CP vs HP?

[katinmo]

I was reading "soapmakers companion" book this morning, and it said,"Cold-process soaps lose their caustic properties only after weeks of curing..." I thought caustic meant corrosive enough to eat throug things. Maybe she means the lye still keeps reacting with oil over time, even though not much of it is left after a couple of days?

You're right about what caustic means but I think most people use the term caustic when they mean alkaline (pH higher than neutral). If the soap were really caustic (with a pH of 13-14), you'd be burning yourself just taking the soap out of the mold and cutting it. My husband has been known to steal a bar minutes after I cut it and run to the shower. All of his skin is intact! I really think 99% of the sopanification takes place within 24-48 hours, especially with superfatting.

Kat

[MarieJeanette]

Reg- 'gel' is just one of the stages your soap goes through as it saponifies. It speeds up the saponification process. As the oils and lye chemically react with each other, the reaction causes a build-up of heat, which in turn propels your soap batter to go into a soft, transluscent or gel-like state. Don't worry, this is only a temporary stage. Once the gel stage reaches its peak, the soap starts to cool back down and then it hardens up quite nicely.

It's actually not absolutely necessary to let your soap go through the gel stage if you don't want it to. The soap will saponify without going the gel stage, but it'll do so at a much slower rate. For instance, my ungelled soaps take a few weeks longer to cure than my gelled soaps. I personally prefer that my soaps go through the gel stage because I like to be able to unmold, cut, and use quicker, but there are other soapers who prefer to skip the gel stage for different reasons. Ungelled soaps tend to be much lighter in color, for example. In the end they are all good soaps, though. It just comes down to personal preference, such as the look you are trying to achieve in your soap, etc.. To skip gel, just pop your mold into your fridge for 12 to 24 hours after pouring.

As an aside, my ungelled soaps remain caustic (they zap when the zap test is applied to them) for up to 7 days sometimes. But then they mellow out nicely and cease to zap during week 2. On the other hand, my soaps that go through gel might zap for a day or 2, but it's actually a very rare thing for me. 99.9% of the time my gelled soaps don't zap at all.

As for making CP or HP- I actually do both. Mostly, I CP, but I HP now ang again whenever I'm using an ornery FO that doesn't behave very well in CP.

I use sodium lactate and sugar @ 1 tbsp. ppo each in my HP to get a smooth pour. I used to have to glop my HP into my molds before discovering the sodium lactate/sugar trick, but since adding them to my HP batches, I get a nice liquidy pour. It's not as creamy-smooth of a pour as CP, mind you, but I no longer have to glop. The best way I can describe it is that it's the difference between pouring liquidy jam or scooping stiffened mashed potatoes.

MarieJeanette

[Sharon in KY]

I'm pretty sure the CPOP soap is as ready to use as HP soap. This is the only kind I make cause it's easier and is done overnight. Never had a problem with getting zapped or it being too harsh. It's also the way I make salt soap but only leave in the oven for one hour and cut almost as soon as I take it out.

Here are a few sites that explain.

http://www.soapcrafters.com/recipes_cpop_soap_making

http://www.thedishforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1193&hl=

Edited July 11, 2010 by Sharon in KY

[Reg]

Thank you everybody for posting your replies, keep them coming, this is all good info (at lest for me ).

Reg- 'gel' is just one of the stages your soap goes through as it saponifies. It speeds up the saponification process. As the oils and lye chemically react with each other, the reaction causes a build-up of heat, which in turn propels your soap batter to go into a soft, transluscent or gel-like state. Don't worry, this is only a temporary stage. Once the gel stage reaches its peak, the soap starts to cool back down and then it hardens up quite nicely.

It's actually not absolutely necessary to let your soap go through the gel stage if you don't want it to. The soap will saponify without going the gel stage, but it'll do so at a much slower rate. For instance, my ungelled soaps take a few weeks longer to cure than my gelled soaps. I personally prefer that my soaps go through the gel stage because I like to be able to unmold, cut, and use quicker, but there are other soapers who prefer to skip the gel stage for different reasons. Ungelled soaps tend to be much lighter in color, for example. In the end they are all good soaps, though. It just comes down to personal preference, such as the look you are trying to achieve in your soap, etc.. To skip gel, just pop your mold into your fridge for 12 to 24 hours after pouring.

As an aside, my ungelled soaps remain caustic (they zap when the zap test is applied to them) for up to 7 days sometimes. But then they mellow out nicely and cease to zap during week 2. On the other hand, my soaps that go through gel might zap for a day or 2, but it's actually a very rare thing for me. 99.9% of the time my gelled soaps don't zap at all.

As for making CP or HP- I actually do both. Mostly, I CP, but I HP now ang again whenever I'm using an ornery FO that doesn't behave very well in CP.

I use sodium lactate and sugar @ 1 tbsp. ppo each in my HP to get a smooth pour. I used to have to glop my HP into my molds before discovering the sodium lactate/sugar trick, but since adding them to my HP batches, I get a nice liquidy pour. It's not as creamy-smooth of a pour as CP, mind you, but I no longer have to glop. The best way I can describe it is that it's the difference between pouring liquidy jam or scooping stiffened mashed potatoes.

MarieJeanette

Thank you for such detailed explanation! I needed that.

I'm pretty sure the CPOP soap is as ready to use as HP soap. This is the only kind I make cause it's easier and is done overnight. Never had a problem with getting zapped or it being too harsh. It's also the way I make salt soap but only leave in the oven for one hour and cut almost as soon as I take it out.

Here are a few sites that explain.

http://www.soapcrafters.com/recipes_cpop_soap_making

http://www.thedishforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1193&hl=

Did you ever do swirling with CPOP? I just wonder if the clolors bleed together?

Thanks for the links, off to read now...