# Soap shelf life ?



## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

My husband claims he read somewhere that safflower oil will shorten the shelf life of soap. I thought maybe the reference was to the shelf life of storage of the oil itself??

Did you find that using different oils effects the soap shelf life??

Thank you 

Jana


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2010)

*Re: Soap shelf live ?*

I have never had a bar of soap go rancid, have some four yrs old and this is no matter what oils I use.. I think that if you superfat too much this can happen because then you have unsafronifed oils in your soap... Once that oil is safronifed (spelling) its no longer oil... therefore I don't believe that it can go bad.. I have heard some that claim their soaps go rancid, I would review my recipe if I had this happen.. I don't superfat at all, since I believe it already is with goat milk (fats in the milk). superfatting too much can also cause too soft of a bar.. 
Barb


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

*Re: Soap shelf live ?*

Interesting that this came up. I was reading a soap book recently where the author stated that soaps will "spoil" eventually. Granted, I don't have any 4 y/o soaps hanging around, but I have a few that are well over a year old that don't show any signs of a problem. I just use the standard 5% superfat that most of the lye calculators seem to have. So Barb, do you mean that you set the superfat to zero?


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## Hearts In Dixie (Oct 29, 2007)

I have several different soaps from different recipes that are all over two years old with no problems. 

Marla


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I set the superfat to %5 AND use GM. I have kept old bars. I do not have any that are rancid. Does the fact that I set soap calc at 5% AND used GM mean they will eventually go rancid?


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I agree with Barbara. I have bars of soap from my first batches of soap that are over 4 years old and are not rancid. I even have a couple that still have a scent. Boy does Gardenia Lily from Aroma Haven last forever.


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2010)

Yes, I set my superfat at 0%... Barb


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

And I use a homeprocessed safflower oil/100% GM. I have not had any rancid bars in three years. However I have had bars that didn't mix all the way and they did go rancid. Tam


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

This kind of thing comes from those who don't understand the basics of saponification. There is no oils or butters left, even those butters and oils with very short shelf lives, their is no lye, their is no goatmilk there is herbs or other organic matter you add, that doesn't sap, and yes bannanas and things that don't sap can spoil and cause mold, so can herbs if they are not dried. But a chemist could take your bar of soap and not be able to tell even at the cellular level if you are using lard, almond butter, or soy in your soap. There are properties of oils and butters only...butters are more moisutrising, some give you more lather, some make the bubbles more creamy, some make no bubbles at all...but it is all soap. If there was really a superfat, the lye can not choose which oils to marry to and which ones they don't because there isn't enough lye to marry with it....if you truly superfatted to the point of excess oils, you would have an oil slick on the top of your bar. All of this kind of thing is marketing.

Tammy if they didn't mix very well they are not soap, the soap parts can't go rancid, now if they have oil soaking around them, not made into soap because there was too much oil and not enough lye, than yes that could go rancid. 
Vicki


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

:yes too many unsaped oils and too much liquid.


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