Teach Soap

Hi folks,

My name is Dean and I recently got into making soap and detergent at home following a work related accident. I'm on medical leave.

I was just looking for a way to save money and use more environmentally friendly products (safe) at home. After having camped out in front of Anne Marie's video series and taking a CP class I launched into my first CP batch.
I made a 1 lb. batch first thing in the morning, went well. And then____

Here's what I've learned so far:
1. It's best to keep it simple at first
2. Don't soap when tired
3. The soap calc. at MMS is kind of confusing. I entered percentages of different oils/fats and it figured I was talking ounces not percentages. As I said, it's best not to make soap when tired. I ended up with over six lbs. of soap that set up really fast. It did end up glumpy once it was time to pour. I ended up using a spatula to spread it into my molds, kind of like dry wall mud.

So here is my question; when the saponification process goes too fast where is the mistake most often? Too high a percentage of lye? Things were going so well at trace and then the mix turned into ????? a stiff, glumpy, mess.

I'm going to try this first batch on the neighbors children before I try it on myself. Just kidding.

Welcome!
Some base oils can accelerate trace or soaping at a higher temp or using a fragrance that accelerates trace. You should not have more lye then the calc gives you. I superfat at 7-8%. I add all my oils and butters into a soap calc and use the suggested water and lye for my superfat. I don't add any oil or butter at trace. Lye at trace is still very active and it will take whatever it wants. There is no guarantee that any oil or butter added at trace will end up as your superfat.

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

Thanks for your feedback.

I used Olive Oil (40%), Coconut Oil (30%) and vegetable shortening (30%) I used a crock pot to melt down the coconut oil and vegetable shortening. I used a 5% superfat ratio. When I combined the lye and oil the temp was approximately 140 degrees. I guess I should have cooled them down more.

Do you have any butter (shea, cocoa, mango) or a little bit of castor? That would give you a more balanced recipe. I don't normally go above 20% for coconut oil and go with a higher superfat.

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