If you’re a cold process soaper, you’ve heard the term “trace.” Simply put, “trace” refers to the point in soapmaking when the lye water and oils have emulsified and won’t separate. There are different types of trace, including thin and thick trace, which refer to the consistency of the soap.
The concept of trace can be difficult to understand when you’re a beginner. The best way to understand trace is to make soap! After a few batches, you’ll easily be able to differentiate between thin, medium, and thick trace. Once you understand what trace is, you can experiment with manipulating trace with your recipe, your stick blender, and with heat. Learn more in this post, including tips on how to achieve different types of trace.
The video also demonstrates “false trace,” which refers to soap batter that looks like it has emulsified but actually hasn’t. False trace is usually the result of cooler temperatures. Learn more about false trace here, including how to avoid it and how to fix it if it happens to your batch.
I’ve only made a few batches of soap so far, and recently got a detailed, silicon mold for a single bar of soap. Was wondering what trace thickness is best for getting the best details from the mold? Also, what temp for the oils and lye/water mix?
I am using:
9.9 oz . Tallow (organic, grass finished that I have rendered and cleaned)
6.6 oz virgin olive oil
5.5 oz coconut oil (76 deg.)
8.36 oz distilled water
3.11 oz lye
2 tsp lemongrass EO
I mix when all comes to 90-100 degrees. I add EO after light trace.
I have tried the mold once already using a light to medium trace and noticed a bit of imperfections from air pockets. Since, I have read your article about lightly spraying mold with rubbing alcohol (will 50% isopropyl work?) and pouring when hot (how hot?) will want to try that tip as well.
Huge apologies for so many details, but would love to be able to get some beautiful bars made from this mold!
Thanks!
I had another look at the article I mentioned that says to spray mold with rubbing alcohol and now realized it’s for Melt and Pour soaps.
Sure hope you can give tips for cp soap used in detailed silicone molds.
Please can u share recipe of liquid hand and body wash
We use our premade bases for liquid soap, they feel great on the skin. Find out how to work with them here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/how-to-use-and-thicken-liquid-soap-base/
Liquid soap bases: https://www.brambleberry.com/Liquid-Bases-C15.aspx
If you want to make it from scratch, this kit shows you how: https://www.brambleberry.com/Liquid-Soap-Guru-Kit-P4829.aspx
I made two batches of cold pour soap with blue jojoba beads for an exfoliant/blue colour. The first batch turned a vibrant blue colour and the second batch turn a solid white colour. It’s slowly turning more blue as it cures. Will it eventually turn the same colour as the first batch? Perhaps I didn’t bring the second batch to a medium trace like the first?
Thoughts?
Did you add any blue colorant to that soap, or just the jojoba beads?
I am having a problem with fragrance and my soap. What can I do to hold the fragrance in the soap? By the end of the curing time the fragrances have almost disappeared.
Linda
There are a few tricks to get those scents to stick, including increasing the usage rate and anchoring lighter fragrances with deeper fragrances. Find those tricks in this post: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/how-to-prevent-scent-fading-in-soap/
I started my first batch of soap yesterday. I decided to try soapmaking because I like using a mug and brush for shaving soap rather than canned shaving foam, and it was getting more and more difficult finding decent shaving soap. The recipe I used:
23.9 Ounces Olive Oil
10.6 Ounces Coconut Oil
10.6 Ounces Castor Oil
4.2 Ounces Palm Oil
3.7 ounces Sweet Almond Oil
3 tablespoons Bentonite Clay
4 tablespoons Colloidal Oatmeal
20 ounces Distilled Water
7.269 ounces lye
I took a few weeks to read and watch videos on soapmaking; mostly Soap Queen TV videos. I got all of my equipment and supplies ready and was excited to get started.
For the most part everything seemed to go very smoothly. I made my lye water and started to weigh out the oils. I ran into a little of trouble getting the coconut oil weighed. I couldn’t get it out of the bottle without melting first, so I had to put it in a pan of hot water to get it melted enough to pour and weigh. By the time I got all of the oils weighed, the lye water had cooled to about 100 degrees F. I brought the oils to 100 degrees as well.
I added the lye water to the oils and blended for a couple of minutes. It got pretty thick, pretty quickly. I only added about 1/2 teaspoon of fragrance oil and used no colorant for this first batch. I had one silicone mold for round bars, but knew it would make more than enough for that one mold, so I also used a couple of old muffin tins with cupcake liners for the rest. The soap had already become so thick that I couldn’t pour it. I had to spoon it into the molds. I figured I had over-blended, but for my first batch that would only be for personal use it would be OK.
I was anxious to home from work this evening to remove the soap from the molds to start to cure. It has rested for about 36 hours by this time. When I tried to take the soap out of the silicone mold, it had hardly set up at all. It was still pretty much a thick gloopy mess. I took one bar out of the muffin tin and it did come out in one piece, but still felt pretty soft.
I’m going to give it a couple more days to set up on the mold and then see if it’s any firmer. Any other suggestions of what I should do differently?
