ssolis Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 (edited) Hey everyone!I'm here with a concern that I can't find when searching the threads. I made two of my first batches of CP soap recently after feeling confident enough of my basic knowledge. My first batch I borrowed from Susan Miller Cavitch in her Natural Soap Book; it's the recipe titled Soap Essentials I believe... of course, scaled down to fit a two pound batch. The recipe I followed is:50% Olive Oil31.25% Coconut Oil18.75 % Palm OilI scented it with .5oz/ppo Patchouli. (Here I assumed my batch would discolor to a light brown due to this EO). I followed through with a stick blender off and on until trace and poured into my silicone mold from WSP (until my wooden ones arrive). I placed this mold with a piece of heavy cardboard on top into a warm 170 degree oven that I turned off immediately. Two hours later I noticed partial gel. Several hours later I got full gel. From the photos you can see how creamy it was going into the mold at first, yet it never went back to being creamy after the full gel. Cut, the bars are grainy, beige, and are slightly more translucent.The second batch was attempted with a completely different recipe, one to lower the oleic oils. I added seven oils in fact. Once again, it went into the mold creamy like pudding, yet it came out looking the exact same way as the first.And i scented it with NG Lemongrass. This stuff smells like someone getting a perm at the salon! OMG!Any insight? Is it my mold? Should I not let it gel? I'm in ND so I'm afraid that the temperature around may be too cool, therefore, I thought the oven would be a great place to insulate. Here are the photos. The first is my first batch. The second is both of my batches cut and looking funny. I really thought they would be whiter and smoother. Edited February 28, 2010 by ssolis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorrie Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Can you post your full recipe? And I wondeer if it is the steric in the palm that I am seeing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssolis Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 (edited) Can you post your full recipe? And I wondeer if it is the steric in the palm that I am seeing.Sure! Here is the first:12.8oz Olive Oil8oz CO4.8oz Palm Oil9.728oz H203.687oz LyeMy second recipe:3.84oz CO3.84oz PKO6.4oz Olive Oil6.4 Palm Oil1.56oz RBO0.56oz Neem Oil1.28oz Castor Oil1.28oz Mango Butter9.728oz H203.657oz Lye(I had originally planned for 10% of neem in the recipe, but after pouring a few drops I realized it had to be much lower... so I made up the 10% with neem and RBO, so that's why the numbers look so funny)!My temps for combining in both recipes was right at 100 degrees. Could this have been too warm? Maybe with the ambient temp being around 70, it just cooled weird? Thanks for ANY help! I'm not familiar with the stearic in the palm, but both batches do look a little streaked. Edited March 1, 2010 by ssolis to make the recipe more readable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 (edited) As best as I can tell from the photo, your soap looks like it came out good. It's not supposed to get that creamy look back after gelling. The appearance will vary with the recipe, but it's never as opaque as ungelled soap. It should look a little more translucent. Maybe it took some color from the FO if it's darker than you expected, but not all recipes come out very light. As for the graininess, I think maybe I see something but it's hard to tell exactly what it looks like. Maybe no big deal. Did you melt and mix the palm oil before you measured it?You could always try to prevent gel, if the creamy look is important enough to be worth modifying your procedure. Or you could add some titanium dioxide to brighten it up. There are various natural colorants and additives that might increase the opacity as well.But basically it sounds like you did everything right. Edited March 1, 2010 by topofmurrayhill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssolis Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 Thanks, ToMH! I am relieved to know that I am on the right track at least. And nope, I didn't melt and mix the palm oil before measuring or adding to other hard oils! Hmmm, I'll try that to see if I can get rid of the streaks. Do I need to melt and mix the PKO in the same manner?-sandi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 (edited) And nope, I didn't melt and mix the palm oil before measuring or adding to other hard oils! Hmmm, I'll try that to see if I can get rid of the streaks. Do I need to melt and mix the PKO in the same manner?Oils like coconut and palm tend to separate into harder and softer portions at room temperature. Palm in particular often separates significantly into clear liquid and solid layers. These sorts of oils are best melted and mixed to make them homogeneous before measuring them out.You can also use different versions of these oils that don't require any special consideration. Most suppliers sell PKO as solid flakes, 92 degree (versus 76 degree) coconut oil stays solid and mixed, and Columbus foods has a no-stir palm.I've never specifically seen streaks from not mixing oils. People often blame palm oil for this problem, but I doubt it's the oil. If you soap at the proper temperature, the oils are clear and homogeneous and there's no way for anything to separate. Seems more likely to me that it could come from FO reacting with the lye and not mixing in sufficiently when added at trace. I just add fragrance to the oils. Maybe you can try that if you didn't do it that way. Edited March 1, 2010 by topofmurrayhill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitn Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 I think you soap looks very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssolis Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 Alright. I have one batch finished using the advice given. I'm not going to let this one gel (if I can help it)! I spent some QT with the the Palm Oil so we'll see if that was the major culprit regarding the streaks! I didn't put the FO in the oil yet, but if it still streaks, I will take that advice, Top! Kitn, thank you! You guys are awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssolis Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 Update! I now understand the diff between gelling and not gelling!Thank you for all the help and advice!Sandi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smittenheart Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 are you gellin'? hehe..I ALWAYS wanted to say that..anywho! your soap looks AWESOME!! great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssolis Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 are you gellin'? hehe..I ALWAYS wanted to say that..anywho! your soap looks AWESOME!! great job!HA! I tried to explain to my hubby the science of soap making with options of gelling... and he said he was lost, that all he could think about was the commercial! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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