# Help me figure out Christmas gifts, please?



## Catastrophe (Oct 21, 2016)

Hi all,

Been a member for years, but haven't been in a position to make soap, so I just lurk now and then and live vicariously through the forums.  I last made soap about 10 years ago :cry:

Finally settled and would like to make some things for Christmas.  I'm looking to make:

30-40 lip balms (I'm thinking some kind of winter flavor or unflavored)
30-40 lip scrubs (one flavor for all)
15 lotion bars (one scent, or unscented)
60-100 bars of CP soap (2-3 scents for all of these)
1 salve for someone who has to wash their hands a lot

We are in upstate NY, about 2 hours from Ottawa, ON and Syracuse, NY, but our area is pretty rural.  

I am not at all opposed to lard in CP but I'm having a hard time finding it locally.  Sam's doesn't have it, haven't checked Aldi or Save a Lot yet.

Could anyone suggest what butters and oils I should get to make these items without going broke?  I cannot locate my old recipes right now, they're still packed somewhere, but I remember my main oil was RBO back then.

I'm looking to make a decent bar of soap and lip scrub, and I'm looking for the lip balm, lotion bars, and salve to be awesome in a long, cold winter.

I'd appreciate any advice or guidance.  I used to know all the fabulous oil and butter properties, but I seem to have forgotten them.  Also would like a recommendation on a good site to get the FOs/flavor oils in one shot.  I would *really* like a recommendation of a good wine scent for one of the soap fragrances.

Sorry this is a bit disjointed, I've been Googl'ing for hours and it's all running together now :shock:


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## Susie (Oct 21, 2016)

Sam's does not carry lard, but Walmart does.  

Here is where I buy my oils:

Sam's- Olive Oil (the yellow Daily Chef one so it does not discolor my soaps)  I have bought my coconut oil there until just recently when I bought Amazon Prime, so I will be buying mine from Amazon (MUCH cheaper this way):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A2A88ZW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Walmart-Lard and Castor Oil.  I now see that castor oil is much cheaper on Amazon, also.  So that is another thing I can order.

I would be guilty of pricing all other oils on Amazon, also, before buying locally if I were you.  I bought beeswax and soy wax from Amazon when I was making lip balms (buy the pastilles, save yourself the time).  

Hope that helps!


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## Guspuppy (Oct 21, 2016)

If you have a Big Lots near you, check there for oils. Sometimes they have gallons of coconut oil for $12!


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## lsg (Oct 21, 2016)

Soap Queen, Swiftcraftymonkey and Nature's Garden all are good places to find recipes.


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## dixiedragon (Oct 21, 2016)

Here's my fav lip balm recipe:
60 grams of beeswax
75 grams Shea butter
45 grams Cocoa Butter, White Odorless
120 grams Avocado Oil
0.5 grams Peppermint Essential Oil
0.5 grams Spearmint Essential Oil

https://www.thesage.com/recipes/recipe-exec/.State/Display/id/200

It's from Majestic Mountain Sage. They have lots of other recipes as well.

I can occasionally find beeswax at farmer's markets.

You may also consider ordering a kit:
https://www.brambleberry.com/Kits-and-Samplers-C203.aspx

It will have everything you need.

ETA: If you don't want to order online, I've seen sticks of cocoa butter - usually Queen Helene brand - at Publix and at Fred's Discount in the skincare section.


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## Susie (Oct 21, 2016)

dixiedragon said:


> ETA: If you don't want to order online, I've seen sticks of cocoa butter - usually Queen Helene brand - at Publix and at Fred's Discount in the skincare section.



Also at Family Dollar and Dollar General Stores.


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## BattleGnome (Oct 21, 2016)

I second the kit idea. You'll know that you're starting with recipes that work and can adjust as much as you want for customization. The right kit will also have a "free" mold or a general discount over purchasing the ingredients separately. 

Wholesale Supplies Plus has some great recipes. I tend to get my lip balm flavors at Elements Bath and Body, no particular reason it's just where I end up.


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## dixiedragon (Oct 21, 2016)

BB has a kit that includes a scale and a mold - the Beginner's natural soap kit. All you provide - literally - is some bowls, water, a spoon and the stick blender.


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## lenarenee (Oct 21, 2016)

If Wal mart ships, and it's usually inexpensive or free.


