Teach Soap

I just made my very first batch of CP yesterday and I messed up on the coloring AND didn't use enough scent. I pulled it out of my wooden mold and cut it into bars tonight. It's an unattractive grayish white color and doesn't have much smell at all.

Should I grate it up and rebatch it? If so, should I do it sooner rather than later? Or does the timing not matter that much?

Is the soap still dangerous to touch right now because of the lye? Or is the lye pretty much gone already?

Why is the soap so hard to get out of my mold when I lined it with paper? Is that normal? It was lined with freezer paper, shiny side toward the soap. There were pieces of tape from my liner stuck onto the outside of the soap block in one area. I have a second batch of soap that I made yesterday and put into a lined PVC pipe and I can't even begin to get it out of the mold. I put it outside on the front porch where it's very cold, hoping that would help. We'll see.

Thanks,
Linda

The lye should be gone by this point. You could shred it and add it to another batch. I use wax paper for lining my molds, or a trash bag. I find the trash bag easier to unmold with. Try using some sodium lactate for your next batch. It could be your recipe is soft.

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

What is sodium lactate and when would I add it? By the way, I think I got a little too much water in my first recipe. Would that cause it to be softer and more difficult to unmold?

Thanks!

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

Any special temperature the lye water should be at before adding it? Do you always add it to your soap? Or only if you think there might be too much water in a particular batch?

By the way, do you own a soap business? You know an awful lot about soap

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

What does the SL contribute to the soap? How much of it would you use per pound?

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