Cutting the Vanilla Oleoresin Soap 6


Yesterday we made three test batches of soap for testing the Vanilla Oleoresin. Now the batches have been cut and I have collected notes about these soaps.

Notes:
The Vanilla Oleoresin was added directly to the raw soap and stirred in. As we stirred the Vanilla Oleoresin into the soap a faint ammonia odor began to develop. After 10 minutes in the mold all of the soaps had a very strong ammonia odor. This odor did not begin to dissipate until after the soaps had been cut and curing for approximately 1 hour. After 2 1/2 hours, I could determine there was a vanilla scent to the soap because the ammonia odor continued to fade.

At this point there is still an ammonia odor to the soap, much like a milk soap. I can only smell the ammonia odor in the 1% soap and there is a light vanilla scent in the 2% and 3% soaps, much like sugar cookie dough (2%) and baked sugar cookies (3%).

If you are looking at these pictures and wondering why the soaps have lighter portions I have the answer for you. When these soaps were made the blog kitchen was warm and became warmer as the building warmed up. Our blog kitchen is on the second floor so the warm air couldn’t rise any more! Then the air conditioning for the building kicked in and cooled the temperatures in the building. This cooler air slowed the gel phase of the soap and the gel phase never reached all of the corners of the mold. Therefore the moral of this story is, “Room temperatures can (and do) affect our soap when it is in the mold.”

I will come back to these soaps in one week to allow for longer curing time and we will post our evaluations about these soaps.

What do you think?

Soaps still in the mold after resting for 20 hours.

Soaps after being pulled from the molds.

Soaps after being cut.

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Cutting the Vanilla Oleoresin Soap, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

About Andee

Director of Happiness. I'm a thirty-something soap snob. I've grown up with handmade soaps, and I love them! I really like making lotions, soaps, and perfumes. I adore mixing scents to come up with something new. My favorite scent is either Wicked or Cotton Candy. I tend to hoard fragrances, I even have an Earl Grey Tea from the MMS catalog. I won't tell you how old it is, but it sure is good!

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6 thoughts on “Cutting the Vanilla Oleoresin Soap

  • Amy Warden

    I would love to find a natural way to have vanilla-scented soap that is affordable and actually sticks! Can’t wait to hear how they cure!

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    • Andee Post author

      sydneysoaps,
      It isn’t a problem other than a cosmetic appearance issue. Gel phase is one of the many indicators of active chemical changes occurring in the soap. The soap is completely fine and has completed saponification.

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