Teach Soap

Hello, there! I am new at this and it is so fun! I made two batches of CP soap that were successful. Yeah. My third batch was so sticky that I turned it onto soap balls (I am crossing my fingers for this batch). My question...first, I made this batch with the following...

2.5 oz castor oil (5.7%)
13 oz coconut oil (29.9%)
29.9 oz olive oil (64.4%)
16.34 oz water
6.08 oz lye

I portioned out some and colored it ultramarine violet (so pretty ), I put it into a lined cardboard box mold. I think it properly traced before I added fragrance (rosemary and lavender -3 oz total) and color. When I poured the soap into the mold it was whitish with purple swirls. I peeked at it as it was curing and after 24 hours in the mold it is gelatinous but firm and almost transparent. Should I cut it and hope for the best or let it sit longer? I have it covered in plastic wrap and towels. Is this an extended gel phase? Oh, I used soap calc app for my recipe. The original recipe I got from a book but altered. Help?

If it's still gelatinous looking, I'd wait until it's solid looking again because it sounds like it's gelling. If you cut it now, it would most likely be too soft with that much olive oil in the recipe.

Also, is that the recommended rate for the fragrance oil/oils you used? That sounds like at least an oz more than I'd use.

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Genny

I haven't done the math for your essential oil, but that sounds like a lot to me for that size batch.

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

You over-used the eo's. Those two both have a max of 5% usage in bar soap, which would be a total of 2.27 oz. Since you are using two, you have to stick to the 5% max, breaking that down however you choose, but still 5% max total.

(eta: 45.4 oz x 5%= 2.27)

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Thank you. I was following a recipe that didn't indicate the amount of fragrance so i wasn't sure about the fragrance amount. i used that amount in an olive oil bar and it turned put great. I also got a little confused using the soap calculator. Does the oil blend I have turn out sticky bars? Thanks for the feed back too. This is so great.

Depending on oils/butters used, no, your soap should not turn out sticky.

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

Many recipes do not have an amount of fragrance to use, and even if they do, you still need to verify that the amount is the correct amount. For FO's, you need to check with your vendor to verify the max usage rate. For EO's, you need to check the IFRA website (although some vendors do provide this info on their websites, usually in a pop up if they do). It is your responsibility to make sure that your product is safe for use and that means that you need to verify the amounts you are using are within acceptable limits. Over use of fragrance can cause skin irritation, but over use of an eo can also cause skin sensitization, which is a lifelong issue. Repeated use of a product that contains too much of an eo, increases the likelihood of skin sensitization. So if I were you, I would not continue to use the soap that you made previously. No matter how you feel it turned out, too much eo means it is not safe to use. I would rebatch it or add it into another batch.

As for your recipe, that is also something that you need to run through the calculator, even if you are using a printed recipe as it is written. Everyone makes mistakes and typos occasionally, not to mention that some recipes are just bad to begin with. I know you did run this one through, I am just pointing out that it is a necessary step, always. The recipe itself looks okay on the soap calc, although I couldn't figure out how much you superfatted this. No matter though, it still should not have been sticky. What type of mold did you use? Did you freeze it or allow it to gel? I would leave it sit another day, two if it was in a silicone mold, and see what it is like then. This recipe isn't the hardest, so maybe it just needs more time.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Using too much castor oil or using castor oil with formulas high in soft oils will make it sticky. I regularly use 5% castor oil in my formulas, but my percentage of hard oils/butters is much higher than yours.

My bet is that the 6% castor with the 70% soft oil formula is what is giving you stickiness.

I would look at substituting about half of your olive oil with a hard oil (or hard oil + butters). So maybe something like 6% castor, 30% coconut, 30% palm/lard/tallow, 24% olive oil. Or alternately, you could keep your base formula, but lower the castor to something like 1-2%. I've never used castor with a high % soft oil recipe, so I can't give you a good guideline for the % to use, but definitely lower than 5%.

If you absolutely want to make sure it's not sticky, try removing all of the castor oil. But I love what castor oil does to soap so I think it's definitely worth playing with...

I respectfully disagree with Robert. When used alone castor makes a very soft soap, but when used with other fixed oils it makes a very hard bar and acts as a bubble booster. You would need to use over 10% castor to get stickiness strictly from the castor %, and still, it would depend upon the rest of the recipe. Many people, including myself, use it as high as 20% for shampoo and shaving soaps (not sticky). I regularly use 7% castor oil in my basic recipes, and have never experienced a sticky soap at that level.

While many hold that you should, generally speaking, have your hard oils more equal to your soft oils, soaping is all about breaking the rules, and the fact that you can make good soaps outside the normal parameters. There are more than just Castille and salt soaps that break the rules, yet still make good, hard soaps.Try looking at the "break the rules" soap on the teach soap recipe page and you will see what I mean. I don't recall the recipe % now, but I know they are crazy wild. I just remember thinking "WOW"! when I read that one.

Back to your recipe though. It could be that you are just not used to soaping a high olive oil soap. Have you done one before? Also, if this was molded in a silicone mold, it would take longer to set. That, along with being high in oo, would give the sticky feeling for an extra amount of time. Olive oil is both a soft oil and a hard oil. It begins soft, but ends up making a nice hard bar. The numbers on soap calc for your recipe are not too soft, so if everything was done right, it will turn out fine. If I were you, I'd cut your water some if you use this recipe again, it will help with the cure time.
If your soap is still sticky after a few days, it has another issue, but really, it should be just fine when all is said and done.
So give it a few days and then see what you think about its consistency. Of course it will still need to cure at least 6 weeks before you use it. Have fun experimenting, and let us know how it turns out!

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy