Teach Soap

Afternoon all, question from a very new soap maker. Do some craft soaps have a tendency to reabsorb moisture?
I have some bars that I thought had cured long enough (at this point over 10 weeks) as they were/are harder than some professional craft soaps I've seen for sale at the local, well I'm not sure I can plug the store name so let's just say this place sells the Whole Food... After a few days in the shower, some of the bars seem to be getting soft again. Not gooey/slimy soft, but a little bendable soft. I live in Arizona and my shower is bone dry after an hour or so. I would also say that I think my soap dish drains well enough. Other than softening up a little, I'm very happy with this soap.

FYI, this is the recipe from SoapCalc, 32oz oil weight and 7% super fat
Avocado Oil 5% 1.60 oz
Coconut Oil 25% 8 oz
Olive Oil 35% 11.20 oz
Palm Oil 35% 11.20 oz
lye 4.45 oz
Water 12.16 oz
Fragrance 1 oz (1/3 Spearmint EO, 2/3 Eucalyptus EO)

Thanks!

Is it possible that you olive oil is adulterated? I don't really see anything wrong with the recipe. The avocado oil is a soft oil but at 5%, it shouldn't make the soap that soft.
12 ozs. of water is at the maximum range. Normal range is between 8 to 12 ozs.
Is your scale accurate? What was the weight of the bar when you cut it??

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks for the quick response. The label on the olive oil (Kirkland brand) reads "Pure Olive Oil", but some of the fine print states that it is "Composed of refined and extra virgin oils". As far as the weight goes, I can't say exactly for this batch, I've only ever put one completed loaf on a scale and it wasn't this one. It is very possible that the scale is off. It is getting on in age. I still trust it for cooking but maybe for the accuracy required for soap making I could look to upgrade. Any suggestions on a make/model?

Thanks again.

I have this one. Don't forget to get the adapter!
https://www.brambleberry.com/KD7000-Sca ... P5388.aspx

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Well Soapbuddy, seems you may have fallen into the classic trap of answering one of my questions cause now I just have more. It can be a vicious cycle...

Could you please expand on your statement ‘12 ozs. of water is at the maximum range.’? Is this in general or for the weight of the oils I’m using depending on water discount preferences by you more advanced soap makers ?

As stated, I used the lye calculator on SoapCalc.net. I kept most of the default settings except bumping the super fat from 5% to 7% and it gave me the 12.16oz of water. This calculator does let you change the setting ‘water as % of oils’ which defaults at 38%. I did re-check this recipe on the Bramble Berry calculator and got 10.56 oz liquid (water). So would the difference in water amounts go back to a water discount preference on the part of the calculator designer? Going forward, how concerned should I be with this difference?

By the way, the problem may have been that the soap dish in my shower wasn't draining as well as I thought even though it has a nice built in drain spout. I picked up a sick to the wall wire mesh/suction cup soap holder to test and so far so good.

Thanks again for the guidance.

For that size recipe you would need a minimum of 8 ozs. of water to dissolve the lye. So the range is between 8-12 ozs. 12 ozs. is the most one would generally use.
I usually go somewhere in between. I have tried 50:50 lye solution, but not all of the lye dissolved. I got undissolved lye as precipitation on the bottom of the lye pitcher.
I normally use The Sage Lye Calculator as it gives you this range. If I wanted to do a water discount for a stronger lye solution, I go below the maximum range recommended.
I don't use the Soap Calc that you mention often as I don't need all the bells and whistles it gives you.

If the soap dish has poor drainage or only very small holes, the dissolved soap gets trapped in the holes and plugs them up. So technically, your soap is sitting in water and will dissolve faster.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.