# Alright I have succumed and came over to CP.



## In it for the Bucks! (Mar 12, 2012)

:biggrin I have been a huge fan of HP. I love how I can use it right away. But, Now I have about 14 pounds of soap and only sell about 2 pounds a month. (just starting out only to friends and family). I have alot of soap. (enough to last my family over a year) But, I don't want to stop making soap. All my soap usually sits anyway so I might as well make a not so rustic looking bar. But, I have a question. . . How long does CP actually have to sit before usuing? (heard 6 weeks but also heard less) Does it depend on humidity? Does it depend on how hot it is?? What are all the variables? I don't have the means to change those variables really. Just looking at the information so I know when I can use my soap. Thanks so much for the insites in advance!! 

Oh just a little point. . . I live in Southern Nevada. In the summer it is DRY (humidity 3%)and HOT up to 120. In the winter it is mild Low 15 Highs 80. I soap in my house That I use space heaters throughout the winter (house about 70) and a swamp cooler durring the summer (house gets to about 85 at the hottest) Thanks again!!


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

It really depends on you. Letting it cure allows moisture to evaporate, leaving you a harder, longer-lasting bar. That's the main thing; it's not so much about whether the soap is safe to use, which it pretty much is within a couple of days.


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## In it for the Bucks! (Mar 12, 2012)

HUM. . . I love the harder bars!! Last longer and family and friends say they like them better too. Will deffinatly have to experiment I guess. Will the moisture sill evaporate in the summer in my house with the swamp cooler??


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

I like a 3 week cure. But to push it faster, I use a dehumidifier. It does cure to a harder bar faster in the winter than in the summer if it's humid outside.


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Hi Cally,

I'm soaping in pretty much the same conditions as you except that we do get snow in the winter. Our humidity's in the single digits right now. My CP soaps cure in an air conditioned room for 2 weeks before I wrap. If you can cure in a space that isn't cooled with the swamp cooler it would be better since the s c is putting moisture into your air.

I love soaping (& living) in the desert. Well, don't enjoy the sand storms & dust devils. We had a dust devil the other day that picked up a heavy galvanized stock tank & carried it over our fence & down the road to a neighbors place. They said they thought a flying saucer was landing!


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

One other thing. Since we are so dry I have wondered if the soap would get dry so fast on the outside that it would trap the moisture inside. I cure in a cool area & hope that keeps the bars at a moderate temp to get an even cure. I'm thinking that drying in an area with no cooling at all would result in an uneven cure. Just something I've wondered about.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

As soon as a CP bar is hard enough to cut (exactly like HP), the saponification process is over and you can use it. But unlike HP where heating it up is burning off liquid, or (OP) oven processing where you put your molds in the oven and heat starts taking out the liquid....you set your bars out to cure. Curing does nothing more than wick out moisture, exactly like HP, and there is no way you have the humidity we have here even with a swamp cooler. Curing also will let some of the ammonia formed by using goatsmilk to dissipate and it, to me, mellows the scent. The longer you cure soap the more scent leaves the top layers of the soap, making your soap sell less well. Use less liquid in the original recipe and less moisture has to come out via cure. Use less oils in your recipe and the soap is harder faster. So nobody can tell you 1 or 6 weeks is good enough for your soap.

The only redeeming quality of HP is that it is supposed to use less scent. Vicki


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## In it for the Bucks! (Mar 12, 2012)

Thank you everyone!! 
Jenny I hate the dust devils too. (and so does my neighbor who complains about all the trash that ends up in his yard.  he's the last house on our block and has the far side of his property lined in trees and bushes which attract all the nieborhood trash)
Vicki, yeah we are lucky to not have the humidity you guys do. I don't know how you do it. I will get on the sage and try out some new recipies with less liquid and see if I can get a harder bar with less curing time.
I guess this is a stupid questions but won't it make a harder bar if I used harder oils? ie. mostly coconut


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Vicki, you don't think there could be a problem with curing too fast & trapping the moisture & ammonia inside the bar? I mean, this is some seriously dry air right now. A piece of bread on the kitchen counter feels like toast after a couple of minutes but the inside stays soft. That was my concern.

Yeah Cally, if it weren't for the fences we'd be buying lawn furniture every few months.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I run a dehumidifier in an enclosed space, my bars dry evenly. I wouldn't worry about it. Bars that don't dry evenly are spongy, they warp. 
Vicki


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## In it for the Bucks! (Mar 12, 2012)

Thank you both again for the info!! I have also been reading up on discounting water(or milk) since you mentioned it Vicki. I am going to try out a small batch with discounted liquid and see how well I like it. Hope it'll be what I am looking for. I have also relized how nieve I have been to think I can just make soap and not want to get a prettier, longer lasting, better smelling bar. I have been doing alot more reading in depth on sap values and what oils bring what attributes to soap and such. (the few chapters that I just breezed through when I got into soaping). It is very very interesting!! I am learning a ton!! Might mean more questions for all of you guys tho. LOL


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