Teach Soap

Maybe I tried too many new things on the same batch? I was trying a new recipe for my niece. She is very opposed to Palm and my standard recipes have either Palm or Palm Kernal. So, I was trying a no palm recipe and I also wanted to see the difference between my normal gelling and placing the batch in the fridge. So, I used two different molds - one was the brambleberry 9 bar mold and the other was a silicone loaf mold. I used the lid with the 9 bar mold. I placed the silicone mold in the fridge. I finished my soap about 7 pm. Before going to work the next morning (about 5 am), I unmolded the 9 bar mold, cut it, and it did fine (bar on the right). I didn't check on the silicone mold in the fridge - I had assumed it would not be ready. When I got home from work, I took the silicone mold out of the fridge. It unmolded beautifully. I was really happy with it and the colors. Then I tried cutting it and it started splitting and just not holding together.

Should I have let it warm up to room temp before I tried cutting? Did I leave it in the fridge too long?

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

Refrigerated soap usually needs to come back up to room temp & sometimes needs a day or so to harden a bit as well.

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Genny

I put most of mine in the fridge for 24 hrs. then pull them out and unmold and let it sit out for another 24 hrs. before cutting. Sometimes I have wait 2 days out before cutting if it still feels a bit soft inside. Most of my recent soaps contain coconut milk so I pop them in the fridge to avoid overheating. I still had one crack in the refrigerator though.

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

Sounds like my impatience was the problem. Thanks for the diagnostics!

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

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