After a long time away from soaping, I finally got back into it. I had lost my original recipes but remembered enough to recreate them with a few intentional modifications (less water, for one thing).
I remember when I'd make soap before it would take a looooooong time to reach trace. I'm talking 15, 20, sometimes 30 minutes. Often I'd give up and pour the soap at the first sign of even the slightest amount of trace. Usually this worked out all right, but I had some
spectacular failures.
This time I was dedicated to getting it right. I wanted to reach full trace--no matter how long it took--and make sure nothing bad happened to my soap.
Boy was I surprised when, upon adding the lye solution to the oils and beginning to mix, the soap reached a full, thick trace in well under 5 minutes (maybe even more like 2)!
I made three batches last night, each a different scent/recipe but all built on the same basic base. Each batch did the same thing.
So, should I be worried that my soap came together so quickly or thrilled that I've struck upon a recipe that saves me hours of mixing?