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## Catastrophe (Oct 21, 2016)

Thank you for the all the suggestions, I'm reading on my phone and will reply when I have time to sit longer at the computer this afternoon.  Thank you!!


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## Susie (Oct 21, 2016)

There is a Walmart in Syracuse, I checked.  One big shopping trip, and he/she can get their oils, stickblender, bowls, spatula, spoons, and a halfway decent scale.  One big order from Brambleberry or one of the other suppliers, they can get molds, lip balm tubes, a lip balm filling tray, flavors, etc.  And it is already the third week of October.  They have no time to spare.  Make the soap first, so it can be curing.


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## dixiedragon (Oct 21, 2016)

I agree with Susie.

But just FYI,
https://www.brambleberry.com/Natural-Soap-Kit-for-Beginners-P6607.aspx

This kit includes a mold (their 10 inch silicone mold, I love it) and a good scale.


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## Susie (Oct 21, 2016)

Do that ^, also order a second mold, scents (you will need about 0.5 oz PPO), sodium hydroxide. 

Then go buy lard, olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, distilled water, gloves, goggles, stick blender (get one with a stainless steel bell and shaft that can be detached from the motor-you will thank me later) from Sam's/Walmart.  Go to the dollar store (Dollar Tree if you have one), get plastic long handled spoons, spatulas.  Go to the local hardware store and buy those plastic paint cups with a 5 on the bottom in the 32 and 64 oz sizes.  You may want to get some of the 8 oz ones for colors. 

After you get that kit and supplies on the way, you will need to price some kits for the other products you want to make with some spare supplies.  

Then make the soap first.  Cure can't be rushed.


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## Catastrophe (Oct 21, 2016)

I apologize in advance for the long post!

I have a scale, my stick blenders, and most of my pots/utensils from when I made soap before.  I can't find my molds :-(  Worst case, I could use PVC, but I really hate round soaps.  I was looking at these molds on Amazon, anyone have experience with them?

I absolutely don't mind ordering online (I actually prefer it, until I see shipping costs on oils lol)  I used to get my RBO locally from an Asian restaurant, I would buy about 10-15 5-ish gallon jugs at a time and I would buy my lye locally in 50lb bags.  Anyway, just trying to find local supplies of some stuff to avoid shipping if I can.  I'll check lard at Walmart!  I have a few jugs of Sam's yellow OO I accidentally bought, so I should be covered for the OO at least.  I did get a lot of my other oils and butters from Soaper's Choice before, but just the minimum there is about $200, so I was hoping to source some locally and not have to buy quite so much.  (I was thinking coconut oil, lard, cocoa butter, shea butter, RBO, and palm oil from them, but I guess if I use lard I won't need the palm, I'd forgotten it was the hard oil.)  

I have looked at BB's kits, but I'm just not sure how to tell how good the recipe is or how much some of them will make.  (I guess I could add up the oils and figure it out, but I can't remember how much weight the soap loses as it cures lol)

So now I'm thinking:

Soap
Lard - Walmart
Coconut - Amazon
Avocado - SC
Almond - SC
Castor - Amazon

Balm/lotion bar/lip scrub/salve
Cocoa Butter - SC
Shea Butter - SC
Beeswax - Amazon
Sunflower - local, if I use it

Does anyone use emu oil anymore?  I used to make a healing salve with emu from a recipe I got on soap forums that was amazing.  I don't have the recipe right now, but I was thinking for the one salve maybe some emu in it would be good?

How is the BB lip balm base?  (Either/both)  Is it a good moisturizing one for winter?

(It dawned on me earlier I can figure out the other stuff while the soap stuff is on the way, I see a few of you had the same thought LOL.  I've got until about mid-December for curing, and the humidity is fairly low in my house, so hopefully it will be ready)

I'm planning to use the recipe in this thread, any reason I *shouldn't* use it?  Or a decent recipe with lard/coconut/olive/castor to share?  I will order sodium lactate with my FOs.
50% lard
20% coconut
15% avocado
10% almond
5% castor

I think I want an OMH (possibly with oatmeal in it), a lavender ??? type (I hate lavender, but I know at least 2 of the people like it), and I would love a good wine (mulled wine, maybe?) FO for the 3rd set.  Any tried and true FOs to recommend?

And, last but not least, I can't remember exactly how much weight soap loses in curing.  I roughly calculated 400oz of oils for 100 3.5oz bars, is that even close or do I need to plan more oil?  (Plus some for a test batch or screw up)  Need to figure out how much of the oils I can't get locally to order and also how much FOs to order.

