Soap issue: How Can I Treat Oil For Soap Making Very Well & Get Rid of Rough Soap?

Please, Chidimma I will like you to read most of the posts published recently regarding soap production, some of them addressed these issues to help you make quality soaps. However, based on contact I made recently with some popular soap bloggers and home soap makers, the cause of the problem seems not to be coming from the oil alone. Your personal interview revealed that you are using palm oil which is the major oil most bar soap producers in Nigeria are using. According to Miss Kenna in the modernsoapmaking.com's publication, she said; "One common issue among soapmakers is soda ash, which happens during the initial saponification process and sometimes, throughout the curing period. Soda Ash is caused primarily by any free sodium in sodium hydroxide interacting with oxygen, various fragrance constituents, and even heat, which forms sodium carbonate on the surface of the soap as it comes in contact with the air. Soda ash isn’t harmful in finished soap and is purely a cosmetic/aesthetic issue. Minimizing air contact by covering soap in the mold will help to reduce ash, so will spraying the surface of the soap with isopropyl alcohol. What if covering your molds isn’t an option? Or you’d rather not use additional additives? Or if you tend to get ash during cure? Well, there’s a solution for that! Here at Amathia Soapworks, two of our soaps often ash during cure. A quick skinny dip in distilled water (which is already in the soap formula) cleanses away the ash and makes them look bright, shiny, and new. Keep reading for the detailed instructions!" Considering the above response and others which space wouldn't allow meaning to paste here, the problem of smell could be coming from bad palm oil and could be resolved with a quality fragrance additive used for soap making purpose. The issue of the rough surface could be caused by improper turning of the lye and oil among other additives during the soap making, however, rough mold surface can also produce rough surface bar soaps, besides these two factors, improper soap making process such as wrong adding of required additives could contribute to it. The issue of dark color means that the coloring agent added was not enough and ensure you follow the right volume or percentage prescribed in any material you are using in the soap making. Adding the right quantity is ideal for making a quality soap. If you sensed that the palm oil you are using is bad, try changing it or combining it with another type of soap making oils mentioned in this link , you may also consider pre-heating of the oil, adding of salt, and blending the oil with olive oil or coconut oil for the better result. Ensure you add only the required ingredients during your soap making and at the right quantity. During the curing of your bar soap, cover the molds properly and expose the molds to direct sunlight for good solidification and to reduce reactions that could affect the soap surfaces if the molds are not covered. Those are the information obtained so far in regard to your questions, please feel free to drop the impact of this answer and any other answer here for the benefit of others facing similar challenges.