Beeswax to prevent ash?

[MoonShadow]

Sorry if this has been asked already. I searched but didn't find anything. I read somewhere (can't remember where) about adding .5% BW to prevent soda ash. Is that .5% to the whole batch, or just the oils?

I'm happy with my basic recipe, except for getting ash occasionally and have some BW so thought I might give it a try.

Does it accelerate trace or heating during gel phase.

TIA!

[CareBear]

It would be a percent of the oils. Soapbuddy swears by it (or used to, I've read nothing recently) but I've had no luck with it.

Too much BW can accelerate trace but not at that level. Just make sure it's fully melted.

[Scented]

Not at .5 IMO. I just tried some in a batch two or three weeks ago trying something out for hardness, not ash, but no ash has developed yet.

Not sure I like the adjustment to my recipe yet, but the soap I am trying still needs more cure too.

[Candybee]

Does it really work to make your bar harder? Also, does it kill lather or make the bar last longer? So far I haven't used anything like BW or stearic to harden my bars. I rely on my oils in my recipe to make my bars hard enough.

[Kitn]

I have tried it and find it kills the lather, it did not make the bars any harder.

[beekeeper_sd]

I use it in all my soap (of course I'm a beekeeper so it just comes naturally) and I still get wonderful lather. I does harder the soap but I'm not sure about preventing ash. I had not heard of that until now but now that I think about it I haven't had my soap ash for a long time. I think it just depends on your recipe and, once you get that down, unless you have really bad environmental issues, you're not going to get ash in the first place. Oh, and I also add honey to my soap (again, the beekeeper thing).

[JanetsCandles]

I'm having better luck lately with spraying it with rubbing alcohol before putting the mold to bed. It was a suggestion over on BrambleBerry, so tried it on the last half dozen batches. No ash so far, and that was with a couple recipes that did it bad in the past.

[MoonShadow]

I always spray with alcohol. I just can't seem to figure out why I get ash sometimes and other times I don't. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the actual soaping room temp and humidity. I decided I don't really want to risk messing up my base recipe with the beeswax since I worked so hard to get it just right, so I broke down and spent $22 bucks on a handheld steamer. It's fast and works like a charm. Pretty, shiny tops.

[Scented]

Does it really work to make your bar harder? Also, does it kill lather or make the bar last longer? So far I haven't used anything like BW or stearic to harden my bars. I rely on my oils in my recipe to make my bars hard enough.

Actually what I have found through testing a slice off a batch that I did, it made the soap sticky at first (2-3 days in and no lather), then it got better, but still a little sticky (after one week), now after 4 weeks, I find I just might like it lol. I think it has maybe made it a little bit harder in the sense that the thin cut I did make is not as flexible as it has been in prior batches. Can't really comment on the lasting of the bar, because I've only used it like 4 times. As for lather, I have a good lather, not as foamy as it was, but that's OK too. There's just a slight difference. Again, I didn't use that much beeswax either.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Scented

[Moody Glenn]

Hi everyone! I have not tried the beeswax method but have by spraying with alcohol and it seems to work for me. I remember my first batches ashed horribly until I forced my soap to gel (using a heating mat). The higher temps did something for when I unmolded and cut the bars did not develop ash. That being said, I do have some problems when using certain fragrance oils and they can develop ash right after unmolding. I have learned to spray with alcohol when using these fragrance oils. Even though there is nothing wrong with ash (being dried soap) it still looks nasty like a bar cover with white fungus. Yuck!