Teach Soap

Hi Everyone,

I almost always have problems with soda ash on my soap. I am soaping at 100 – 110F. I tried everything, spray with alcohol, cover completely with plastic wrap, towels on top or put in the oven. It still appears on the top of soap. I know how to clean it but when top of the soap has not flat design it’s hard to clean completely. It also ruin intricate swirl design on top and almost impossible to clean out. How to prevent it? I don’t understand why it’s happening all the time. I know chemistry side of it but covering doesn’t help me.

I appreciate your advice.
Thank you.

Embrace the ash or put some mica on it.

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

Have you tried a water discount? We had a certain recipe that was giving us a lot of troubles with soda ash and a water discount helped a lot!

https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body ... -soda-ash/

How long do you keep your soaps covered in plastic wrap? Maybe try keeping wrapped for 48 hours if possible as some recipes seem to take longer to saponify and this seems to lead to soda ash. I have found this has helped me the most with soda ash.

Thank you, I will try to do water discount and keep longer then 24 hours in the mold. I cut after 24 hours when it's easy to do it and soap don't crumble. I think it might be hard to cut after 48 hours. Once I did water discount 1:1 and soap was crumbly on the edges when I cut it next day. Lye formula was correct though.

In addition to spraying the loaf with 99% alcohol, I've been putting the loaves in my oven along with a "Damprid" container. The Damprid keeps the moisture in the oven under control. So far this has worked. I also keep the soap in the oven a couple more days after unmolding. BTW, I live in Florida and its humid pretty much year round.