Clarifying Soap Mishap
The Clarifying Facial Soap has been in the Great Cakes Soapworks line almost since I started selling soap (made my first batch of it six years ago!). It’s a bit tricky to make since it likes to set up rock hard in a matter of minutes. There’s a fine line between getting the soap fully mixed and not letting it set up in the soap pot. This particular batch I erred on the side of not getting it fully mixed. There were tiny dabs of moisture throughout the soap, and I suspected it was lye. But who wants to stick their tongue on the soap to find out for sure? Blech! Then I found this larger pocket of liquid, and my suspicions were confirmed without licking a caustic popsicle:
You’re probably wondering what’s in this soap that makes it behave so strangely. Well, I’m guessing the guilty party would have to be the witch hazel I use as part of the liquid. It makes a strange brew when I add the lye to it. The others, although this has yet to be confirmed, would probably be the small amount of beeswax and stearic acid. One more unusual ingredient is the herbal-infused olive oil; however, I don’t think this adds to the quick tracing issue. It’s just a time-consuming part of the process.
So why do I continue to make this troublesome soap? Because you can actually tell the difference between this soap and all the other soaps I make. One of my customers is thrilled that it leaves her oily face feeling squeaky clean without causing more oiliness. Several have remarked at how it cleared up rashes on the backs of their arms. There is quite a following. So, I press on.
Fortunately, I usually make two separate batches of this soap at the same time. It’s just easier that way. Anyway, the good news is that one batch turned out perfectly fine! The other one is going You Know Where. (Or if you don’t know where, it’s this awesome organization called Clean the World!!!)
More good news: I made the Cinnamon Apple Peach soap today! My house smells so good!!! Hopefully I’ll have time to get it cut and take pictures tomorrow.
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LOL, I’m glad you didn’t stick your tongue in it!
I can’t imagine it would taste very nice if you had licked it haha!
No it wouldn’t, but soapers use the “tongue test” as a definitive way of knowing whether a soap is fully saponified (that is, all of the oils and fats have been completely changed into soap by the lye and there is no more lye in the soap). Lye gives a little zap on your tongue. Or in this case, it probably would have been extremely unpleasant!
Sounds like a fabulous recipe! And when your customers are happy it makes the hard work worth it! P.S. Cinnamon Apple Peach sounds scrumptious!
Yikes! Sorry about the botched batch. It’s funny how after a bit of experience you can see when something is not quite right. Good catch.
I’m sorry to hear of your mishap -that’s so frustrating, isn’t it? I’ve never been brave enough to try the “tongue test” -I’ve heard the lye (if it’s still there) sort of “zaps” you! Yikes!
Sounds like a great soap! Glad one of the two batches turned out well and that the other will be going toward a good cause 🙂
I would be trying a powdered extract for your witch hazel or grind the herb, not liquid as most of the liquid ones are alcohol based. I would say that is what made it setup super fast, unless you have a high castor content in there for some reason. The Cinnamon Apple Peach one sounds really yummy.
@Platypus Dreams: Powdered extract is a wonderful suggestion! I’ve tried the distillate before with the same results, so I’ll look for that instead!
This is all really interesting to read, I don’t know anything about making soap, I just like smelling and buying it haha!
I just had this happen to me for the first time… Can this type of liquid pocket soap be saved? Or is it just one for the trash??? I’m not sure what to do.
@Heather – You can save it if you want to go to the trouble of re-batching it. I just don’t bother with it anymore and send all my unusable soaps to Clean the World. They will re-batch the soap and send it to 3rd world countries to help prevent diseases.