus those who don't.

While I haven't used embeds, I do make pencil lines. There are many threads here where people complain their soap has come apart at the pencil lines. I haven't had that problem except once, and I know the mistake I made with that batch.

What I find more intriguing about your soap is seeing the different rates of wear for the various parts of the bar. The white soap is clearly harder and/or less water soluble than the orange-y and purple-y bits. If you want a soap that lasts longer, you'd want to formulate the soap more like the white one.

 

[melonpan]

Thank you @DeeAnna for your thoughts!

I forgot to mention it in the original post, the white soap is a trasparent soap (gone wrong and turned opaque instead) mainly made up by extra virgin coconut oil. I also find it interesting that the different rate of wear is noticeable.