I think your recipe is just fine, it just needs a few more days to harden. The castor oil in shaving soap helps create bubbles and a moisturizing feeling on the skin, but it does also mean your bars will be softer and take a bit longer to harden. They should firm up nicely as they cure for 4-6 weeks.
As for the thicker trace, it does sound like the soap was just blended a bit long. Clay also causes it to thicken quickly. It only takes about a minute of alternating stick blending and stirring with the stick blender to get it to trace. Once it’s a thin consistency and you don’t see any streaks of oil, switch to a whisk to add your fragrance and clays. That will give you more time to work.
Thank you, Kelsey,
You’re right on target. It finally set up enough to get the bars out of the molds and set aside to cure. Now comes the patience and planning for the next batch.
Glad to hear that. The waiting is definitely the hardest part, but the end result is more than worth it.
i cant seem to get to a thick trace. I want to be able to mound it on top once a put it in the mould but every time I try it just falls back down into flat. I mixed for a long time with my blender but I cant seem to get it thick enough! What am I doing wrong?
How long are you stick blending for, and what’s in your recipe? Also, what temperatures are you using? Let me know and I can help you troubleshoot.
I’ve been using the same soap recipe without issue until my last batch of soap. I used Vanilla Select and Lavender FO. After unmolding, I can see swirls in the soap itself and it has now formed a few crystals on the top of the loaf. What in the world?! Can you help me save my soap? 🙂
Hmm! Can you tell me a little bit more about your recipe and methods, such as temperature? My first guess would be you may have experienced a bit of false trace. You can read more about false trace in the post below. It may also be the fragrance oil not being completely mixed in. Are the swirls dark? If so, that would be caused by the vanilla discoloration from the Vanilla Select Fragrance Oil.
The Truth About False Trace: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/spot-prevent-false-trace/
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
Thank you for your reply, Amanda! My recipe is as follows: 13oz Coconut Oil, 8 oz Olive Pomace, 2oz each of Shea Butter, Castor Oil, and Avocado Oil. I use 7.5 floz of goat’s milk and 4.19 oz lye. To be honest, I don’t ever get a temp. I let the color of my lye solution be my guide to heat. Using frozen goat’s milk, it never scorches and just takes a bit longer to dissolve the lye. I heat my hard oils and mix them with the others. I always blend in my FO. The discoloration isn’t consistent so it’s like there was separation or something. I’d be happy to send you a picture if you can provide a way to do so. Thanks for all your help!
If you’d like, you can message us privately on the Bramble Berry Facebook page with a photo. In the message, let our team know it’s in reference to a conversation with Amanda on Soap Queen. I think a photo would be really helpful.
https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry/
You may want to pH test your bars, just to make sure they are not lye heavy. It sounds like you’re an experienced with milk soap, but because creating lye with milk is a little trickier, it never hurts to check just to make sure something didn’t go wrong on that end. A “zap test” is also helpful.
I’ll be on the lookout for your photo!
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
me again, I tried my second batch tonight still using the basic cold saponification recipe… my palm oil was a little short by 1 oz so I compensated by adding extra coconut oil…I measured everything with my food weight machine microwaved until 141degrees let it cool a little bit , I then added my lye water solution I made last night which had left a hard residue of lye in the bottom of the jar, added 1 oz of soap scent and about 10 drops of essential oil … I used my Emerson blender forever until trace … it still looked grainy kept blending… finally poured it into slab mold and was upset to see separation take place of oil on top!!! is this salvageable or a total loss?
That lye solution had flakes at the bottom when you added it? Were there quite a few flakes?
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I’m a newbie on cold saponification , I used the basic recipe from your first book everything went perfectly until I unmolded it the next day, still all looked great until I tried to cut it into bars to dry and quite a bit of the bars had chunks fall off of them leaving me with ugly chunks and uneven bars even though I used the official wavy cutter and a bread cutting measuring devise so my bars would bag fairly even and straight… what went wrong?
If the soap is crumbly, it may be caused by several factors like temperature. What temperature were your lye and oils? Also, how did you store the soap?
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Hi. I’m planning to make my first batch of soap soon. I’m going to be whisking by hand since stick blenders aren’t exactly cheap here and I don’t want to be spending a lot all at once. I know it’ll take a lot of whisking to get to trace but I’m wondering if there is anything I can do to hasten the process. Would soaping at a higher temperature help? I’m planning on using 33% coconut oil, 33% palm oil and 34% olive oil (which are all liquid at room temp since it’s so hot here xD ).
Also would a smaller batch, say less than 16 oz of oils be faster to trace? I read somewhere that a smaller batch will take longer to trace which seems counterintuitive. I couldn’t find any other information regarding it so I’m not sure if I should do a small batch or not.
Creating a smaller batch with more hard oils will help that soap trace faster. The recipe you listed above with the 33% coconut and palm is a good one, they trace fairly quickly. However, those oils will start to solidify before they’re fully emulsified. That’s because whisking is going to take at least 2 hours, maybe longer. If you notice those oils hardening and it’s only been 30 minutes or so, pop your batch in a warm water bath to keep them fluid and then keep whisking until the soap starts to emulsify.
