They are stored in a dry place with ventilation. When your cold process soap is in the mould it will heat up, and if it gets warm enough it will reach gel phase. Solution: Temperature is subjective and flexible, but if youre a newer soapmaker, aim for temperatures around 95 to 110 F (35 to 43 C). If you are looking for an all-inclusive, intensive, and complete learning resource for all things cold process soap making, The Ultimate Guide to Cold Process Soap is the book for you. If you you just add extra oils randomly, then youll end up with a really soft and oily soap that doesnt lather well. Reason: Consider additives such as beeswax and sodium lactate to increase soap hardness. If this happens to your soap, cut off the worst affected places. I finally found you a trustworthy soap maker. One of the main benefits of cold process soapmaking is having complete control over ingredients. Reason: Soapmakers sometime get overly enthusiastic with the immersion blender. What will make cold process soaps freeze or set up too soon? Those are a few ideas to start with to help us troubleshoot better! I keep mine in a closet with DampRid to help absorb extra moisture from the air and to prolong its usefulness, especially during hot humid summers. Thanks! Do they smell like old oil, or unpleasant? Whew! Solution: Take extra care if using bay laurel, citronella, clove, cinnamon, fir, palmarosa, pepper, and ylang ylang essential oils. Peek at your soap every now and then. Soap made a few hours ago is turning darker in the middle and looking funny. A student of mine recently contacted me for some advice about one of the most common soapmaking mishaps when using the cold process method: soap seizure. Heres a great article that tells how! Thank you for your time and your work. Thanks for commenting! (Possibly hours.). Reduced water amounts, longer cure time, and certain additives can help them be harder and longer lasting. Reason: Using your immersion (or stick) blender too much. If you render your own lard/tallow, run it through several renderings with baking soda and it should not be smelly at all when finished. could i rebatch the soap? For tips on using synthetic colorants such as micas and LabColors, check out this article on How to Color Handmade Soap by the Soap Queen. (Cut it into bars if needed.) About Soap has a dark ring or rind around the outside and the middle is lighter. Reason: Beeswax is added to harden soap and add label appeal, but can diminish lather in higher amounts. Hi Jen! Solution: You can either increase the amount of hard oils in your recipe (lard, tallow, palm, cocoa butter, kokum butter, coconut oil, babassu oil, etc) or you can keep the amount of olive and other soft oils high (so the bar is extra conditioning), just be sure to give the soaps a sufficient amount of cure time too. Ill try again and share results and pics with you. Place the soap in front of a fan to help with air circulation. Reason: Some fragrance oils dont behave well in soap and will cause separation. Reason: Some fragrance oils (FO) may separate from the soap batter and form bead or pools of fragrant oil in the surface of the soap. Soap batter has expanded out of the mold (soap volcano). I dont t think I added enough lye. Everyone wants their soap ready faster, but handmade soap requires a certain amount of time and patience. If your soap doesnt reach trace within 10 to 12 minutes, see if one of the situations below applies. Is it past its expiration date? :). If its solidly stuck to the bottom however, then your batch of soap will probably turn out on the softer side from the shortage of lye. Hi Krystal, Im so sorry to hear that! 1.65 oz castor oil Soap has weird orange or brown spots on it and/or smells bad. Solution:There are a few suggested workarounds to try. Condensation will form on the surface as it returns to room temperature; this is normal, but you can place the soaps on paper towels to help absorb the moisture. I like using Soapee or Majestic Mountain Sages lye calculators, but there are several other good ones online. (Currently, I have 70+ of those emails in the queue to answer!) (Dont ever measure lye by cups or tablespoons as its highly inaccurate.). But dont give up on it until then! To do so, preheat your oven to the very lowest temperature. views, likes, loves, comments, shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Super FM 88.1: The Road to 2023 Solution: Let the lye solution and oils cool to well under 120 F (49C) before working with them. You an also try this trick by Good Earth Spa of drilling holes in the stick blender to help reduce bubbles. You dont want to count the weight of the jug into your recipe I think that is where things went wrong for you. Also, just double checking did you use a scale to weigh out the lye, or did you use a measuring cup? Looking for answers. Soap remained soft and oil started to float on top. This means the soap started getting hot and going through gel phase, but cooled down too quickly before the heat could reach the edges. (Dont throw it out, just be aware that it may need a long time to firm up, if it ever does, and will be extra superfatted/oil-heavy. This is a fantastic list of cause and effect situations found in soap. :). Let the soap set up for 24 hours or so. Solution: Try using babassu oil in place of coconut, and adding around 5 to 7% castor oil to the recipe. The average waiting time before you can unmold your cold process soap is 17-24 hours. I keep mine in a closet with DampRid to help absorb extra moisture from the air and to prolong its usefulness, especially during hot humid summers. (When youre more experienced, you can stop at emulsion stage.) What should I do to rebatch it? Please use palm kernel oil instead of palm oil. Thanks! Solution: Buy a fresh bottle of lye from a reputable vendor. Then let those bars cure another month or tow with lots of air flow around them. 100g cocoa butter I made the dog shampoo recipe and I accidentally put two tablespoons instead of teaspoons of lavender. The soap couldve cracked because of the high amount of tallow and lower superfat. Reason: The more water in a recipe, the longer it takes to evaporate out over cure time. (Make sure its labeled sodium hydroxide and not potassium hydroxide.) Soap batter has little hard rice-like pieces in it. (See #2 below for that scenario.). Step 4: Gently squeeze your finger to use the second drop of blood. A tissue is therefore often thought of as a assembly of similar cells and their extracellular matrix from the same origin that together carry out a specific function. Misbehaving Fragrance or Essential Oil. Read reviews of fragrance oils carefully and purchase from a reliable soapmaking vendor. Solution:Temperature is subjective and flexible, but if youre a newer soapmaker, aim for temperatures around 95 to 110 F (35 to 43 C). (Sort of like moisture beads in a scrub product for your skin.) The hard spots could have too much lye & the soft spots not enough. As a result the liquid laundry detergent is runny like water, instead of having a thicker, more viscous texture. But, giving soap a full 4 to 6 weeks cure time, at minimum, is important. You won't have to worry about the lye reacting with the colorants and changing them as often happens when adding things to cold process soaps. Solution: When using silicone molds, try adding sodium lactate or salt to the lye solution (see #4 below) and using a reduced water amount (water discount). Was heavy blending the cause of it? In soapmaking, 1 molecule of oil (fat) reacts with 3 molecules of lye which turns into 3 molecules soap + 1 molecule glycerin. If its developing a crack down the middle, its getting too warm and should be uncovered. Ive been soaping for 3 yrs. Yes, you could use 1/2 lavender and 1/2 lemongrass. 2. You can incorporate the color change into your soap by adding some swirls with a bit of unfragranced soap base to give a colored or white contrast or you can use some . After time is up, turn oven off and allow soap to remain in ambient heat until cooled. Hi there, I tried making my first cold process soap today and failed miserably. Everything went well, but it is winter here, inside temp maybe 50 degrees. Hi Alexa, Sorry to hear it did that! The top of the soap loaf has a weird wrinkly look. Helpful article Simple Secrets: Anchoring Fragrances In CP Soap, 1. :). On a daily basis I receive emails from readers about problems and questions encountered while making soap. my soap has palmolein n olive oil pomace I think I might have had oils hardening before completely dissolving If the lye solution is a strong dark brown though, then you can likely expect some type of tan or brownish color in the final soap. Return it to regular position before turning on. We provide a 12-week soap-making class in one easy-to-read format, not . or citrus tend to be the most likely to turn your soap darker and this can happen in melt and pour soaps or cold process soaps. This could be from working at high temperatures, high natural sugar ingredients (beer, pumpkin, honey, milk, etc), or a misbehaving fragrance oil. Still, its good to be prepared in case it does happen. Super great article. Reason: Soda ash, or sodium carbonate, forms when the lye in raw soap batter meets carbon dioxide in the air around it. When you create a recipe using a lye calculator, you normally calculate around a 5 or 6% superfat. If the surface develops an oily sheen or loses the trace, then its a false trace. This increases the amount of free oils in the soap, making it more conditioning. If you want to add extra oils, you can definitely do so, but youd want to include them in the list when creating a recipe with a lye calculator to make sure you have enough lye. Original recipe is just like you put it. 9.9 oz coconut oil Reason: Some essential oils (EO) and fragrance oils (FO) can accelerate trace. This is because silicone and plastic molds create an airtight seal that doesn't allow for any air to touch the soap. what am i doing for prevent crack during use? Thanks, Jan! ), put your soap in the fridge if it will fit or simply leave it un-insulated in a cool place with plenty of air circulation. Stearic spots are more cosmetic than anything & usually the soap is fine to use. Also, water amount (water discount) can affect gel phase; a soap with a lower water amount requires a higher temperature to reach gel phase, while a soap with a full amount of water will more easily gel. If the soap wont release after several days in the mold, place it in the freezer for a couple of hours until solid enough to pop out of the mold more easily. I wish I could be more help! Soap is darker in the middle and the outside edges are lighter colored. 