Teach Soap

Hi!
As a complete newbie I wanted to share my thoughts about my first batch of soap.
I apologize in advance for my lame english: I'm italian, I'll do my best to be comprehensible

The recipe was super simple and included 75% olive oil and 25% sweet almonds oils with 10% lye discount (used BB calculator).
When I extracted the batch from the mould, I cut it in bars and removed the light white ash from from all the upper surfaces, except from one bar I kept aside for further observation.

After 4 weeks I made some zap tests: the "observation bar" zapped a lot on the surface that had ash on it (didn't zap at all on the other 3 sides). The "clean bars" didn't zapped so I used them: they are hard, almost unscented, and sure they do their job: they clean. Maybe too much: after usage, the soap leaves you with a strange feeling, as if your hands were too clean, although no hypersensitive.
I'm inclined to think that I somehow messed with the lye. Did you ever obtained a lye-heavy soap even if the zap test were ok? The other option that comes to my mind is that the lye quantity was ok, but the recipe wasn't: should I have used a more complex oil combination, maybe one that collected more moisturizing qualities?
I can add some pictures if you think it could be useful.
Thanks!

It sounds like your soap ended up being lye heavy somehow. Those oils should haven't been drying at all. Are you positive you measured everything accurately?
Could you please post your exact recipe in weights. Maybe we could help a little more then.

_________________
Genny

At what temp did you combine the lye water and oils? Did you reach true trace? Did you use a stick blender? Your exact recipe would be helpful.

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

Here's the recipe I used (picture attached). I used a digital scale to measure, but since the scale has no decimal I approximated the lye to 26g and the water to 71g. Could this be the problem?
In this first batch I didn't use any thermometer, I went by the feel of the temperature with my hands. I waited until the pot and the water/lye recipient were safe enough to touch and then waited again until I got the feeling that they were both equally a little warmer than my hands.
I used a stick bender and I got trace sooner than I expected, in 3 minutes max. About the trace itself: this was my first experience so I cannot be 100% sure that THAT was the trace, but it seemed to match with the pictures/description I saw.
I don't know how to describe it properly, but I cook a lot and what I got was very similar to the thickness I get when my homemade cream starts to gather.

A couple of pictures:
- the first is one of the "clean bars" I polished and cut. I now notice a white spot > it zaps!
- the second is the "observation bar" with the white ash on the upper surface.

I would get yourself a thermometer for now. You have 23% almond oil, which is a soft oil. Is it possible that your olive oil is adultarated? Sometimes it says olive oil on the front and it's actually a combo of oils other then olive on the back. When you have more then two decimal points, round down for your lye and round up for your water and oils. I pulled your recipe through my lye calc and got 26 grams of lye for a 10% superfat. How old is your lye? Are there any clumps in it?

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

Olive oil should not be a problem since it was extravirgin. In the lye, no clumps. I bought it the day I made soap, but I see no exp. date on the bottle, and that's strange: would the lye be more caustic if it was expired?

No the lye doesn't get more caustic if exhausted, in contrast it would loose it's active matter because it adsorbs CO2 from air and gets more acidic. Actually NaOH does not really expire if kept close and away from air and moisture, if it adsorbs moisture you may have clumps in your container, otherwise it should be as individual pearls or pellets.

Would you not try to make your first soaps with max. 5% superfat? And I think 4 weeks are still too short, wait another month and then use your soap.

buona fortuna

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Genius is 1 % inspiration and 99 % perspiration

Since the white spot in the picture zaps, I think perhaps you didn't mix the soap well enough, and have lye pockets. You don't have to be exact with temperature, but it can be helpful to "follow the rules" for your first few batches to see what's normal.

Also, did you stir the lye and water mixture until it was clear? You might have ended up with an undissolved clump of lye.

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***************
Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

There was no visible clump, but the mixture was not crystal clear yet when I poured into the heated oils.
I'm writing down all your suggestions in capital letters! I'm sure my next batch will be better
Thank you!

You need to keep stirring your lye water til it's clear.

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