Teach Soap

I made a batch of soap 2 days ago. Although it was still "pliable" , I cut it. (Last year, I made a batch that was as "soft" as this but after the 6 weeks passed, it was fine. My question is this: As I was removing the scraps, I couldn't help but try out this 2 day old soap. It was quite wonderful with no burning or stinging???? How can this be? I thought that the safe time frame for the lye to equalize was 4-6 weeks. The recipe was 28% CO, 20% PK flakes, 30% OO, and the remaining 22% included Grapeseed, Evening Primrose, Castor, Avocado and Rice Bran. 5% Superfat 38% water. Any thoughts?

From what I have read, and I have only been making soap for about a year now, so there will be a lot more experienced people on this site that can confirm if this is true!
The saponification process is complete in about 24-48 hours. Which means your soap is fine to use after a day or two. HOWEVER, just because the soap is safe to use, doesn't mean that it's reached its peak yet. Soap benefits from a cure of a few weeks. The water evaporates out and the soap just seems to get a bit better. It seems a bit milder, lathers better and lasts longer in the shower. After a month or so, you're not going to see too much more added quality - but letting your soap cure for those extra few weeks really does make a difference.

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Diane

Did the soap gel or did it not, ungelled soap takes a bit longer to harden, I am not sure if it was your recipe or not, you can see all the values the resulting soap will have by plugging the recipe into [url]soapcalc.net[/url]

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Anna Rose @-}--
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If the soap gelled, the saponification is complete. As the soap cures, water evaporates and the pH changes slightly. Lye in soap does not equalize. It reacts with oils and butters to form a type of salt.

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