Teach Soap

Hi All,
I'm new to CP, and experimenting (a dangerous combination, I admit!), using some of the info in Cavitch's book as a guide. I wanted to make a gentle bar with high avocado oil content, so I'm trying an olive/avocado/palm kernel flakes combination: 15 oz avocado, 15 oz olive oil, 7 oz palm kernel flakes, 4.8 oz lye and 12.2 oz of chamomile tea, along with 1 oz of honey and a couple of T of chopped fresh mint added at trace. I used a stick blender, got it to trace, poured it into a loaf mold and three silicone square molds.

The loaf mold warmed up more than the small squares, as expected (neither gelled), but about 20 hours later, both are soft. Not mushy, but it wouldn't take much effort to put a finger print in it. The small squares are especially soft. Should I let it sit for a few more days, or was the percentage of avocado just too high to make a hard bar? If so, can I rebatch it and save it somehow?

Thanks!

Avocado is a soft oil. That's why your soap is soft. Sounds like your squares didn't gel. I would leave those be right in the mold for now.

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

Do you think the avocado was too high, or does it have a chance at hardening? And if I want to rebatch it to harden it, what could I add besides beeswax?

I'm not sure I will; the chamomile EO and tea don't smell as nice as I thought they would, and I may dump the whole thing. Harumph.

Thanks!

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

Yes, that is a high % of avocado. I would just leave it be for now and see how it cures out. Rebatching won't harden it and adding beeswax at this point would make it draggy.

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

I've made a soap with 40% avocado oil before. Be prepared to let it sit for a long time. If you can freeze it to get it out of the mold, that would be the best bet. It needs to dry to get hard and sitting in the mold won't give it much surface to air ratio. Mine took about a week to not be too soft. I did mine in a pvc pipe, so it was originally like trying to get play dough out. Not fun. I like the soap though.

Thanks for letting me know! I did freeze and remove it from the mold. The one in the loaf mold broke up, unfortunately. I might rebatch it to make it prettier!

But this is an experiment! I made myself feel better by making a more more rationally balanced soap last night.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

[quote: I made myself feel better by making a more more rationally balanced soap last night /quote]

I wonder if this could make us more rationally balanced??

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

Ha! I used mint tea for the liquid, so maybe not so rational.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

To answer myself here: In the end, I didn't like the chamomile scent as much as I had hoped. So I rebatched it with the mint soap made the next day. I liked the peppermint soap, but the lye made the the peppermint tea I used as the liquid turn a carmel color--not an unpleasant color, but it doesn't say "mint." So I rebatched the chamomile and the mint together today--just a couple of bars as a test, with a bit of additional mint leaves added. Turned out pretty--a swirl of white and carmel, with mint flakes--and much firmer. I really like rebatching. I know some people don't, but it's my favorite way to add scent and "stuff" to soap. I feel like it loses less of its goodness if it doesn't go through lye and the heat.

So that was the answer!

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

Tea will discolor your soap, but won't add much scent. I'm glad it worked out for you.

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

I use EOs, too, but I thought I would start with the tea for the heck of it. I didn't expect the mint tea to go carmel colored, though!

_________________
***************
Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

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