Teach Soap

Hello everyone. I've been making soap for about a year and a half now and I finally feel like I have my recipes and techniques down except for one thing. Many of my soaps have little white dots in them when un-molding. I've only had one batch that didn't really have any in them.

I think they are air bubbles. I don't have a picture of my own soap but you can see a picture of something that looks like mine on Brambleberry's site. Just look at the sample soap that is there to show the discoloration of the FO: http://www.brambleberry.com/Tobacco-Bay ... P5801.aspx

Just to be clear, I've never used this particular FO. I'm just using the photo as an example because I don't have my camera with me and can't take a pic of my own soaps. My soaps have the dots in them whether I use FO, EO, or no scent at all.

My questions are:
1) Are they indeed air bubbles like I thought?
2) If they are air bubbles, what can I do to avoid them? I have "burped" my blender but that doesn't seem to help.
3) I've seen professional soaps with these white dots. Does this mean that this is a somewhat normal outcome of CP soapmaking? Is this ok to give away as gifts or sell, or does this make my soaps look too amateurish? The white dots don't seem to affect the actual quality of the soap, they just aren't very pretty in my opinion. Only one person I have given soap to for testing has said anything about the dots.

Thanks everyone!

I have seen those spots on soaps that use palm oil. Unless the palm is hydrogenated or the whole container melted and stirred each time, the stearic acid in palm oil tends to settle to the bottom of the container. As you use up the palm, more and more stearic acid will end up in your soap. Stearic acid needs a higher temp to melt. What temps do you use?

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

I do not use palm oil.

To be honest, my thermometer broke after one use, so I don't measure. I will buy a new thermometer and see if the temperature is the problem.

Try a laser thermometer. I bought mine at Harbor Freight when it was on sale. Make sure when you use the stick blender that the bottom bell is submerged, so air doesn't get sucked in. I soap right around 110 degrees for both oils and lye. I'm sure they are not exact same temp when I soap though.

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

I just bought a laser thermometer. We'll see if temperature is the problem.

Good luck on your next batch.

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

So I made another batch this morning using the thermometer. I carefully measured and started mixing when both the lye water and the oils were close to 110 degrees. I think the oil was at 114 and the lye water 113.

I just took a peek at the soap and there are those same white dots in it already.

I spent some time on Google images looking at handmade cp soap and a lot of the pictures I saw have these same white dots. This seems to be a common issue, I just wish I knew what caused it.

My recipe has no palm oil or tallow. It is coconut oil, cocoa/shea butter, castor, and olive oils. Fragrance oils and essential oils do not impact the white dots as I get them with both scented and unscented soaps.

Could it be undissolved lye? I use these soaps with the white dots and they feel great on my skin. A soap with undissolved lye wouldn't feel so good to use, right?

AHHHH, this is so frustrating!

Did you mix and melt all your oils and butters til the mixture was clear? Did you use a stick blender to reach a true trace?
If it was lye specks, the soap would be very drying and harsh.
Where is your lye from?

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

Yes the oils were completely melted. They weren't clear, they were a bit yellow from the high amount of olive oil (I use 40-50% olive oil in my soaps). It definitely reached trace. I use red devil lye.

I don't think the specks are lye. I use the soap with the white dots and it is always good. Other people have used it as well and say they like it and it isn't drying.

Just found in the comments of one of the soap queen tutorials someone asking this same question. Anne Marie replied that they are indeed air bubbles.

Guess I have to work on not whipping air into my soap! At least they are harmless.

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

Burping it helps! When you first lower it into your soap batter just tip it sideways a little (while still under the batter) and a little air bubble should pop up to the surface.

I had the same problem white spots , after looking at my rescipe it seems it was stearic acid not being melted enough
I was wondering what is the correct amount of stearic acid to add to hot process soap per pound and can your use lactic acid in hot process
and what temperature should the stearic acid be to dislove properly

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

Thank you for your prompt answer , I meant to ask can sodium lactate replace stearic acid in hot process soap
and by the way when or do you add lactic acid to soap and at what percentage per lb