Curing Soap 4-6 weeks

by Anonymous
(UK)

I make CP soap and I know that everywhere says to cure soap for 4 - 6 weeks, and I currently do this with my soap. I read that it allows the soap to cure to a normal pH not being alkaline and excess moisture to evaporate resulting in a harder bar which lasts much longer.


However; when I pH test my soap even after just 24hrs, it reads neutral already. If I dont mind a slightly soft bar is it ok to use it at once? Or am I missing something that I should know?

Thankyou for your time & experience!

Answer:

When I first started to make soap I used to test all my bars with pH strips and I would always get the same reading...pH of 7 or 8 ish.

You would think this means that your soap is neutral but I don't believe this to be true. Soap tends to lean more towards a pH of 9 or 10 and not neutral.

Now the reason I believe soap needs to cure for 4 - 6 weeks is really very non-scientific. In all the years I have been making soap, I have made designs in the bars. The designs are made by cutting up fresh soap and creating the shapes that go into the decorative batch. It can be quite difficult to make the curls and such when you are wearing rubber gloves so I tend to do it bare handed. Because of this (probably foolish) practice, I can honestly say that freshly made soap (even one - two weeks old) is definitely not ready to be used on the body. It dries out the hands and leaves the skin feeling tight and sometimes irritated. This does not happen when I mess around with cured soap.

Whether you use your soap early or not is up too you. If you are curious, do an experiment with yours soaps and see how your skin reacts.

Remember that everyone is different as well...some people have more sensitive skin than others.

Good luck,
Cathy

Comments for Curing Soap 4-6 weeks

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		New to soap making
by: Anonymous

I am new to soap making,I just made my second soap which is cucumber soap with a little bit of carrot in it,i don't want my soap in bar,i just want it in a liquid form,so I wanted to know,if I need to leave the liquid soap to cure or there is no need.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		cure time
by: Jack

I cut my soap and sometimes end with scraps that I roll into balls. I do this bare handed and I would get itchy hands for a bit. All my batches are 5% lye discounted and after 1-2 weeks it's much better.

My personal reason for waiting the full cure time of 4-6 weeks is for a harder and longer lasting bar.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Its questionable
by: Jorge

The curing time is questionable at best. I think the most important indicator will be personally knowing your recipes.

Dont mean to be so vague here but there are some CP soaps that will seem to lather up to your liking and leave the skin feeling silky after 4 weeks, but if you wait the extra 2 weeks, it will have made all the difference in the world. Similar to that of a fine wine.

On the other hand, other soaps are quite the opposite. Sometimes it is a question of testing it out, seeing what results you get and ultimately getting to know and understand your soaps qualities.

Hope this helps!

Click here to add your own comments

Return to Submit a Question.

Like This Page?