28.8g eucalyptus. Distilled water 10.70 + 2.9 = 13.6 Had no idea regarding scales. thats very informative. Hi Vahid! It will be easier to troubleshoot with more details. :). In my last video ( https://youtu.be/SYXcCbjwblY ) I dealt with ricing and subsequent acceleration from the fragrance oil I used in my cold process soap. Followed by rice flake kind solution. :). Solution: Use a water discount. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her family and a menagerie of animals, where she enjoys brainstorming creative things to make with the flowers and weeds that grow around her. You can speed up the process by mixing the soap paste with the water over heat. Its a balancing act for sure! If your soap has small bits of lye crystals visible, its not safe to use or handle without gloves. Reason: Olive oil and other soft oils like canola, sunflower, safflower, etc are extra conditioning but can feel slimy if used in high amounts and not cured for an extra long time. Im not sure since I havent tried making laundry soap with my homemade coconut laundry soap instead I make a dry detergent with it: Solution: Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in a soap recipe. Place the soap mold on a heating pad or a seedling heat mat during saponification. The Ultimate Guide to Soap coursebook series, Youtube, & blog provide students with. SOAP RECIPE. Some need to be used at higher amounts, while others need to be used more sparingly to avoid skin irritation. Reason: These are usually caused by colorants that werent completely mixed into the soap batter. Soap has hard and soft places when you slice into bars. Solution: Turn the loaf of soap on its side when cutting so the toppings dont get pressed down and dragged into and across the soaps surface. Hi Theresa! Monitor freshly poured soap for signs of overheating and move to a cooler place if needed. 9. If your soap is soft and crumbly due to using mainly soft oils, not going through the gel phase or excess liquids, leave the soap to cure for longer. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar per pound of oils to your soap recipe. TROUBLESHOOTING COLD PROCESS SOAP PROBLEMS. I have your book, 101 Easy Homemade Products. Allow for a longer cure time: The longer your soap cures, the better the lather will be. Soap made with high amounts of olive oil take the longest to trace. A caveat of this is that soaps high in soft oils are often extremely gentle and lovely for your skin, so dont rule out making soaps that are high in soft oils! I love your website and have learned so much! Many thanks, Hi Patricia! ), CLICK TO RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE LIST. Then try and remove. Solution: Use a lighter hand when spritzing soap tops with alcohol, or cover with an alternative method such as plastic wrap. This ultimate troubleshooting guide breaks down the reasons and solutions for 30+ common cold process soap problems. However, I might be wrong! Hoping someone can help. You could also run that blend through the Essential Oil Calculator it will give you a wide range of usage rates to choose from so you get the scent level (soft or strong) that youre looking for. A there a rule of thumb, for super fat soaps? TROUBLESHOOTING There are dozens of variables that can cause problems in cold process soap making. Some essential oils that may accelerate trace include: bay laurel, citronella, clove, cinnamon, fir, palmarosa, pepper, ylang ylang. Try dipping in water, as instructed by this. Many new soap makers don't realize the importance of the mixing process. If those are the correct numbers of your recipe, when I run it through the Soapee Lye Calculator, then it says you have a superfat of 2%. Hi Tara, Im so sorry to hear that! Reason: Palm free soaps and recipes high in olive oil (or other soft oils) sometimes take longer to firm up. If your client base is heavily tilted toward natural ingredients, using 0.1% of your oil weight in ROE is very likely to significantly extend your shelf life. Hi Desiree, Im so happy you found the troubleshooting article helpful! (Soap-on-a-stick). Do you see any cracks in the top? 4.95 oz cocoa butter ( 70% tallow 10% coconut oil 10% castor oil and 10% olive oil). What can I do to prevent my soap from heaving in the middle of the mold? They are in there third week sof curing what should i do? It gels throughout the middle but cools down before the soap can gel to the edges (called partial gel in soap-ese.) Reason: The recipe has an incorrect lye amount. Working with warmer temperatures can help in that case. Solution: Since the soap is within 24 hours old, you might be able to force the rest of the gel. :). The oils will eventually go rancid though, so to extend shelf life that way, you can add ROE (rosemary oleoresin extract or rosemary antioxidants) to your soap. Reason: This means the soap has overheated at some point. 4.95 oz shea butter. Sorry to hear that happened! d) Oils, Butters or Fats Used https://www.eocalc.com/. Don't use a blanket - your soap needs more air, preferably dry air. Lye and oils must always be weighed with an accurate scale. Solution: Increase the amount of hard oils in your recipe. 