Teach Soap

Hi Teach Soap Forum members

I need advice on management of humidity in a soap workshop. I have moved to Nigeria and have been busy soaping. However, I noticed that a lot of my soaps take very long to dry/harden because of humidity. Even with my electrical dehydrator on, the humidity levels have averaged 77-80% the humidity has only lowered a bit when the AC is on, but that's burning up my power bill.
Do you have any suggestions on tools or equipment that can help on humidity management?

Thank you all in advance.

PreciEvy

i live in florida. i adjust my recipes for humidity. less olive more cocoa etc.. what helps is that. I live in on the coast of west palm beach in a community surrounded by lakes and one overlooking my window lol. the only real way to deal is adjusting.. keep oscillating fans around and those pouches for humidity that absorb water. although this will be as much of a waste as youd waste on electricity. if you can afford it, invest in a solar panel portable generator. theyre portable and can maybe help with keeping fans circulating with a good humidifier..theyre not that expensive and if youre handy you can even make one yourself. but forget about beating the humidity, it beats you and being optimistic is the best thing you can do to go with the flow.

even adjusting my recipes it takes almost 2 months to cure a bar of soap so its very hard. You just have to deal with it the best way and adjust..

I add salt to my lye and in 1-3 days i can usually un-mold perfectly, if i freeze the mold first then cut fast and let them cure on a good paper towel for a few months...

while im waiting for those i perfect my body butters and shampoo bars.. i made a baby chamomile soap back in october and its still soft... also made a almond olive soap in the beginning of october and its kind of hard i tried it the other day and it doesnt last that long in the shower. the plus side of humidity though is amazing bath bombs, solid bubble baths, less product when adjusting recipes, you know if something sets or not theres no question if itll melt later etc, it makes you work that much harder so when your in a controlled environment it seems like cake to make soap =) also the lye dissolves so nice here. im starting to think of the idea of making 100% olive soaps and then hard butter soaps... im no longer doing a half and half or even mix its not worth it and its hard when you need to keep coconut oil below 10%. its fun experimenting but one must have patience as a virtue for time is our friend.

I live in tropical Australia. I water discount, and use a touch of salt, and I cure my soap in our air conditioned bedroom (aircon only on at night).