Why Cold Process Soaps Trace (Thickens) So Fast?

Why does your soap trace so fast?

Heres a question i got asked today.

There are many environmental factor that could trace soap fast (like over cold or over hot)

But one of the major reason why any cold process soap becomes thick very fast ( trace) is because of the ingredients used.

Sometimes; when you use oils that are hardening oil and the ratio is too much; it can exhilarate trace. 

To avoid this; its best to use the soap calculator we have in @soaplabmalaysia to recalculate the recipe you want to make sure its correct and not overly focused on one criteria only (hardening)

Besides that; it could also be due to wrong measurement of lye/ wrong calculation. Soap that contains a lot of lye tends to get thick very fast. Again to avoid this use the calculator to calculate; and also invest in a good kitchen scale. (I tend not to trust those rm20 type of scales anymore😓) 

Thirdly; it could also be due to the addition of extracts, fragrance or essential oil. Depending on how it was made or extracted: some scents tend to contain alcohol that could fasten trace. 

In order to avoid that; always use those thats made for cosmetic grade and not industrial grade. There are many industrial grade fragrance and essential oil in the market today thats very cheap. Those are not suitable for skin:) 

However be careful when you purchase ur supplies as some supplier are unaware of this. Even me; it took me sometime to figure it out. 

And the best way was to check each and every fragrance/ essential oil with the cp soap that we made. If it fasten trace; we didn’t stock it up:) 

If you are getting your FO/EO from @soaplabmalaysia; always ask us for our list of experiment we did and the results. We have a list stating what will happen to your soap when you make your CP soap so it will prepare you in advance and safe you from lots of wastage:)

So heres three reason why the soap thicken and hardens fast.

What other things thicken your soaps fast? Have you tried adding anything else and noticed it thicken fast too?