Thanks so much for the assistance, I'm so excited at the thought of making soap again!!!  *eta* I suck horribly at lining molds, but I still have my miter box and such for cutting loaves.  When I had to give up soapmaking before, I was using some fabulous slab molds with blue silicone liners that had "ridges" for each bar...made cutting so easy and NO LINING LOL.


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## mx5inpenn (Oct 21, 2016)

Catastrophe said:


> I'm planning to use the recipe in this thread, any reason I *shouldn't* use it?  Or a decent recipe with lard/coconut/olive/castor to share?  I will order sodium lactate with my FOs.
> 50% lard
> 20% coconut
> 15% avocado
> ...



That recipe will be great! My go-to is very close to that. 

I really like NG's OMH. I use it with actual oatmeal, milk and honey. 

For some cheap molds that you don't have to order, you might want to look at dollar tree. I bought a few drawer organizers there a few months ago that hold about 3 lbs. They do have to be lined, but for $1 each I figured that wasn't too bad. They also are not quite vertical on the sides, but i just trim a tiny bit when I cut the bars.


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## doriettefarm (Oct 21, 2016)

If you're undecided about ordering from Brambleberry, I would suggest checking out Nurture Soap.  They have awesome molds with silicone liners that come in pretty much any size you could want.  I love mine and wouldn't trade them for anything!  Also love their micas and FOs . . . shipping is fast and customer service is top notch.  Many of their FOs are Lush dupes and my latest fave is the Yuzu & Cocoa . . . it really smells edible and does not discolor your soap.  They also have an OMH but I haven't tried it.

If you decide to go with BB, I love the Chipotle Caramel FO.  If you're looking for a Lavender blend, their Lavender & Cedar is a really nice unisex scent and so is Tobacco & Bay Leaf.  Neither of those will discolor and seem to stick well in CP soap.  I'm also a huge lard fan so your proposed recipe gets a big thumbs up from me!


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## BattleGnome (Oct 21, 2016)

I look at mold size before oil weight for my bar size. 

For example: I usually use an 8" long mold that holds 2# of batter. 1" bars fit nicely in my hands and I don't really care about all my bars looking "perfect." If you want "perfect" bars you might want to plan cutting off the ends for your use and get 7 pretty bars from a batch. Then mathing it out 2# = 32oz. 32/8 = 4oz bars before cure. Depending on lye concentration that can easily be 25oz of oils for me. I tend to overestimate my oils when I can and always have a spare cavity mold on hand for overflow.


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## lenarenee (Oct 21, 2016)

Yes, I have 3 of those molds, box and silicone liner and I absolutely love them!!! Love the size of bar it makes too. Makes 9 1 to 1.25 is bars of soap after trimming the edges.


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## Dahila (Oct 21, 2016)

Susie said:


> Sam's does not carry lard, but Walmart does.
> 
> Here is where I buy my oils:
> 
> ...



Susie today I got a gallon of Nutiva organic CO for $ 25.99 and just remember it must be in States like 20 dollars.  The one on amazon seems high price


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## Kamahido (Oct 21, 2016)

I buy all my base oils from soaperschoice.com.


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## CaraBou (Oct 21, 2016)

Dahila said:


> Susie today I got a gallon of Nutiva organic CO for $ 25.99 and just remember it must be in States like 20 dollars.  The one on amazon seems high price



You have to watch the Snappy oil for sales. I bought a gal for $12, and it shipped free with Amazon Prime. It had beta carotene in it, which was fine by me; that's just one less colorant I need to mix up (it makes a beautiful yellow or orange, depending on % used).  I also keep uncolored CO so I have a choice. 

I think I've seen the uncolored Snappy for that price too, though I wouldn't swear on it.  Suzie can say on that one.


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## Catastrophe (Oct 22, 2016)

mx6inpenn said:


> That recipe will be great! My go-to is very close to that.
> 
> I really like NG's OMH. I use it with actual oatmeal, milk and honey.
> 
> For some cheap molds that you don't have to order, you might want to look at dollar tree. I bought a few drawer organizers there a few months ago that hold about 3 lbs. They do have to be lined, but for $1 each I figured that wasn't too bad. They also are not quite vertical on the sides, but i just trim a tiny bit when I cut the bars.



