Teach Soap

Is your lard solid or liquid? The liquid one I have has Poly20 and water mixed in, which I imagine would mess up a recipe.

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Coolah, here are some oils that have been tested in the US and their results. As you can see, quite a few were adultarated.
Something to think about...

IMPORTED OLIVE OILS:

Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Two out of three samples failed.
Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Three of three samples failed.
Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Three of three samples failed.
Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Two of three samples failed.
Star Extra Virgin Olive Oil: One of three samples failed.
Carapelli Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Three of three samples failed.
Newman's Own Organics Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Two of three samples failed.
Mezzetta Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Three of three samples failed.
Mazola Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Three of three samples failed.
Rachael Ray Extra Tasty Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Two of three samples failed.
Kirkland Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil: All samples passed.
Great Value 100 percent Extra Virgin Olive Oil: One of three samples failed.
Safeway Select Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Two of three samples failed.
365 Everyday Value 100 percent Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Two of three samples failed.

DOMESTIC OLIVE OILS:

Corto Olive Extra Virgin Olive Oil: All samples passed.
California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil: All samples passed.
McEvoy Ranch Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil: All samples passed.
Bariani Olive Oil Extra Virgin Olive Oil: One of two samples failed.
Lucero (Ascolano) Extra Virgin Olive Oil: All samples passed.

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

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

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

You're welcome Heather. I ended up using my adultarated olive oil for only liquid soap. For that application it worked fine.

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

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Thanks for the info about the oils too!! I'm now starting to wonder if that is in fact my main culprit. As I mentioned, the first batch I made, I only purchased a 1L bottle to test. Then when I realised Lye wasn't so scary, I went and bought the 4LT one I took the photo of. Nearly every batch with that oil has been super soft...

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Um... silly question. Ever oil on that list is 'Extra Virgin'. My current oil is not. It's just 100% Pure Olive Oil. Should I be using Extra Virgin?

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Here is what I would do Coolah. Take only this olive oil and make a pure castile. Olive oil, water and lye. Make a small batch, take it to medium trace before pouring and gel it. Leave it be for a couple of days. If it doesn't harden up, it's a problem with the olive oil.

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

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

Oh Anita, it was your gorgeous black swirls that finally pushed me over the edge and made me just HAVE to try CP! I feel in love with that soap as soon as I saw it!!

With reference to 'Sitting in front of fan.' - After I have poured the soap into the mold, it's sat in front of a small desk fan to avoid gel.

I have wondered if Lard was perhaps the cause of the softness. I asked once before I think and got told that no, it shouldn't make a soft soap like I was experiencing. Perhaps I will try putting the soap on the bookshelf for a week and see how I go then...

I also popped up the shops and bought some different oil...

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Looks like a good olive oil to me. Try it!

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

Thank you for your kind words about the soap. But truthfully, I couldn't have made soap like that when I first started making soap. So hold that out as a carrot in front of you to encourage you to keep at it, to keep learning.

And I agree with Irena, that does look like a good olive oil.

Once lard soap is completely set up, able to come out of the mold, it is a bit soft. But it cures nice and hard, just takes it a bit more time than some others do.

Anita

Holding onto the hope that it is just a bad oil I am using, I've given it another go this afternoon. I've even dropped the Lard for now and am using the beginner's recipe in one of my books:

Olive Oil - 50%
Coconut Oil - 20%
Palm Oil - 20%
Castor Oil - 10%

Although I dropped 5% off the castor oil and instead put in 55% Olive.



Fingers Crossed.

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!