White Swirl in Bar and Fast Trace

by Anonymous

I just added castor oil and palm oil to my soap recipe. I noticed that my batches are going to trace fast and there is a thin light layer of ash on the top. Also after I cut it I noticed a whitish swirl in some of the bars?

My recipe consists of:

60oz palm oil
45oz coconut oil
45oz olive oil
10oz castor oil
4 oz shea butter superfatting after trace
45.7oz distilledwater
22.80z lye

My combining temp is 98 degrees
What is going on? Can you help me figure this out?

Answer:

Both castor oil and palm oil will speed up the trace time. Your recipe is quite high in hard oils which often trace quickly, is low in liquid oils which tend to trace slowly and is very low in water which will also speed up trace time.

I suggest increasing the amount of water to the full amount (about 62 ounces) and you will likely find that the recipe will not trace nearly as quickly.

If you still have problems with too quick a trace then try reducing the amount of palm oil and increasing the olive oil. This should help as well.

The whitish swirl is likely a result of the fast trace but could also be due to a reaction to fragrance oils.

Cathy