Additives to decrease soap melting?

[lisafrantz]

I've made my first two batches of soap and have had some issues with the soap not lasting very long in the shower. One bar only lasted 6 days. The bars were only about 3/4" but I would have anticipated them to last longer. I have used a simple coconut oil/olive oil recipe with castor oil that I found in my Everything Soapmaking Book. Is there something I can add to the soap so that it doesn't melt so fast or have I done something wrong in my process?

[Jcandleattic]

How long was the cure? The longer the cure, the harder the bar, the longer they last, especially with olive oil recipes. I personally let my soaps cure for about 8 weeks. If I have OO in it, I cure them even longer.

Also, do you let them dry completely after each use, or are they in a soap dish that allows them to sit in water? Sitting in water will accelerate the "melting" or dissolving of the soap more quickly as well. I would suggest getting a soap dish that allows air flow to surround as much of the bar as possible.

You can try adding some stearic to your soaps, (or oils high in stearic such as Palm, Cocoa Butter, etc.,) as this contributes to a harder bar also.

[TallTayl]

Soap made using formulas high in olive oil are more soluble (wear more quickly with regular use) than soap made with oils like palm, lard, palm kernel oil, cocoa butter, etc.

Castor can also make the soap more soluble depending on how much used and the rest of the formula.

I would not look at addives as much as the overall formula to harden/make the soap less soluble.

Other common tricks:

decrease the amount of water used in the lye solution. Most calculators use "full water". They have other settings to decrease the water amounts safely.

Gel the soap

Allow a long cure

Keep the soap dry between uses

Use a net pouf to apply the soap (this also generates more lather)

[lisafrantz]

Great advice, Jcandleattic. I only let the soap cure for about 6 weeks so I will definitely try curing it for longer. So much to learn I'm definitely interested in experimenting with different types of oils. I recently made a two other batches and one contains both palm and cocoa butter, the other has shea butter and almond oil.

Makes sense about the storage and letting it dry in between.

Thanks so much!

[lisafrantz]

Thanks, Talltayle! I had never thought of Olive oil as being more soluble but it makes sense I guess. Glad to hear that using different oils could help since I'm not really a fan of adding artificial things to the soap. I am anxiously awaiting two new batches, one with the oils you referenced. It's so hard to wait when they smell so good but if longer is better I'll give it a shot

I'll have to look into the castor and water content also. All of the recipes I've been trying are ones that I've found either in one of my soap books or online. I need to get my confidence built up a bit before I get too creative with my own formulas but I'll get there eventually

Thanks again for your help.

[TallTayl]

Keep us posted Lisa.

A nice little formula i used for a lather additive project used just 50% Olive, 25% Palm and 25% Coconut. Tests were done at 5% and 8% superfat, along with 25+ different additives believed to improve lather.

The simple little formula was pretty nice. Easy to work with. And lasted a decent amount of time in the shower.

Soap making is a fun journey. I hope you love it =)

[lisafrantz]

Awesome, Thank you!