Thanks for the heads-up about Dollar Tree.  If I absolutely have to line, I guess I could go old-school and use Priority boxes LOL.  I do have wood to make my own, but most of my tools are still packed away.



doriettefarm said:


> If you're undecided about ordering from Brambleberry, I would suggest checking out Nurture Soap.  They have awesome molds with silicone liners that come in pretty much any size you could want.  I love mine and wouldn't trade them for anything!  Also love their micas and FOs . . . shipping is fast and customer service is top notch.  Many of their FOs are Lush dupes and my latest fave is the Yuzu & Cocoa . . . it really smells edible and does not discolor your soap.  They also have an OMH but I haven't tried it.
> 
> If you decide to go with BB, I love the Chipotle Caramel FO.  If you're looking for a Lavender blend, their Lavender & Cedar is a really nice unisex scent and so is Tobacco & Bay Leaf.  Neither of those will discolor and seem to stick well in CP soap.  I'm also a huge lard fan so your proposed recipe gets a big thumbs up from me!



I don't have a problem ordering from BB, I used them many times when I was soaping before, I'm just not sure I'm in love with the kits.  (Based on my guess of about 400 ounces of oils)  I was looking at that Chipotle Caramel!  Very tempted, will think on that a bit.



BattleGnome said:


> I look at mold size before oil weight for my bar size.
> 
> For example: I usually use an 8" long mold that holds 2# of batter. 1" bars fit nicely in my hands and I don't really care about all my bars looking "perfect." If you want "perfect" bars you might want to plan cutting off the ends for your use and get 7 pretty bars from a batch. Then mathing it out 2# = 32oz. 32/8 = 4oz bars before cure. Depending on lye concentration that can easily be 25oz of oils for me. I tend to overestimate my oils when I can and always have a spare cavity mold on hand for overflow.



I don't care if they're perfect, but I do want them to look nice.  I'm good with using a veggie peeler to shape a bit if I need to.



lenarenee said:


> Yes, I have 3 of those molds, box and silicone liner and I absolutely love them!!! Love the size of bar it makes too. Makes 9 1 to 1.25 is bars of soap after trimming the edges.



Thank you, I'm really leaning that way.  Have you found a similarly priced slab mold?



Dahila said:


> Susie today I got a gallon of Nutiva organic CO for $ 25.99 and just remember it must be in States like 20 dollars.  The one on amazon seems high price



Best for Sam's in my area seems to be two 54oz containers for $34USD but they get horrible reviews (rancid taste) so I'm not sure I'd want to soap with them.


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## Susie (Oct 22, 2016)

My Sam's has Member's Mark Organic Coconut Oil, it tastes and soaps wonderfully.


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## Dahila (Oct 22, 2016)

CaraBou said:


> You have to watch the Snappy oil for sales. I bought a gal for $12, and it shipped free with Amazon Prime. It had beta carotene in it, which was fine by me; that's just one less colorant I need to mix up (it makes a beautiful yellow or orange, depending on % used).  I also keep uncolored CO so I have a choice.
> 
> I think I've seen the uncolored Snappy for that price too, though I wouldn't swear on it.  Suzie can say on that one.



I am in Canada, and everything is 1.5 time more expensive ( but that's ok , I love my new country


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## Dahila (Oct 22, 2016)

The one Nutiva is organic too ) kind of the best in Canada, I did not get it for soaping rather for frying)


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## dixiedragon (Oct 24, 2016)

Where are you located? I recommend Camden Grey for butters, oils and essential oils. They are in Florida, so if you are in the southeastern US, shipping isn't bad. 

If you are an hour or two away from a place, it might be worth your time and $ to place a big order and drive to pick it up yourself.

Also see if you have a restaurant supply company. Monarch Foods is one in our area. They are good for bulk oils - I got lard, sunflower, olive and rice bran at mine.

Soap
Lard - Walmart
Coconut - Amazon
Avocado - SC (try Costco)
Almond - SC
Castor - Amazon (try Wal-Mart or Vitamin Shoppe)

Balm/lotion bar/lip scrub/salve
Cocoa Butter - SC (try Publix or Fred's Discount for 1 oz tubes. Not a great price, but if you just need a little bit.)
Shea Butter - SC
Beeswax - Amazon (try a farmer's market. Also, google bee keeping in your state and/or county.)
Sunflower - local, if I use it


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## Catastrophe (Nov 2, 2016)

(Sadly, I have no Publix or Fred's Discount up here, and the closest Costco is 2 hours away, so I've let my membership lapse.  I'm in NY near the Canadian border.)

