Teach Soap

Hi soapers-

I made my first HP soap last week in a crock pot. After researching the method, recipes, etc, I settled on a Dry Skin recipe in The Everything Soapmaking Book (page 147). I added some ultramarine blue and purple colorants and some Lavender and Bergamot EO for scents.

The soap reached the applesauce and mashed potato stages, didn't zap me when I tested it, so I glopped it into a mold. This was last Wednesday. The soap is still really soft and can be scooped out of the molds and sculpted. I cannot figure out what went wrong... Does anyone have any idea? Am I not patient enough? Does it need to set for longer than a week to harden up?

The recipe is as follows:

5 oz olive oil
5 oz coconut oil
3 oz shea butter
3 oz avocado oil
.5 oz castor oil
6 oz water
2.25 oz lye

I was really excited to try this method, but after this first attempt, it seems to be a much bigger pain than I thought it'd be...

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Chrissy

Blog:

Everything looks ok. The only thing I can think of is that one of your oils wasn't weighed properly and you might have too much oil. Usually HP soap sets up quickly once it's cool.

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

Do you know if there's anything I can do to fix this, or is it pretty much a wasted batch? I'd like to try to fix it if possible!

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Chrissy

Blog:

Must have weighed something incorrectly or added it twice. Recipe seems fine.

Can it be rebatched? I have a soap that I made last week and sort of hot processed it . It was my soap disaster. It is still soft and I, too, was wondering if there was anything I could do to speed up the setting process or just keep being patient (SO HARD!).

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Haven

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with this soap gremlin, Haven! I am not sure about rebatching a over-oily soap like mine may be - hopefully someone has a good answer for us!

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Chrissy

Blog:

It's hard to troubleshoot without knowing if there might have been a mistake in weight. If it's super duper superfatted, you could make a soap batch with 3% superfat, shred this batch, stick blend it to your oils, then proceed as normal.

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

Do you know if there would be any other reason for this soft batch except mis-measuring the oils? Or a way to tell if it is too superfatted?

I'm certainly not perfect, and I could have measured the oils wrong or put them in twice, but I thought I had measured correctly.

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Chrissy

Blog:

Also, when I have been reading about HP soaps, many folks say they can be done in an hour. The book I was reading recommended 3 hours in the slow cooker on low. I cooked it for about 2 hours on low, since it didn't zap me after 2 hours and it was hitting the stages I've read about.

Does it need to cook longer instead?

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Chrissy

Blog:

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