Hello everyone.
I had a break from soaping and came back to it a few weeks ago as we used up all the soap I had previously made. I must admit that soap is indeed a mysterious substance
When I started soaping about a year ago everything went well, I never spoil a single batch of soap, even those I made with milk! That was the beginner's luck I assume
And now, when I got back to it I have 3 bad batches out of 5 I made
I use the same recipe every time, with same proportions etc, only different EO that I bought from the same store I used to buy in past.
Anyway, two of my soaps had really foul smell when I cut it. In first batch I used oat milk instead of water and I blamed the bad smell on it. And second batch was my regular recipe using water and I got exactly the same bad smell when I cut it. I can't even recognize the lovely EO smell in it
Now I am not sure what is the culprit. I should mention that I used different brand of lye and I used demineralised water instead of distilled water but I have done it before and I didn't think there was much difference between two.
Both soaps went through the full gel and I hate the way they look after gelling. I used ultramarine pink in one and it turned dirty-blue color. Combined with the smell this soap should be nominated to an Ugly Soap award
I understand that different additives give different results but I didn"t do anything new this time, have done it before with great results.
And the third batch just didn't harden for ages even after gelling.
I managed to get it out of the mold and cut it eventually but its still a bit soft.
Maybe someone can tell me if it is OK or not to use demineralised water instead of distilled water? And will the bad smell go away? I will let it cure anyway and see. Did anyone experienced something like that when you just do your regular trusted recipe but don't get the expected result?
Thank you.