I'm back with more questions!

I ordered everything last week, but my BB order won't be here until Monday.  Oils I have or will have are: 
Lard
Coconut
Avocado
Castor
Pumpkin seed (this is more for the salve or lotion bars, too expensive for soap)
Safflower
Sunflower
Grapeseed
Olive
Shea butter (unrefined)

I would like to do a few variations on this recipe, and I completely forgot sweet almond in my ordering, aack:
50% lard
20% coconut
15% avocado
10% almond
5% castor

Any suggestions for what would be good subs for the almond?  I suspect my Walmart safflower and sunflower will spoil quickly?  Does that mean my soap will spoil quickly?  (I don't recall using them before when I was soaping)

FOs I ordered are:

NG's Merlot Wine - red wine
NG's Christmas Cabernet - red wine
BB's Lavender Green Tea -Green tea
BB's OMH - Goat milk, oatmeal, honey
NG's Island Fresh type - for salt bars

Some questions:

1.  For the salt bar, I want to use 100% CO, probably 75% Himalayan salt, coconut milk, and I'd like to do a 13% superfat with ??? (shea butter?).  If I use 16oz CO, 2.93oz lye...how much shea do I add?  Or do I run the calculator with 87% CO and 13% shea?

2.  If I use sodium lactate, 1tsp ppo, is there a reason to use sugar, too?  Or does the SL replace the reason for adding sugar? (More bubbles, I think, I jotted a note to use sugar, but didn't note why)

3.  Anyone with experience using wine instead of water?  Somewhere I read about a lye volcano from wine, obviously I don't want that to happen!  Any suggestions on how to replace all or some of my water with wine in the wine soaps?

4.  I remember goat milk turning orange? when I soaped before...is there a way to avoid that?

Thanks for all the help so far, I'm so very excited to make soap again!  (Oh and I bought lip balm base from NG, friend tried it and absolutely loves it.  I hate lip balm, so I'm not a good judge lol)


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Nov 2, 2016)

A tip for oil comparisons- go to soapcalc (not sure how easy it is with the other calcs) and select the oil that you want to find a replacement for. Set it as 100% of the recipe and hit calculate. Close the recipe so you're back at the data entry page - now when you highlight any oil in their list you have a side-by-side comparison to the other oil. Just go through the list looking for something similar, or see which ingredients on hand could work. It's not totally accurate, as lard and Shea are similar in theory but not quite so in practice, but it gets you in the right direction


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## Susie (Nov 2, 2016)

Catastrophe said:


> (Sadly, I have no Publix or Fred's Discount up here, and the closest Costco is 2 hours away, so I've let my membership lapse.  I'm in NY near the Canadian border.)
> 
> I'm back with more questions!
> 
> ...



Olive oil is a decent substitution for the almond.  But run the recipe through a lye calculator to see the numbers for yourself, then you will know.

If the oils have a short shelf life, then yes your soap can develop DOS quickly.  Store them in the freezer immediately, and use small amounts (under 15% IIRC) quickly.




Catastrophe said:


> FOs I ordered are:
> 
> NG's Merlot Wine - red wine
> NG's Christmas Cabernet - red wine
> ...



You figure the superfat right in the recipe by just putting 13 in the superfat line.  Don't get confused by the people who claim superfat can be added at trace to prevent the lye from eating it up. The saponification process can take days, and the lye takes what it wants.



Catastrophe said:


> 2.  If I use sodium lactate, 1tsp ppo, is there a reason to use sugar, too?  Or does the SL replace the reason for adding sugar? (More bubbles, I think, I jotted a note to use sugar, but didn't note why)



SL substitutes for salt to harden your bar, which is completely unnecessary with the above recipe.  Sugar adds bubbles.  Not at all the same thing.



Catastrophe said:


> 3.  Anyone with experience using wine instead of water?  Somewhere I read about a lye volcano from wine, obviously I don't want that to happen!  Any suggestions on how to replace all or some of my water with wine in the wine soaps?



Boil the wine down to get rid of the alcohol.  Then be prepared to freeze that soap immediately, and leave it in the freezer for 24 hours.



