# Spotty Soap



## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

All the soap I have been making lately seems to be spotty? White spots, definetely not lye - just spots all over. The soap works fine, just looks wierd. I suppose it must be the colder whether so I need to heat up my oils to be hotter.


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

I need to go find a picture of soap I made last year- it had spots. It was great soap, just ugly. I thought it was the palm (stearic)? Recently, thinking back, I thought it was superfatted oils/ butter instead? There were several batches...


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

I had 2 batches like that in Oct/Nov? It was not lye, and the bars were fine. It was 2 similar scents. I'm about to re-soap one of them so we'll see. 

I am noticing some *frosting* on some soaps... I think that is weather or temp related... soaps are great.


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

I hope nobody cares if they are "ugly" cuz I do not have the time or patience to rebatch soap!


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

I've had problems in the past when my milk sat in the fridge long enough for the cream to rise to the top and it wasn't stirred back into the milk. The milk from our Nubians is super high fat towards the end of their lactations (8%-9% according to the DHI records on some of the does) and it can lead to cosmetic issues with our soap, but we've not had any problems selling it. 

Lynn - the "frosting" you're noticing is soda ash . . . if you will cover the top of your soap with plastic wrap while it's curing and try to keep the soap in an area where the temperatures don't fluctuate from warm to super-cold during the first 24 hours after the soap is poured, it should eliminate or cut down on the ashing. Soda ash isn't harmful, but some people do find it unsightly. Others don't. Caroline


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

My soaps have been ashing like a mo-fo this month. Linda do you use palm oil? If the palm oil doesn't get hot enough it can leave little white bumps or spots - still perfectly fine to use. I hate winter soaping! Not having a heater in my house could have something to do with that!


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

interesting... no heat in my house except the FP... 

I don't use palm oil... I use lard, coconut, safflower, olive, and avocado depending...

Interesting on the heat thing... there are NO spots on my Thieves that gels, but spots on my most recent Spearmint Eucalyptus that does not. But I see none on the Lavender Orange either and I did the LO the same day I made Thieves. Frosting on the Peppermint made the same day as Spearmint... none visible on the TTO+ same day also... but it is a white bar. LOL


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

found a picture of some really spotty soap from last year...


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

Thanks Caroline... somehow did not see your post earlier... 

it does not seem to hurt sales... and temps in my house FLUCTUATE LOL


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

Yeah, it's so interesting. Summer temps don't seem to bother the soap like winter temps do.

Caroline


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

I made a batch that did this last week. It's a scent I've done before and has not done this in the past. These spots aren't lye and the soap is just fine. It's been curing for a week and the spots are fading. Weird.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I had two different batches do this. One was cleopatras treasure and the other was my gardeners soap that was scented with dragons blood and litsea. Because I use 100% goats milk and it's frozen, I found that my lye was not always getting dissolved in my cold kitchen, and I believe that was my problem. The soap was fine and did not zap and I sold it and people loved it, especially the gardeners soap, but for the past 2 winters when I do my lye/milk mix I stick blend it really well before adding to the oils and I have not had the problem again. I would also sometimes get white, grainy flecks on top of and throughout the soap. It looked like lye but did not burn or zap so I'm not positive of what it was but stick blending has eliminated that also. I stick blend until lye/milk on the sides of my container is completely smooth, and no unmelted grains can be seen. I also make sure my oils are hotter too, somewhere above 100 degrees. It's much easier soaping in a hot kitchen for me than a cold one, but thats what we have here.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2012)

I agree with Anita... same here.. stick blend my lye very very good... and heat oils just a little warmer than room temp and you won't see the spotty issue..


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Anita, I bet that since stick blending the lye/milk mixture eliminated the issue, and since those spots don't zap, it was bits of milk that separated and solidified (not frozen, but solid, as in a chunk of milk solids) in the freezing process and therefore didn't break up when mixed with lye in the ordinary fashion.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

tlcnubians said:


> Yeah, it's so interesting. Summer temps don't seem to bother the soap like winter temps do.
> 
> Caroline


Funny. I like soaping in winter much better than summer. Although I do heat my oils a bit warmer. Consistency at trace and unmolding and cutting seems to be better for me. Actually, I heat my hard oils the same and add a tad of heat to my soft oils that I normally don't do in summer. We have no A/C here so it's really hot in the house in the summer, plus humidity.



hsmomof4 said:


> Anita, I bet that since stick blending the lye/milk mixture eliminated the issue, and since those spots don't zap, it was bits of milk that separated and solidified (not frozen, but solid, as in a chunk of milk solids) in the freezing process and therefore didn't break up when mixed with lye in the ordinary fashion.


That makes sense to me. Thanks, Stacey.


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