Teach Soap

Apologies if this has been discussed, I haven't read through all the posts. I've made supposedly 'solid' sugar scrub cubes and find they melt at room temp. I do live in a warm climate but I suspect they would melt at a pretty low temp as soon as they're out of the fridge. I used the Soap queen video recipe - cocoa butter, sw almond oil, shea etc, not one with m&p soap. Bit disappointed. I can use them myself but certainly can't sell them. If I allow them to do their melty thing and put the mixture in jars to use just as a scrub, will I need a preservative? I have Germall Plus, any thoughts on that?
Thanks in advance,
Robyn

Oops, just clarifying - it wasn't a soap queen recipe. It was on the Australian brambleberry distributor site - cocoa butter, sw almond oil, conditioning emulsifier, Shea butter, sugar, colour and fo. I have a feeling it shouldn't melt, but it does.......

You don't need a preservative for products that do not contain water. If you wanted to add a preservative to an item because water will be introduced through use you can. A lot of times this happens with scrubs and wet hands. Germall plus is water based I believe so it wouldn't work well with a scrub.

Cocoa butter is pretty hard at room temp but if you added enough soft/liquid oils to it then I could see it being soft at room temp. You can add more cocoa butter and use less liquid oils next time.

It could be the conditioning emulsifier that you are using that makes the cubes soft. I make sugar scrubs in jars and do use a preservative. There is too much chance that wet fingers, water from the shower or the humidity of the bathroom will get into the scrub. I would try Optiphen™ (Phenoxyethanol and Caprylyl Glycol) or Phenonip, which is oil soluble only.

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

Thanks Irena - is it worth adding one of those preservatives to the now very soggy scrub cubes and putting it in tubs for use? I read up on Germall Plus this morning and yes, it appears it can't be used since there is no water in the mix, just the possibility of it being introduced through wet fingers/humidity.

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