Catastrophe said:


> 4.  I remember goat milk turning orange? when I soaped before...is there a way to avoid that?
> 
> Thanks for all the help so far, I'm so very excited to make soap again!  (Oh and I bought lip balm base from NG, friend tried it and absolutely loves it.  I hate lip balm, so I'm not a good judge lol)



Freezing the milk is supposed to help.  I have never had success in my milk not turning orange, but the good news is that it does not stay orange.


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## dixiedragon (Nov 2, 2016)

Sorry, you said "I hate lip balm" and my brain broke. I have like 6 tubes in my purse now. Does not compute.

In body applications, I usually replace sweet almond with avocado and I really like it.


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## Susie (Nov 2, 2016)

I had to stop using lip balm.  My lips were cracking and peeling, even with my handmade lip balm.  It took about a month of misery for them to heal up, but they are better now than when I started wearing lip balm at 12.


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## dixiedragon (Nov 2, 2016)

Catastrophe, have you tried using canned milk?

I use the milk-in-oil method with canned milk.

In the lye calculator, I bump up "water as percent of oils" from 38% to 40%. I dissolve my lye in 1/2 of that water amount. So if my recipe calls for 10 ounces of water, I dissolve my lye in 5 ounces of water. When the oils are the correct temperature (I like to do about 90 for milk soaps) I pour 5 ounces of canned milk into the oils. While stickblending the oils, I pour the room-temp lye water into the oils.


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## kchaystack (Nov 2, 2016)

I would add the milk to your oils and use a 50% lye solution.


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## Catastrophe (Nov 2, 2016)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> A tip for oil comparisons- go to soapcalc (not sure how easy it is with the other calcs) and select the oil that you want to find a replacement for. Set it as 100% of the recipe and hit calculate. Close the recipe so you're back at the data entry page - now when you highlight any oil in their list you have a side-by-side comparison to the other oil. Just go through the list looking for something similar, or see which ingredients on hand could work. It's not totally accurate, as lard and Shea are similar in theory but not quite so in practice, but it gets you in the right direction



I've been running a lot of stuff through soapcalc, and they're all pretty similar on the quality numbers.  I didn't think to Google the oils' shelf life until a few minutes ago, but it looks like everything but sunflower should be fine.



Susie said:


> Olive oil is a decent substitution for the almond.  But run the recipe through a lye calculator to see the numbers for yourself, then you will know.
> 
> If the oils have a short shelf life, then yes your soap can develop DOS quickly.  Store them in the freezer immediately, and use small amounts (under 15% IIRC) quickly.



Found BB's shelf life info...used to have all that in my head, but it's been too long to remember it now LOL.  I actually never had DOS before, and I'd rather it not show up on Christmas presents, so I'll avoid the sunflower oil!



Susie said:


> You figure the superfat right in the recipe by just putting 13 in the superfat line.  Don't get confused by the people who claim superfat can be added at trace to prevent the lye from eating it up. The saponification process can take days, and the lye takes what it wants.



Thank you!!!  I was totally going by my old memory, and further reading says that's wrong like you said.  I did think adding at trace was the thing to do.



Susie said:


> SL substitutes for salt to harden your bar, which is completely unnecessary with the above recipe.  Sugar adds bubbles.  Not at all the same thing.



BB's website says you should use SL with all recipes when using silicone molds.  I did use SL before, can't remember if I used it in all my recipes or not.  I was using silicone for about 80% of my bars.  Would you use the SL in my recipe with silicone molds?  Thank you for clarifying about the salt vs sugar, I added to my notes I wrote down LOL.




Susie said:


> Boil the wine down to get rid of the alcohol.  Then be prepared to freeze that soap immediately, and leave it in the freezer for 24 hours.



Should I add the wine after I've mixed the oils and lye?  




Susie said:


> Freezing the milk is supposed to help.  I have never had success in my milk not turning orange, but the good news is that it does not stay orange.



Oh good!  I think I only used liquid milk once or twice, after that I discovered coconut milk powder.  I have some canned goat and coconut milks right now I'm planning to use.  If I get back into soap, I'll order some powders eventually LOL.



dixiedragon said:


> Sorry, you said "I hate lip balm" and my brain broke. I have like 6 tubes in my purse now. Does not compute.
> 
> In body applications, I usually replace sweet almond with avocado and I really like it.



Haha, I don't do anything on my face, makeup or lip stuff.



