4 Tips For Dealing With Fast/Accelerating Fragrances In Cold Process SoapUpdated 4 months ago
| 1.) Use More Water The more water used in a cold process soap recipe, the slower the time it takes soap batter to reach trace. Since a fast moving fragrance increases trace, we can balance this by using more water. A lye concentration of 25%-33% is recommended. |
| 2.) Limit Other Accelerating Ingredients Solid oils will give you a harder bar of soap but a faster trace, while liquid oils will give you a softer bar but will slow down trace. Using too much butter in a recipe can also speed things up. You should also be cautious when using beer, honey, or milk as a water replacement. Even clay can accelerate trace, especially when added dry. Try mixing it with a little water or oil before adding it to your soap batter to avoid this acceleration. |
| 3.) Soap At Room Temperature The cooler the temperature, the slower the time it takes soap batter to reach trace. Since a fast moving fragrance increases trace, we can balance this by allowing the oils and butters and lye solution to reach room temperature before mixing them together. |
4.) Hand Mix Fragrance Oil Stick blending accelerates trace, which is why it was been become such a popular tool in soap making! However, if you need to slow down acceleration, it can become your enemy. The solution is simple. Stick blend the oils and lye solution to light trace, and then hand stir the fragrance oil into the soap batter. This prevents you from over-mixing and ending up with a super thick trace by accident. |