Teach Soap

I received my shipment of sodium lactate, stearic acid, and benzoin powder today from Brambleberry. I am so pleased so far. It took them no time getting my order to me. I also received a complimentary sample of Lemon Cake fo. It smells divine and I'm in love! I will be ordering a huge amount of the fo asap. I do have a question though if anyone is available on here to help me. I am about to make a batch of cphp and then finish it in my oven at 200 degrees for 2 hours then turn it off for the night. May I ask which I should use, the sod lactate or the stearic acid in my recipe that is 22.5oz lard 10oz oo 10oz coconut? Or am I supposed to use both at the same time? Also how much would you use to make these bars nice and hard? How do I use the benzoin powder to fix my scents and how much would you use of it? The oils make 2.65 lbs. It has been a very long day and the info I can find at the moment is about cold process. Sorry I am bothering yall about this so late at night. It seems like I'm always having to make my soap at night when most folks are sleeping

Since she told me about the benzoin making her itch, I won't be using it. What else can I do to help my fragrances not go away with the duration of the heat? Also, do I use the sl and the sa together and how much for cphp that goes into the oven afterwards? My bars end up soft and my climate is so humid, hence the need for the hardening help. I bought a dehumidifier and it doesn't seem to be of any help.

Ask BrambleGirl or BrambleMomma to move your other thread here. They can also merge it, so other people don't post the same answer in two different threads.

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

Hi godschild,

I have used Kaolin Clay to anchor my scents and I think this has worked well for me. I stopped using stearic acid a while back bacause I was getting spots in my soap, I now use sodium lactate at 1 tsp ppo, so in your case, it looks like about 2 tsp should do it. Some people add it at trace, others put it in the cooled lye water.

CPOP at 200 deg F for 2 hrs, seems a bit much to me, (other soapers may comment on this) Usually when I CPOP I turn the oven to 170 Deg F, then turn it off, just as I put the soap in and leave it for a few hours... This may just be my oven, but I found that if I leave it in an oven that stays heated for too long I get these funny looking bubbles all over my soap and the scent I put in is gone, waste of a good FO!

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If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane
~Jimmy Buffett

I also like Kaolin clay as an anchor. When I put my soap in the oven it is at 170 and the oven is on for about 15 min or so before being turned off. At 200 I would worry about overheating, which can mean cracks or soap spilling over the mold and into the oven. As for additives to harden the soap, I personally find that ensuring full gel is enough to get a good hard bar, but the climate here is dry. All soap is Scottish when unfolding. Do you find your soap is still soft at 6 weeks? I would try using either sodium lactate OR stearic acid and see which works best for you.

Oh, I also forgot to mention...I live in one of the Most humid climates (Florida) and I have found that using a water discount is very helpful, (Soap calc shows how to do this) Maybe worth a try for you, good luck!

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If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane
~Jimmy Buffett

Thanks. We are probably running a race with Fl over here in MS. I can't wait till May is here. The rain usually lets up a bit.

Have you tried the recipe you plan to use without the additives? You may find you don't need all of them. Or maybe any. I would start by making a small batch without them, and see what you think. I never use stearic acid or benzoin. The only time I need to use sodium lactate is when I use Milky Way molds and my soap doesn't gel. The sodium lactate gives them that extra bit of hardness to come out of the mold cleanly.

Just made two batches. Next time I will only use 1 or 2 % SL if any because it turned into paste. I continued cooking and now it doesn't zap. Waiting on cool down to add fo. You have all been such a blessing to me. I am truly thankful. I don't like the way this olive oil I bought worked though before I ever added my SL. I used the coconut oil tallow recipe from the Miller's using lard instead. I think my crocks may not be hot enough on warm so maybe next time I will use low or my oven instead.

My other recipes didn't do like all the videos I watched on warm either. Don't think it was the recipes. I never got to where they turn over on themselves etc. This time, I got a thick mess floating on top of oils so I stirred it all up well and kept going. I have made enough hp and think I just will try cp for a few batches.

My batches that I do in the crock pot never turn over themselves. I do stir from time to time. I use the low setting.

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

Ok thanks. I will try low instead. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all this soap lol. I like sculpting so I may make a soap statue. Nah, just joking. I do sculpt, but I am not going to do that. Would be a waste. If it turns out nice after curing for a while, I will donate it. I already have about 25 lbs in just over a week. Trying to get it down pat I've only tossed one batch so far. I cooked it forever and then just gave up and let it sit. When I woke up it had grease all over it. I scraped it off, tried reheating and stirring it up but it was just a mess.