You may try a handheld or stand mixer instead. It will still take several hours, but will definitely save you some whisking. Also, stick blenders are an investment, but they get that soap emulsified in just a few minutes. You may check online or a second-hand store for an affordable one – that will really speed the process up.
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
if we are taking 10 ounce of oil corresponding to that we take the amount of lye in 1 ounce or 2 ounce based on superfat we want and my doubt is how much amount of water we should take for dissolving the NaOH or KOH in water kindly explain me in detail
The water amount will stay the same – the superfat is actually a lye discount. To find that, all you have to do is select what percentage you’d like from our Lye Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx
Learn more about superfat here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/superfatting-soap-an-explanation-2/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I can’t wait to make my first batch of cp soap, but I want to find a recipe that will give the longest-shelf life finished soap bar. I don’t want mp because am hoping to gift it to family that lives in a hot, humid climate. Is there a resource where I can find a longest-shelf life cp recipe?
Thank you!
The shelf life of the soap depends on the oils you add. So, adding oils with long shelf lives means the bars will last longer. This post has a list of common oils and their shelf lives: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/free-beginners-guide-to-soapmaking-common-soapmaking-oils/
This post has some great tips too: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/make-soap-last-longer-shower/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Hello Soap Queen! I am so happy that I found your blog 🙂 although it was a little too late 🙁 I followed a youtube instruction on making organic homemade soap, however the instruction on youtube did not state how long I would need to stir the lye, water and oil mix for it to come to trace. I also did not have a hand blender so I was manually stirring the mix for a few minutes. Being a newbie, I thought I blended the mix enough, so I poured it into the mold. I let my soap sit in the mold for about 36 hours and I can see white layer on the top of the soap (I can send you the pictures if you’d like). The combination I used was- Lye- 11.8 oz Water- 29.5 oz, Coconut oil- 29 oz, and olive oil 51 oz and about 2 oz of geranium essential oil. Can you please please help me? As you can imagine, all the products I used was organic, so I spent a lot of money on it? Do you think my soaps are salvageable? Thank you so much for your time!!
I would recommend trying the Hot Process Hero technique: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/hot-process-hero-2/
It uses heat to help emulsify your soap. It usually works best within 24 hours but is worth a try here. For your next batch, we definitely recommend a stick blender. Hand blending takes at least two hours to emulsify, while a stick blender does it in just a minute or two. This one works well: https://www.brambleberry.com/Black-Stick-Blender-P5245.aspx
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
This was a great demonstration. But I always wonder how people can blend and blend their soap this way for seemingly a long time. I stick blend and pulse and stir for like 5 seconds and my soap is at trace, then if I let it sit for any time it starts to thicken up so I always feel like I need to start at thin trace and then move to get done, no matter what recipe or technique I’m using.
Thanks Michael, glad you enjoyed the video! Trace does depend on factors like temperature, recipe, etc. Certain batches may require a bit more blending than others.
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Same! I found a really cool article on “Controlling the trace” that has helped me with not feeling rushed to get it in the mold! It even goes into explaining linoleic, oleic, stearic, etc properties of the oils in your recipe and how they affect trace. You should definitely check it out :
http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/controlling-trace-in-cold-process-soapmaking/
Thanks for sharing Julie, Modern Soapmaking always has great advice.
Loved this video! I was glad to see thin trace in action–I’ve wanted to stop there before but always have gone a little further (thin/medium?) just to make sure I can see the trails.
I have a question about false trace. I make goat milk soap with milk that has a very high butterfat percentage. I always see globules of fat beginning to saponify on the sides of my bowl when I mix the frozen milk with lye. (And always get freaked out that it’s lye even though I know it’s not, so I stir forever and then stick blend the lye/milk solution to break the globules up and be 1000% sure it’s not bits of lye. )
I typically soap with my oils around 90-95 and my lye/milk between 75 and 85 degrees. For a 4lb batch of soap, my oils are more or less olive at 13.8 oz, palm and coconut each at 10.3 oz, sunflower at 6.9 oz, and castor at 1.8 oz. I superfat at 5 percent, but due to the fat in the milk and me always measuring a smidge up on the oils because I don’t want to have lye-heavy soap, it’s probably a higher superfat percentage.
My question is, when I pour the lye/milk into the oils and blend, sometimes I do get the grainy-looking false trace and keep going, and it usually turns out fine. But sometimes, up on the side of the bowl, I see what looks like separation. Whatever soap batter is left in the center of the bowl after I’ve poured is fine and smooth, with no separation. The soap in the loaf is fine, with no separation. (I freeze my soaps and see liquid/condensation on top the next day when they thaw, but it just turns into soda ash as far as I can tell.) What’s up with the weirdness on the sides of the bowl? I feel like it has something to do with the amount of fat and oils in my soap, but I can’t figure it out. Little bits of already-saponified stuff, maybe?
It may just be little bits of milk – when it mixes with the lye some of those bits can saponify. Sometimes soap can get grainy as you’re working with it too, that’s normal. If it happens when you’re still working with the soap a quick whisk will make it smooth again. As long as your soap is turning out just fine I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry