Any fellow soapmakers out there?

[TheGander]

I’ve been making soap for years and my recipe includes olive olive, coconut oil and Shea butter. Lately the results have been disappointing in that the soap is very oily, and lacks hardness. I’ve noticed the lye does not dissolve fully in the water. Bit I’m also wondering if the Shea is responsible- same supplier, but it is noticeably softer. I buy the lye from Robert Dyas. Anyone noticed something similar?

There are two possible problems here, and your lye not dissolving properly could make the soap actually unsafe to use. How long have you had it? I wouldn't use partially-dissolved lye, ever.

I think I would replace both the lye and the shea butter from other suppliers and make a smallish test batch to see if it helps.

The only other thing I can think of is your scales, are you using the same ones, or might they need to be calibrated, or the batteries replaced? I'm sure I don't need to tell you how important precise measurements are.

I’ve made a few batches, so by no means an expert but I also noticed recently that my lye wasn’t dissolving properly- I think it was beyond use by date and possibly damp? Anyhow, I researched loads of brands and decided to stick with specific toiletry suppliers - though the lye should be generic- to be safe. I use soap kitchen or soapery - maybe I’m wrong but I wouldn’t use a hardware shop as I doubt they’re as stringent .

Thanks guys good to hear from fellow soapmakers ! I’m embarrassed to say the scales might just have something to do with it as I notice they keep going back to 0 when I’m weighing the oils. Definitely time to change the battery. Nonetheless the lye isn’t dissolving properly, I’ve ordered some from Soapery and I’m gong to run a small batch this weekend. Will post again.

On the plus side, both dodgy scales and out of date lye are easy problems to fix!

I’ve just run up a batch using lye from the soapery and it’s looking good. There was 100% dissolving of the lye on mixing with water and it’s gelling in the mould ( I like a gelled soap). I think it was definitely Robert Dyas’s lye that was responsible, wish I’d pin pointed it earlier as I’ve wasted some good oils on making soap that’s not fit for use. The lye was not out of date, I purchased it very recently. It’ll be used strictly for unblocking sinks from now on.