Fully Gelled Soap

Ah look, we have achieved full gel.

But I can see why sometimes I wont want to. The colour and texture...

I like the creamy opaqueness of the cold process soaps too.
but the texture of this quality soap is very nice!

Here are the pics!
this is me mixing it up in my room

 finally! a gorgeous fancy top part

 i insulated it for gel phase and screeched when i came back and had a peek!

 i wasnt sure if the sides would gel too

 so i put a light on it

 and it heated up

 and fully gelled!

 heres the set up in my room

 the temperature was at 155 degrees f (68 degrees centigrade)

 i thought it would go completely clear

 but it only went translucent. maybe because there were some bubbles :(

 i put it in the fridge for a bit (wrapped) but took it out and let it cool off on its own

 and it was ready this morning!

 so i cut it up and its drying on the rack now

 fully gelled soap!

this soap has sunflower oil, coconut oil, castor oil, hemp seed oil, and shea butter
it is scented with peru balsam and benzoin, for a creamy and vanilla like scent, mild and pleasant and sweet
i have used distilled water and rosemary oleoresin extract to avoid orange spots in the future (rancidity)
when i took the cosmetics training course in manila, the chemist advised us to use preservative in the lye water (which i didnt do because i used distilled water and an antioxidant in the oils but might in the future)

Soft Oil soap with Stearic Acid

making a stearic acid soap while reading about the stearic acid saponification
and found this!! http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2017/07/lushs-main-emulsifier-stearic-acid-and.html

here is the post on twitter and will upload it on the blog later with details

https://twitter.com/AromatherapyTO/status/1014500913279651842

ok wow this soap
i need to do it again
and leave it in the mold!!
and add no scent
because this is the first evidence of gel phase, except for the initial trials when i didnt fully know what i was doing.and since i took it out of the mold, is this partial gel phase? because it would have just kept melting and turned into clear liquid again probably.

here are the pics
weighed everything out

 melting the stearic acid

 added the oils and the stearic acid solidified again

 reheating the oils and stearic acid

 right before boiling point of the water in the pan

 hot enough so i turned it off

 mixed in the lye and oils at around 100 degrees Fahrenheit

 was thick right upon contact of the lye

 this is after using the mixer

 such a creamy batter

 after a couple hours it was popping out of the mold

 so i popped it out

 and thought this was it

 then i wanted it to gel phase (outside of the mold was wrong)

 and it did!!!!!

 it almost collapsed when i checked the box. actually i put it out in the sun outside, then i took it back in because i changed my mind then i put it back in the box and by the window under the sun and by the time the sun moved it must have been less than an hour, i checked the box and it was So Soft and i freaked out cos its gel

so now its cooling off and it looks super nice.
will repeat the sun-gel phase and measure the temperature to see if the essential oils i can add will dissipate during process

ok its cut.
yipee!!!
(5 pm)
so if i moved quicker it would have been done by 3!!

im using one half for me
in the shower
today.

.:

ok i just touched it.
it feels oily and its a bit cold and theres a bit of precipitation on it. maybe ill wait till tomorrow to use it.

ok it took me 5 seconds to slice off a bit and use it on my hands and its kinda soft and it totally works and i can faintly smell the hemp seed oil and the cannabis blend

this soap if repeated may take forever to fully harden because its ins value is very low (98) despite it already having fully saponified.  leaves a nice feeling on my hand and a natural plant / straw scent on my skin. ugh i want to use it right now but i dont want it to melt all away in the shower and its probably super alkaline. where are those test strips?
i have zero patience.

tomorrow will remake the cannabis soap with french green clay and gel phase it with hopes the essential oils wont dissipate.
.:

(i havent done this i made other soaps)

these bars are kind of squishy and i havent tried them yet in the shower i want them a bit firmer before ruining them :D

--- this sunflower soap with stearic acid (ungelled) goes slimy after a few uses. booo. will wait till the end of the month and try again after saponification is done.