You might be asking yourself what a soap doctor is.
Can you visualize a soap doctor? She/he would be wearing a white lab coat while checking the soap for thickness, hardness, lastability (is that a word?), or mildness.
Humor aside, soapmakers do become soap doctors.
What happens when a batch of soap doesn’t turn out as expected? The soap doctor steps in to diagnose the cause.
In this case, a soap bar with a circular pattern (or “ring”) inside, tells me that the room temperature when the newly made soap was poured into the mold was very cool and that the soap was not well insulated.
Sometimes the soap inside the ring is less solid, it can be crumbly. The appearance of a ringed pattern in soap does not mean it cannot be used for bathing. Rings can be a cosmetic type of thing, not affecting the stability or use of the soap at all. As I prefer to do, usable (slightly flawed) soap can even be sold at a discount – with explanation, as it isn’t grade A+ soap. Botched soap can also be donated to the Clean The World foundation, www.cleantheworld.org .
P.S. Additional blog posts on troubleshooting to follow! Imperfect soap happens.
Annies Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps 
Oh yes, all of us soapmakers have experience in botched batches! We’ve become experts on quickly diagnosing the problem and trying to fix it, if possible. Re-batching if necessary!
I am an old-school type of soaper. I learned from reading books, reading on the internet, and trial and error as well. Experience (being the doctor), just like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. What we are doing, handcrafting soap, is not always a perfect thing. One little poo-pah throws the entire batch off. For example: I do not want to start the heating season (increasing my utility bills), but I also need to remember to well insulate the soap. Some say, “Milk soap does not need to be insulated.” Yes, it often does. Oh well…enjoy of my soap-maker chatter for now. Thanks, Ann.
Well that ring may not be grade A soap, but I think it’s pretty. How did you get that “oak leaf” in the middle?! Really, that’s what it looks like to me.
Funny how it happens, Becky. I didn’t see the oak leaf until you pointed it out.
We haven’t talk much recently, I hope everything is going well for you!
Hi, my name is Jason and I’m a first time soap maker. Just got interested in it actually not that long ago. ANyway I was reading your post and wanted to know if there was an ideal temperature you should pour it to avoid getting rings like that in the soap?
Hi there, Jason.
What type of soap do you plan to make? Basically, there are three types – melt and pour, cold process, and hot process.
Cold process soap is poured at “trace.” The pour temperature (when trace is reached) varies per each soap formula, and sometimes per essential oil (EO) or fragrance oil (FO). Some EO’s and FO’s cause the soap to reach trace quicker, hence the difference in the temperature when the soap is poured.
Also, the beginning temperature (when the oils and lye are mixed) varies per the type of soap made and the ingredients used. When making soap via the cold process method, it is most important to closely match the lye water temperature (allow it to cool down) with the melted oil(s) temperature before mixing commences.
What caused the rings in this particular batch of soap was not the pour temperature, it was the room temperature. Milk soap normally does not need to be insulated. I did not insulate this particular soap, forgetting to check my room temperature (which was too cool), as a result – rings – because the outer part of the soap cooled down faster as it went through the gel stage in the mold.
Soaping takes practice and experimenting. I wish you many days of happy soap-making.