Scrubbed Soap: a cautionary tale

Yesterday, I started a batch of my shampoo & body bar soap. Soap making is something I only do a few times a year, and with a few different recipes, so I've never *really* memorized my full process. Mostly, yes - but, I have to double check details, occasionally. Yesterday, I should have checked a couple somethings, and didn't. My soap is still safe, usable, and effective - but it's UGLY. And it won't have a couple of the qualities I love, in my soaps.

The first thing I goofed up was in starting it. I was distracted by things going on here that were demanding enough of my attention, that I would have been wiser in waiting a couple days. (John picked up a 24hr bug, so I picked up some of his chores, including taking out his dog, and making dinner - not a big deal, at all - but a disruption of my train of thought - today, I picked up his 24hr bug. Ugh)

The second mistake was in not creating a checklist, and checking off each step, as I went. The result was that I couldn't remember if I'd done an important step (I did), and that not remembering, combined with not being able to find the ingredients for that step kinda threw me for a loop, and was exacerbated by Bailey suddenly whining like crazy to go out - while poor John was desperately trying to take a sickly-nap.

The third mistake was in not double-checking my honey - a key ingredient in this particular recipe. The honey had begun to crystallize, which was the main thing that actually went wrong. It caused the whole batch to separate, causing the gooey, caramel-like stuff, in the center, and the buttery-looking mess on my tools & crockpot, as you can see in the photos, below.

The final mistake was similar to, and also might have been prevented, again by that checklist: I mess up my order of operation, by 1 ingredient - I put the honey in as soon as the 'batter' came to trace, instead of waiting until it was done cooking. This *may* have somewhat contributed to the separation, because of the crystalization in the honey, but the main thing it did was cause the honey to scorch. That made the soap a very dark brown. Oddly, it didn't affect the scent, which I'd have thought scorching would do.

I'm blessed to have a local friend who has been making soap for well over 20yrs, and does so on the scale of needing a not-all-that-small whole room, just for storage of soaps, for sale. I called her. She was surprised I'd gone this long without messing up the chemistry in a single batch, then reassured me it would all still be safe, and explained the honey crystal problem. I also admitted to her the one time I walked away from a batch for about 10 minutes, and ended up cleaning it up off the counter, the side of the crockpot, the front of the cabinets, and the floor, where it had all oozed, like molten lava. Thankfully, that batch was a household cleaning soap, and... well, it proved its awesome abilities, in that cleanup process.

After playing with it a bit, today, I've decided to use the gooey middle parts as shaving gel! It's actually rather nice, and still lathers well. The separation, it turns out, is simply the glycerine that didn't blend back into the rest of the soap, like normal. At the level of super-fat I use in this recipe, both the still-gooey glycerine and the hardened portions of the soap are still quite moisturizing - they just won't hold together, because of the different consistencies. In my opinion, I got lucky, in that it's all still usable. My concern now, is that in the years I've been doing this, I've only screwed up twice (at least the screw-ups were different and I've learned from them both!), and both times were not only learning experiences, but the soap was still wholly usable - next time I may not be quite so lucky!


So, you might ask, why would I share this tale of semi-woe, instead of hiding my fail? Well. If we only share when things go just the way we want, we might never get the chance to share, at all. But, more importantly, sharing when things go wrong might help someone else, somewhere down the line. It also gives the chance to share how a situation that went sideways might not be all bad, and can be - all or in part - salvaged.

Thank you for sharing. I’ve been too chicken/lazy to try making soap, but I weirdly like reading about it. Your bottom picture reminds me of a filled brownie, so if you sell your soaps, it may be a new marketing plan😀

Tina Hillel wrote:Thank you for sharing. I’ve been too chicken/lazy to try making soap, but I weirdly like reading about it. Your bottom picture reminds me of a filled brownie, so if you sell your soaps, it may be a new marketing plan😀

Thank you, Tina! The funny thing about how it looks, is that these photos were taken shortly after I removed the loaf from the fridge. The filling part is very soft and gooey, looking VERY much like caramel, lol. But, these smell like peppermint & clary sage - quite nice, actually.

For yet another twist, my local soap making friend makes a bar that both looks and SMELLS so much like brownies (great way to get the kids to wash, huh???) that her own daughters, when she first made it, came into the kitchen begging for some of the brownies that smelled so good. She handed them each a bar, telling them they probably wouldn't like them. She said as the girls excitedly reached for them, their faces fell, when they realized it was soap. They told me it was the dirtiest trick, ever, lol. They're 18 & 20, now, and both still give her a wry look, when they talk about it. I don't blame them - that recipe smells amazing!