11.55 oz olive oil . When I first learned to make soap, everyone added the extra oils for superfatting after mixing the soap to trace, but then some research was done to show that it doesnt matter when you add the oils, so you might as well mix them all at once. You may notice that a weak lye solution doesnt get very hot, the soap batter takes too long to reach trace, and the final soap feels oily or soft. Reason: Check the bottle of lye you used. Wear gloves since the soap is still caustic at this point. With cold process soap the water evaporates out during a process called cure. Hi, so much info. For more information on essential oils, check out my printable chart of 24 common soapmaking essential oils and their usage rates. It may be crumbly at the edges, or too soft. Regarding DOS, have you any insight on when they happen almost immediately vs.over months? :) https://www.facebook.com/TheNerdyFarmWife. Its a win-win for all! This can interact with the lye solution and form small floaty bits. Ive made my soaps recently, but one of my soap still a bit soft, it feels hard and soft in the mean time. Use the right water temperature: Using water that is too hot or too cold can impact lather. Ive had soap stuck in them for 1+ month more than once, so avoid them unless I absolutely love the design. In some cases, tallow and lard can add an unwanted aroma to your soap. :), Hi Jan I want to make sure my math is right. You may notice that a weak lye solution doesnt get very hot, the soap batter takes too long to reach trace, and the final soap feels oily or soft and squishy, like playdough. Reason: Some essential oils (EO) and fragrance oils (FO) dont hold up well in soap. Thats about the limit of what Id use on a dog, BUT, for a human, you can safely go higher. Soap top is weepy or slightly oozy looking. Reason: Zinc oxide or titanium dioxide wasnt completely blended into the soap batter, leaving little white flecks in the soap. Because this is a massively long post (8,800+ words! Hi Meme! I do appreciate any help you can give. If it still shows the trace after 30 seconds then its a true one. That could come from overheating. I will use 4.64 sodium hydroxide now. Solution: Dont run the stick blender continuously, try alternating hand stirring for 15 to 20 seconds, then just a short burst of the blender, then hand stir some more. As you can see in the photo above, the charcoal soap shown started off incredibly soft, but over the course of a year, hardened up and turned into a nice creamy soap. Solution: Be sure to stir the lye into the lye solution until its completely dissolved. If it still shows the trace after 30 seconds then its a true one. Proven Information Technology and ColdFusion Administrator with extensive experience in application development and programming, server administration, business analysis, and IT project management. Lather Lovers Additive Tests, One Year Later! This ultimate troubleshooting guide breaks down the reasons and solutions for 30+ common cold process soap problems. It has 12 different fats in it. Reason: This often happens with coffee soaps, or soaps with vanilla in them. Sorry to hear that happened! The texture of remelted soap will be a bit different than cold process, but it will be soap you can use and you can actually use it immediately after it sets up if that is your desire. Can you share your thoughts on this? If it hasnt improved after a year though, then at that stage I think its a loss. I bought a lot of it and now it is to hard. 972g olive oil Soaps gels from the center outward. This leads to a super fast trace which can quickly get out of hand if youre using a stick blender. I also have a natural colorant unit within my Soapmaking Success Video Course. It kimd of saperated. But there can be other factors that cause this to happen. Reason: This means that the soap is getting too hot. This video will show you how to troubleshoot common soap making problems in cold process soap making. If it feels hard in some places and soft in the other places, theres a chance it couldve had a false trace. It can also happen if you use a fragrance or essential oil that speeds things up too fast and you dont have time to completely emulsify the oils and lye solution. Can I follow one of your recipes, and add additional fats willy-nilly (a little bit of this and a little bit of that)? Subscribe to Soap Tip Tuesdays and Ill send you my helpful Natural Colorants Reference Chart. Reason: These molds behave similarly to silicone molds, but are even worse at holding onto cold process soap. If working with a new fragrance oil, read descriptions and reviews carefully to see if other soapmakers have experienced issues with it in soap. Melody, Hi Melody! For the recipes that arent high in coconut oil, are they higher in soft oils (such as olive) instead? Hi Shilpaa, Im so sorry to hear about your soap! [1] [2] Organs are then formed by the functional grouping together . some of my soap sweat slightly brown beads. Store it tightly sealed in the original plastic container. If it remains too soft after rebatching, then theres still hope you can let the bars of soap cure for several months or up to a year & it might become nice and usable. All of them made soap in their kitchens, with kids around, and seemed to be unsafe. That might help with troubleshooting if you get a chance to let me know. Q: Can anyone give me a melt and pour soap recipe for a soap thats good for psoriasis/eczema? For palm-free soaps, high olive oil soaps, and silicone molds, its often helpful to reduce the water from the default 38% Water as % of Oils given in lye calculators to something lower like 30 to 33%, but if you have a swirl or intricate design in mind, you should consider using the full water amount, or perhaps 35%. Use water that is between 90-110F (32-43C) when making your soap. Im not sure if you will be able to help me . After 24 hours, take the crock pot soap out of the molds. Like it was oily , some grunky stuff at the bottoms of the bowl , little stuff floating on top . Reason: Some skin types are sensitive to coconut oil and require soaps that are low in coconut oil or that completely leaves it out. Reason: Tap water contains impurities that can react negatively in the soapmaking process, increasing risk for soda ash and DOS (dreaded orange spots indicating early rancidity). Was it a hand mixer (with two whisk like beaters) or an immersion blender (stick blender)? ), 3. 