# Sticy soap - what to do



## Astrid (Nov 13, 2010)

I tried a cold process soap recipe that called for 8 oz each of canolia oil, apricot kernel oil, hazelnut oil, shea butter, coconut oil and castor oil. The liquid was 15 oz of water and 6.75 oz of sodium hydroxide. When I got to light trace I added 2 oz of lemongrass essential oil and .7 oz of rose hips oil for superfatting. Before pouring the soap in the molds it was at a medium trace. 

The next day, I tried to take the soap out of the mold but it was sticky and not unmolding. I finally got it out, but it is sticky on the bottom and soft throughout the whole loaf. I've made a lot of soap, but have never had this happen. 

I'm not sure where I went wrong. Any suggestions?


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## shellmar (Apr 4, 2008)

I'm not sure if I will be of any help to you since I have not experienced what you have described.

I did run your recipe through "the sage" lye calculator and I think that your recipe may be lye heavy. For 5% superfat it says to use 6.47 oz of lye. And it recommends (for a strong scent) 1.20 oz. of lemongrass eo. I think you may have used too much eo.

It may be also that the oils you used produce a very soft soap. In my info, from soapnuts.com - soap characteristics (oil properties chart) it says that canola, apricot, hazelnut and castor oils do not create a hard bar. Only the coconut and shea butter create a hard bar. 

Just my thoughts. I may be totally off base here. I hope someone else will be able to help you figure out what went wrong.


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Too many soft oils. You have over 66% soft oils in the batch, it's never going to make a very firm bar. Plus, it could very well turn out lye heavy. I checked with a couple different lye calculators and it comes out at only a 1% lye discount. 

ALWAYS check new formulas with a lye calculator. There are a bunch of really crappy recipes posted to the net.

go to http://www.millersoap.com/ They have a section on *oil properties*, techniques, etc.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

My advice is to use this recipe for laundry soap, that way it won't be wasted. You could try to reprocess this recipe using 8.5 ounces of stearic acid in the rebatch. That would give you a harder bar with a 15% superfat.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

If this has a 1% super fat, then it should be fine to use on your body. Allow the soap to sit for a few months. It will finally firm up.


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## Astrid (Nov 13, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I was thinking of rebatching it but wasn't sure about what to add.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I ran the recipe through the SoapCalc calculator, and it's a 1% super fat with these qualities: (for some reason it won't stay in chart form after I paste it, but you can see the suggested range and underneath the range you'll see the number of your recipe. 


Soap Bar Quality


Suggested Range


Your Recipe


Hardness


29 - 54


24


Cleansing


12 - 22


11


Conditioning


44 - 69


72


Bubbly


14 - 46


26


Creamy


16 - 48


28


Iodine


41 - 70


77


INS


136 - 165


118​


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## Astrid (Nov 13, 2010)

MDKatie said:


> I ran the recipe through the SoapCalc calculator, and it's a 1% super fat with these qualities: (for some reason it won't stay in chart form after I paste it, but you can see the suggested range and underneath the range you'll see the number of your recipe.


Whoa, my recipe certainly looks out of whack. It looks like I should rebatch. Any suggestions?

Thanks


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

Astrid said:


> Whoa, my recipe certainly looks out of whack. It looks like I should rebatch. Any suggestions?
> 
> Thanks


Well, I don't know that rebatching would help since Cyndi said yours comes out to be a 1% superfat, so it should still be safe. You can play around and come up with a different recipe if you want to change the numbers though. It's fun to see what different oils/different amounts will do to your soap.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Your soap looks perfect for somebody with very dry skin.


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