Teach Soap

Ive seen some of you mention this and I was wondering if someone could explain it to me? What it is and how you recognize it?

Thank you!!

False trace is usually when it looks like the raw soap has emulsified and is thickening up, but if you stop stick blending or whisking, it will become thin again; almost like water.

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

Ahh ok!! That makes sense Ty

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

Did I also read somewhere that with false trace you will get no heat from the soap since saponification has not taken place?

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Reviving this one...

I made a batch of soap today that I mixed to "stable emulsification" and then divided into 2 batches as I was scenting/swirling 2 different types of soap.

Anyway, one batch is getting hot and gelling in the mold but the other isn't ... maybe a teeny bit of heat at the center/bottom but that's it. Is it possible one batch didn't trace? I'm SURE they each showed trailings and were pretty thick by the time I was done mixing in my additives and doing the swirls. One batch (the now hot/gelling one) did have cinnamon/clove EO (TEENY amount) but the "cool" batch did not.

Could that be what's going on? i.e. different EOs causing diff temps? I soaped at about 110 degrees and this soap recipe did have 10% cocoa butter which I know can sometimes cause false trace too.

Eeep! I'm worried...
Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

I've had cinnamon and clove both speed things up for me before, however, I don't use them too often, and I always force the gel, so I'm not sure. I would think those 2 EOs could have something to do with the amount of heat you're getting in your "hot" batch. I'm curious to see how this turns out for you and to see if someone has some more info for you.

I had a batch with a weird trace (not sure it was false, but it was weird!) last week, and this week the soap is pretty hard and has a ph of 9, so I dunno what's going on there.

Let us know how your "cool" batch looks in the morning Karri!

Okay so I've unmolded and cut my orange soaps ...

Sigh. They're lovely soaps but the one that didn't gel (or didn't get that hot) had issues with the titanium dioxide around the edges. So had to cut all that off. And the "mini" soaps in same that I made were really crumbly and just yuck.

The one that gelled and had the cinnamon/clove EOs and ALSO had a swirl with TD was pretty much fine ... EXCEPT for some veining - probably from overheating, but it's only noticeable where the brown/cocoa powder swirls are. Go figure. And worse in some bars than others. GRRR!!

All that said ... both soaps smell amazing

Anyway, some pics:

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I soap therefore I am.

I think they look lovely. better than all of my unintentional brown soaps!

What kind of colorants do you use in your soaps?

Hi Beanie -

The orange "base" color comes from the orange 10x essential oil and some orange peel powder (about 1tsp ppo). I think the other EOs also may have contributed to that color too but mostly those 2 elements would've created the nice orange color I'm thinking. (I really like working with orange peel powder actually. Easy to blend and adds a subtle fleck to the soap. Plus it doesn't seem like it would be scratchy at all. I bought mine as bulk grated orange peel at a health food store and then ran it through my coffee grinder to make it into a powder.

The brown swirl is from cocoa powder. Also easy to add/blend/at trace. I think I did about 3/4tsp in a cup of raw soap.

The white swirl (which you can barely see!) is from titanium dioxide (from Brambleberry). I added at trace but it was super hard to blend and if I (ever) use it again I'll add to my lye solution or my oils (have to check what BB recommends for this particular form of TD as some are better in water and some in oils). I didn't use very much, maybe 1/8 tsp in a cup of raw soap.

Hope that helps and thanks for the compliment!

PS: I try to stick with all natural colorants as well so the TD was a bit of a departure Not sure it would really be considered "natural" in the truest sense of the word...

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

Thanks for the reply! I know that a lot of people use TiO2 and they say that their stuff is all-natural. But I really think it is a preference. I know that the name "titanium dioxide" scared me a little...but reading up on it, I think it's fine. My TiO2 is water soluble so I add it to the lye water. It worked a little, but my colors separated and there was nothing that the TiO2 could do to save it.

Oh well, it's all a process!

Yeah, totally a process! It's what makes soaping both fun AND frustrating!

My initial thoughts are that I don't really want to bother with TD again ... too much fussiness or something for the result. But I might change my mind. LOL.

My research on TD told me that it's generally safe if it's not the super small nano-sized particles which can actually penetrate the skin. I checked with BB and theirs was "safe" by that standard.

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.