381g avocado oil Do not use recipes that measure by volume (cups, tablespoons, etc). Tips From The Experts All recipes are made and used at your own risk. I have received permission to post the article since it was taken off the USA Today site. Reason: These are called DOS, or Dreaded Orange Spots, which indicate that oils in your soap are going rancid. I had to resort to a fan for a few days. Reason: Soap has extremely overheated. 1. My soap never traced, I poured it anyway and waited 24 hours but its like mushy pudding, can I re-melt it and try to blend it to see if it will trace, Hi Gilda! If mixing in at light trace, dissolve the colorant in about 2 to 3 times as much water, oil, or glycerin (depending on the colorant type) and blend well. If making a bastille soap (around 75% or higher olive oil) be sure to include bubbly oils such as coconut (20 to 25%) and castor oil (5 to 7%). and I still learned lots of new things. Set it on some parchment or wax paper to cure for a week or so and that's it. Handmade Soap Recipes Soap Making Recipes Handmade Soaps Shampoo Diy Soap Making Supplies Homemade Bath Products Common Cold Goat Milk Soap Beauty Recipe Carrie Woodall saved to Soap recipe Saved from angelapalmer.com At least thats my best guess so far! Most scales have a tare button that you push to reset the scale to zero. Pls can I add more foam booster to my liquid soap after making the liquid soap, cos I realized dat after making the liquid soap, it didnt foam to my taste, so please I need ur advice, if adding foam booster will have any negative effect on the soap,or should I go ahead.. Tnks waiting 4 ur response, Hi Asiosa! Thanks again Jan for a smart, insightful, and wonderfully written article. If you get a chance to post a photo on my Facebook page, Id love to see more details & I might have a better idea for you: :) Sometimes this happens because of false trace where the soap looks like it reached trace, but if you wait a minute and check again, the trace is gone. Hi Hallie! Water discounting can cause the batter to accelerate. The result is a chemical process called saponification, where the composition of the oils change with the help of the lye to create a bar of soap. Depending on the ingredients you use, cold process soapmaking typically yields a long-lasting bar of soap. If your liquid soap recipe is made from scratch, then you might want to consider adjusting the recipe to include more coconut or castor oil, or try lather boosting additives like aloe liquid (in the lye solution, not for dilution) or sugar. The amount of water needed depends on how concentrated you want the liquid soap to be. What's Wrong With My Soap? Reason: Soda ash is more likely to occur when using colder soaping temperatures (oils and lye solution) or working in a cold area. Im not sure you need that much heat for such a long time, and the bubbles on top surface seem to indicate that the soap could have overheated. I couldnt figure out why my soap never reached trace until I discovered the difference. Solution: Dilute honey with an equal part of warm water before adding to the soap batter. Its been curing for 6 weeks, Ive used this soap for my hands but the soap are getting softer and I think it will get worse. Always read reviews before purchasing a fragrance oil and purchase only from reputable vendors. Today when I tried to cut, it is crumbling, I stopped cutting, can I do anything to save it? Wrapping the molds in a blanket or towel for insulation will keep the soap warm and accelerate the curing process. I would do a combination of less coconut oil and higher superfat. Soap is soft and squishy, like playdough. Hi, The bars have a strange, tacky / sticky residue that is a bit shiny and bubbly looking on the face of the bar, it doesnt seem oily and doesnt look the same as when condensation forms (not to mention its too dry in there for that). 24 Likes, 0 Comments - Odor Om (@odor.om) on Instagram: " ." In biology, tissue is a historically derived biological organizational level between cells and a complete organ. To offset loss of lather, add castor oil at 5 to 7%. Cold process soap. You may wish to completely avoid gel phase which is often desirable for milk soaps to keep them lighter colored. , Here is the recipe: Warm Regards The color of the lye solution is not always related to the final color of the soap. Received permission to post the article since it was taken off the today... Label appeal, but there can be other factors that cause this to happen at some point that. And 1/2 lemongrass flecks in the soap can gel to the edges ( called partial gel in soap-ese )! 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