ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Homemade Soap - Beginners Homemade Soap Mistakes

Updated on May 28, 2013

Soapmaking Problems

Fixing soapmaking problems means rebatching your soap. Beginners sometimes forget something in their soapmaking project, or worse. Don't give up on your soapmaking. Learning how to make soap is fun. We have all made soapmaking mistakes. The best part of soapmaking mistakes is that you gain more knowledge from fixing your soap mistakes. Learn how to troubleshoot soapmaking problems.

My First Batch of Homemade Soap
My First Batch of Homemade Soap

My First Batch of Homemade Soap - Beginners Soapmaking Mistakes

Troubleshooting Soapmaking Problems

Soapmaking can sometimes turn out wrong. Don't give up on your soap making projects because of soapmaking problems. This project or hobby is to rewarding to give up on it. When you create your first good batch of homemade soap, you will be proud of yourself and admire your batch of homemade soap.

When you make soapmaking mistakes. Always try troubleshooting soapmaking problems. Troubleshooting soapmaking problems gives you more knowledge, getting you a step closer to becoming the expert soap maker. First thing I suggest is use a soap calclator to check the soap recipe you are using. No matter what, check the soap recipe. SoapCal.com is a good calculator. Know your oils, know what kind of soap they produce. Know the saponification process. Before you start adding any ingredients to containers make sure you tare the weight of the container on a kitchen scale so your measuements are accurate.

Here are some solutions to some soapmaking problems.

If your homemade soap has water pockets it is probably slight lye solution separation. Small water pockets my absorb during curing. Large water pockets will need to be remelted. If you remelt/rebatch soap is best to rebatch as soon as soap hardens. The longer you wait the harder it is to shread into pieces and melt down. Wear you protective equitment because the soap is still caustic since it has not cured it's full time yet.

If your homemade soap has oil pockets it is probably due to fragrance or adding (superfatting) an oil at trace. Small oil pockets may absorb during curing. Large oil pockets will need to be rebatched. Again, the quicker you rebatch your homemade soap the easier is to shread and melt down. Next time try adding superfatting at the beginning of your soapmaking.

If your homemade soap is brittle when you cut it, your soap could be lye heavy. Check your recipe and your notes and find what oils you are missing or if your soap needs more water. When you have troubleshooted your soapmaking problem melt the soap down and add what is needed.

If your homemade soap doesn't setup theres not enough lye or saponification did not take place properly in the 24 hour setup time. Troubleshoot your recipe and prcedure. Check your notes then adjust ingredients needed.

If your homemade soap is crumbly or dry this may mean your homemade soap is lye heavy. Troubleshoot your soap recipe and make adjustments by finding the missing oil and add the missing amount to your rebatch soap.

If your homemade soap has a layer of water/lye solution underneath. This is full saponification, which you do not want. Check your soap recipe for lye to fat ratio before rebatching it. Be sure to save all liquid from your original batch of soap. Make adjustments to your soap recipe then melt down your soap adding the saved liquids back into your rebatch.

If your homemade soap is soft and crumbly when cut but produces oiliness when rubbed between your fingers, is normally caused from unproper mixing and saponification. This could mean there was to much heat loss during the stirring process from not stirring vigorously if mixing by hand. If mixing by stick blender there were not enough breaks stirring manually with blender. Try raising your temeratures to 120 degrees if your making a small batch. With blender stick mix a little while then turn blender off and hand stir. Watch for the proper trace. A stick blender is a lot qucker than hand stirring.

Keep notes of your measuring so you can refer back to them and the recipe. This can help speed up troubleshooting homemade soap.

Soap and Candle Kits - Make your own soap and candles

Make your own homemade soap and candles with soap and candle kits. available through amazon

LorAnn's Soap Making Kit
LorAnn's Soap Making Kit
Soapmaking is fun and rewarding
 

Amazon Products

Check out Amazon products

My soapmaking and candle projects - Homemade soap and soy candles

Soy Candles
Soy Candles

When I started making soap I knew nothing about soapmaking. After my first batch I rebatched it and it was okay. I loved making soap so I bought a couple of how to make soap books and started another soapmaking project. This was a larger batch and easier to make the second time around.

I knew a little bit about making candles. Paraffin wax is what I had used once before. But I kept reading on candles and a lot of people seemed to be intrested in soy wax candles. I ordered a soy wax candle kit and made the soy candles. I loved them. They beautiful candles and seen so delicate. Here are pictures of my homemade soy candles.

Video On Making Cold Process Pink Swirl Technique - Two Color Swirl Technique Soap

This looks very interesting I would love to know how to make multi color homemade soap

Welcome to my guest book

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)