Teach Soap

This is my first batch of CP soap, and it looked fine from the outside. I made it about a week and a half ago. I cut it today though, and this is what I found! (Sorry it is so big, it is hard to see the texture when it is small though)
This was my recipe:
10.5 oz coconut oil
10.5 oz oilive oil
9 oz shea butter
8 oz water
4.2 oz lye
2 oz Vanilla Select FO


I did a plain old batch, no swirling or colorants. I did the zap test and it just tasted like soap I know the deep brown is from the vanilla scent I used, but the random dark swirls are quite crumbly and dry. Why are the swirls there, and why is it so dry and crumbly?

Did you mix well with a stick blender & reach true trace? Did the soap overheat? Is it possible that part of that batch is from the bottom of your soap pot and didn't get mixed in as you poured?

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

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I made a soap that did the same thing regarding the color around the edges. After a few days it all turned the same color. I think it was because the air got to it? I think your soap looks cool. I hope you figure out what happened!

I just realized that you used Vanilla. That could be why the color turned first on the outside of your bars as they were exposed to air first.

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

hi irena,

means those bars will turn darker eventually during curing period?
does all vanilla FO does the same thing? or varies for different batches

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

Wow….that’s really a strange result. It almost looks like you put black colorant in it. The rough texture on the surface of the bars looks like you waited too long to cut them. The soap actually hardened up so much over a week and a half that your cutter didn’t make a nice smooth cut.

As others have mentioned, the vanilla FO can give you horrible results in the resultant color. I’d leave it out or choose an FO with no Vanillin or vanilla in it. Overall though it doesn’t look that bad. I would run your recipe through SoapCalc again to check that you have all you proportions’ correct and be sure to use a SB mixing your soap.
If you have the experience, you could rebatch all the bars in a CP/HP method using white oils and butters giving you a better looking soap.
We’ve all had batches that we’re not happy so don’t be discouraged.
Jerry