# M & P Issues



## Incrtalent (Feb 20, 2008)

Hey.  Do any of you MP-rs have issues with your soap being too soft?  How do you get around this?  Also, has anyone tried adding vitamin e to M & P, and does it negatively effect the lather?  

I've gotten some of my bases from the Chemistry store.  The shea butter base, (this last time) was soooo soft that the soap bar feels "squishy."  Also, one of my scents did not lather well.  My partner thought it was because we added vitamin e, but I'm not sure about this.

I wonder if I'm adding too much FO.  I usually add about 1 1/2 T. per 2 lbs of soap.  (I like it smelly).  With the Shea butter soap, I did add some other additives--oatmeal and honey to one and lavender buds to my lavender.  But BOTH were uber soft.

I'd love your thoughts on this!


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## dragonfly princess (Feb 20, 2008)

HMMM....interesting.  My soaps harden up quite nice.  But I have not ordered base from the Chemistry store, so I am no help there.


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## Incrtalent (Feb 20, 2008)

Where do you order your bases from?


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## hellocrafty (Feb 20, 2008)

I buy my soap bases from Peak Candle and have never had a problem with them being too soft. I always add some extra castor oil and vitamin e and still haven't found softness to be an issue.

Are the bases really firm when you receive them?

hellocrafty


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## dragonfly princess (Feb 20, 2008)

I get mine from WSP


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## Tabitha (Feb 20, 2008)

The base from the Chemistry Store is Stephensons brand base. I like it very much.

In general M&P is softer than CP if that is what you were wondering. You pretty much just have to accept that as part of the nature of the beast. I mentioned in another thread you migt want to try a bit of bees wax, but it might be hard to kepp it mixed in. It may want to float to the top to form a crust.


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## dragonfly princess (Feb 20, 2008)

EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW crusty soap????   :twisted:


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## pepperi27 (Feb 20, 2008)

I add all sorts of things to mp base which I get from peaks. My soaps come out hard especially when I add olive oil just 1/2 tbs pp. and for opaque bases I add jojoba which is a wax. Why does oo work not sure but I've tested it out on several bases and it keeps the soaps nice and hard. You may want to try the french milled base from peaks also. Very nice lather, takes fo's and eo's terrific and is drier than other bases. It was interesting that although the soap came out feeling dry, when I used it to wash up it lathered a lot! I still wrap it up in Saran wrap though.


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## Tabitha (Feb 20, 2008)

> Where do you order your bases from?



If I want a luxury base I order SFIC's shea base. Lots of places carry SFIC bases including peak, brambleberry, etc.

If I need inexpensive base I order from columbus foods or WSP.


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## Incrtalent (Feb 20, 2008)

Hey!  I like this idea.  I keep jojoba and olive oil on hand for my scrubs, so I think I'm going to try this out.  What about the vitamin e, though?  Coule that be affecting my later, or  could I be using too much FO?  Roughly how much FO CAN you use per pound without getting into trouble?  Like I said, I use about 1 1/2 T for 2 lbs of soap.


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## Incrtalent (Feb 20, 2008)

Tab--I'm not familiar with that company.  What's the actual name of the company?  I'll check them out.


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## Bret (Feb 20, 2008)

I'm not Tab, but the company IS SFIC. If you order directly through them, you have to order a whole pallet, which is a LOT of soap! 

I generally use 1 tbsp/pound.


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## Lane (Feb 20, 2008)

I order mine from Peaks and I LOVE it! (I placed an order on Monday (A Holiday even!) and my package got here two days later! w00t!) 

The bases are "natural". And they are pretty hard. I can add Vit. E and Castor Oil without it killing the lather. They do take a while to set up tho and the melt FAST!!


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## Guest (Feb 20, 2008)

*soft MP*

I allow my MP soaps to "cure" for three days. They start out a bit soft and then harden up a bit. When I try to use them right away, then they are too soft.

I get my bases from WSP.


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## sunflwrgrl7 (Feb 20, 2008)

I get my bases from WSP too, so I'm no help as far as the Chemistry store bases, but the only bases I've thought were a little on the soft side were the "All Natural" ones - the ones without syn dets.  But not necessarily squishy...

