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We have hard water in London Uk which is a pain esp when it comes to using shampoo bars..:confused:

Hi Sonya, Yes I have heard that about laundry washing soap too which make me stay clear. I love the way you are formulating your own stain removal soap. I think it may not be necessary to add Glycerine as it is a by-product of the soap making process? Perhaps I am wrong?

Did you make that soap in your member's photo Thomas? It looks beautiful!

Thanks everyone for sharing..can't wait to try all these new tips and finally not see my beautiful soap covered in ash! Will post some photos of my results..:)

Welcome Thomas, I only joined two weeks ago and already I have learnt so much. It is a lovely thing when people share their knowledge. What part of India are you from? Irish girl living in London UK.

Wonderful thanks all! Can't wait to make my new super hard soap bars with no ash in sight!

Thanks penelopejane! I think the heat and the longer insulating time is the trick. It is going to be hard as I am always dying to see how my soap turned out the next day. I will have to be a bit more patient. The reward will be ash free bars hopefully. Thanks penelopejane. I have no idea what...

Thanks all. Great tips. Yeah I meant 35% water as a % of oils. So it looks like I need to go much lower on the water % to get 31-32% lye concentration. When do I add the sodium lactate or the stearic acid? After trace?

Thanks all. I especially like the idea of putting soap away after a few uses to dry and rotating it with another bar! And you get to have two varieties on the go. A good idea for increasing sales too, get people to buy two instead of just one. Super soft soaps because they are super moisturising...

Thanks Saponificarian, I will try that, with the sustainable palm oil of course.

Hi all happy soapers! Any tips on how to make a harder bar that does not turn into mush in the soap dish after a week of use? My husband always says "why can't you make soap that doesn't turn into a gooey mess?" Cheeky! I use 50Olive + 30Coconut + 20palm 5%SF..35% water, if I up the coconut to...

Amazing Sonya thanks x

Is it ok to reply to this post now? This just caught my interest. "the water amount can make a large difference to how your soap reacts during saponification and the cure" Would love to know what the differences are apart from the cure time SaltedFig please. I usually use 35% water, what...

Hi maitre, I would not even heat the oils or butters in that climate. Just prepare the lye and use the heat from the lye. It's called room temperature method. And definitely super fat to at least 5%. Let us know how it goes.

Hi Sonya do you mean hot process as opposed to cold process? And how long do you insulate?

Yes Obsidian that is exactly what happened, they looked lovely after 12 hrs and popped out of mold easily but then turned white with ash over the next few days. Thanks earlene. Great tips! Looking again at my notes and it looks like my room temperature soap produced less ashy bars but perhaps...

Thanks dibble, much appreciated! Will share my results for sure. Hope ye are having a lovely holiday weekend. Weather here in London UK glorious. Thanks Obsidian! And to think of all the tests I have done varying mixing and pouring temps! I was reading through them all last night to find a...

Thanks Isg..I will try the thin trace for sure. Wiping each bar does not appeal to me for large batches..:D Hi, I am surprised that I only had one answer to my question. Thanks Isg. Really would appreciate some more tips from those that manage to produce perfect smooth individual ash free bars...

When you say 6% superfat, do you mean you discount lye by 6% at the beginning or you are adding 6% extra oils after trace? I always think adding oils after trace (which I always call superfatting) is better than discounting because the oils have not been altered by the lye and you know what...

Hi, I cannot seem to make nice soap in small individual moulds. They get white and ashy all round and sometimes crumbly when the same mix looks perfect in a loaf mould. I did manage in the past to make some but do not know what I did differently. Is it best to pour into moulds at high...