How to keep glycerin soap from "sweating"?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

This past spring I made glycerin soaps. Everything was fine until the weather turned warm and the soap began to give off beads of moisture. Is there anyway to prevent this? I used a very good variety of glycerin that you simply melt and pour into molds. I had been selling a good amount of the molded soap as gardeners soap ( I add ground pumice, scent and coloring) but it was not as marketable after the sweating started. Any suggestions would be welcome... thank you.

-- diane greene (fgroeters@ulster.net), October 14, 2000

Answers

Hi Diane, Annie the soapmaker here, the soap is not "giving off" moisture, the soap is attracting it. Glycerine is a humectant, which means, a substance that "grabs" moisture out of the air and holds it. When it is humid, there's plenty of moisture for it to grab, so store your soap in an air tight container with some of those little desiccant packets in there for good measure, like the kind that are in quality brand vitamin bottles, but a little bigger. Try sporting goods stores, or health food/ survivalist type stores for the desiccant packets. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), October 15, 2000.

The sweating is the glycerin attracting moisture from the air. It is doing what it is suppose to do, moisturize. However, to stop it from sweating you will have to decrease the amount of glycerin you use in your formulation. Another option is to replace the glycerin all together with another humicant. Do do not have to use glycerin to have a clear soap.

-- delma hernandez (delmahernandez@theroyalsoap.com), January 20, 2001.

I no longer sell soap, but even non-glycerin recipes ave this problem if it is humid where you live. You might change the amounts of soap and the time of year you make and store them. The soap that 'sweated' this summer (we routinely have 95% humidity) are now fine that its cold and drier. Consider storing them where you have a dehumidifier and can control the environment. Placing them in a cardboard box or other absorbant material helps decrease the amount of moisture that stays on the soap.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), January 20, 2001.

Wow, I had not thought of the glycerin being a humectrant, that must mean Canola is too. I guess you could wrap unused soap in saran wrap to protect it.

-- Cheryl M (summerflowers8@yahoo.com), February 22, 2002.

Get some silica gel powder[crystals] for in your air tight storage box, it will absorb the moisture and can be reused.

-- Thumper/inOKC (slrldr@yahoo.com), February 23, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