I've been told you can add stearic acid or beeswax to harden the bar, but I'm about 99.9% sure that would affect lather.  I think stearic acid will also make you soaps sticky on the surface, so no good.  I do know that if you find a harder base, you can do half and half with your current base to make a harder bar and not affect lather.  For example, one of the harder bases at WSP is Silk and Shea.  If I need my soap to be a bit harder then I either mix it with Silk and Shea or just use the Silk and Shea, like for my embeds.


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## mandolyn (Feb 20, 2008)

I got my first bases from Hobby Lobby. Then I got my recent ones from brambleberry.com

The brambleberry bases lather more after the addition of oils. I add 1T olive oil & up to 3 Vitamin E caps to all my M & P, & the brambleberry soaps will still have lots of big, fluffy bubbles.

The Hobby Lobby still lathers, but has a much creamier lather with tiny bubbles. 

My personal choice is the Hobby Lobby brand. I love the lather of BB, but it seems to dry my skin more even with the addition of oils. That might just be my skin, though. 

I love BB's products, & I'm not discounting the quality of their bases at all!!

Like with CP, there's that trade-off between super bubbly & creamy, small-bubble lather & I think that's what I see in these 2 brands.

I've added as much as 2T olive oil & 2 capsules of Vit E, but you really see a reduction in lather then. However, if I hold the bar under warm water for a few seconds, it begins to lather pretty well.

As for soft bars, I've never had that problem with either of these 2 brands. Adding oil didn't change that at all.

Mandy


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## Incrtalent (Feb 20, 2008)

Glad you mentioned this.  I think the next time I order I will be ordering the Silk and Shea from WSP.  I've been looking at it, and since I've gotten good feedback, I'll give it a shot.  I don't know if it was just this particular shea butter base batch that had issues, but I do know I never want it to happen again.  I practically had to DIG my soaps out of the molds.  It was awful.  And even after curing, they're still soft.  So next time...WSP.  I'll keep you posted!

BTW, no one ever mentioned about how much FO per pound you can use without affecting lather.  Anybody on this?  Thanks.


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## sunflwrgrl7 (Feb 20, 2008)

According to WSP, 1 Tablespoon per pound for FO and 1 teaspoon per pound for EO.


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## pepperi27 (Feb 20, 2008)

I add two tbs pp and it doesn't affect the lather at all. But experiment because you may not want a very scented bar you may like soft scented.


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## jadiebugs1 (Feb 24, 2008)

Glad I found this thread!  I posted kinda the same question, issues with the soft soap.  It was suggest to me to try beeswax.  I tried it - it didn't work!  Kept separating and forming the lovely CRUST AND Chunks!

So from what I read here, I can try adding Olive Oil to this to try to make it firmer???  It's the Natural Clear base from WSP.  

I made a loaf tonight, didn't put it in the fridge like I normally do because I thought cooling it down too quickly could have been contributing to the cloudiness I was having trouble with.  It WAS less cloudy, but it was also SQUISHY and very soft too!  

Anywho, let me know if I'm understanding the OO thing correctly.
Thanks,


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## Incrtalent (Feb 24, 2008)

Sharon, I haven't purchased from them yet, but I understand their natural glycerin base is supposed to be softer in general than their regular or pro base.  I think I'm probably going to get their pro-base.  I've had enough of soft soaps that won't unmold!  BTW--I logged on to your site, and your soaps are just lovely!  I've only been doing this for about 6 months or so, and I think I'm almost ready to start a website, but it makes me nervous.  I worry about things like shipping, shipping calculators, credit cards, etc.  I'd love to hear how you handled.   I know I'm probably overly-anxious, but I feel perfectly incompetent when it comes to technology!


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## pepperi27 (Feb 24, 2008)

Sharon just so your aware, I only add olive oil to opaque bases. To the clear ones I add jojoba oil. Now you can just add jojoba oil period because it is a wax and maybe more cost effective then having to utilize both oils. Just another option!


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