Susie said:


> I had to stop using lip balm.  My lips were cracking and peeling, even with my handmade lip balm.  It took about a month of misery for them to heal up, but they are better now than when I started wearing lip balm at 12.



I haven't had that problem, and I will use stuff in the winter, but I did notice when I used it as a teen that I tended to lick it constantly, so I just quit using it.



dixiedragon said:


> Catastrophe, have you tried using canned milk?
> 
> I use the milk-in-oil method with canned milk.
> 
> In the lye calculator, I bump up "water as percent of oils" from 38% to 40%. I dissolve my lye in 1/2 of that water amount. So if my recipe calls for 10 ounces of water, I dissolve my lye in 5 ounces of water. When the oils are the correct temperature (I like to do about 90 for milk soaps) I pour 5 ounces of canned milk into the oils. While stickblending the oils, I pour the room-temp lye water into the oils.



Awesome, thank you!  I am planning to use canned milks.


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## Catastrophe (Nov 2, 2016)

kchaystack said:


> I would add the milk to your oils and use a 50% lye solution.



I know this is simple math, but I'm having trouble getting my head around it LOL.  I read someone last night that mixes her lye water all in advance at 50% and stores it until needed.  I think I would like to do that, because it's not very humid here and I'd like to eliminate messing with dry lye as much as possible, and also that would remove some of the risk of soaping around my 6 yr old.

If I were to take all my lye and make the lye water up (a pound of lye to a pound of water, I assume will be 50%), how do I figure out how much to use in a recipe?

For example, let's say I want to make a salt bar with 16oz of CO, 38% water.  Superfat 20%, it calls for 2.35 ounces of lye, 6.08 ounces of water.  Would I use 4.7 ounces of the premade lye water, and 1.38 ounces of coconut milk?


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## kchaystack (Nov 2, 2016)

Catastrophe said:


> I know this is simple math, but I'm having trouble getting my head around it LOL.  I read someone last night that mixes her lye water all in advance at 50% and stores it until needed.  I think I would like to do that, because it's not very humid here and I'd like to eliminate messing with dry lye as much as possible, and also that would remove some of the risk of soaping around my 6 yr old.
> 
> If I were to take all my lye and make the lye water up (a pound of lye to a pound of water, I assume will be 50%), how do I figure out how much to use in a recipe?
> 
> For example, let's say I want to make a salt bar with 16oz of CO, 38% water.  Superfat 20%, it calls for 2.35 ounces of lye, 6.08 ounces of water.  Would I use 4.7 ounces of the premade lye water, and 1.38 ounces of coconut milk?



Exactly. 

I also masterbatch my lye at 50%.  But then I use my lye at 33%.

So I take 2x my NaOH amount in solutuon then add 1x my NaOH amount in aloe juice. 

When I use milk, I use powdered goats milk.  I add the powdered milk to my oils and stick blend it really well to put it in suspension, then add 2X my NaOH amount of my solution to the oil mix.


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## Susie (Nov 3, 2016)

*"Should I add the wine after I've mixed the oils and lye?"*

I think so, I don't personally use alcohols in my soap, but there are threads on here that discuss it.  Just use Google, or your favorite search engine, and do something like this:  soapmakingforum site/wine soap, and it should pull them up.


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## mx5inpenn (Nov 3, 2016)

Catastrophe said:


> I know this is simple math, but I'm having trouble getting my head around it LOL.  I read someone last night that mixes her lye water all in advance at 50% and stores it until needed.  I think I would like to do that, because it's not very humid here and I'd like to eliminate messing with dry lye as much as possible, and also that would remove some of the risk of soaping around my 6 yr old.
> 
> If I were to take all my lye and make the lye water up (a pound of lye to a pound of water, I assume will be 50%), how do I figure out how much to use in a recipe?
> 
> For example, let's say I want to make a salt bar with 16oz of CO, 38% water.  Superfat 20%, it calls for 2.35 ounces of lye, 6.08 ounces of water.  Would I use 4.7 ounces of the premade lye water, and 1.38 ounces of coconut milk?



You have the lye/water amount correct, but not the liquid.  You need 6.08oz of water, you are getting 2.35 from the lye mixture, so you need an additional 3.73.  The 4.7oz of 50% mixture is 2.35oz of each lye and water.  So take the total water amount and subtract the amount of water (an amount equal to the lye amount in 50%) you are getting from the mixture to find your additional water amount.  You can then use whatever liquid you like for the additional water.


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