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Will-do.

I would just sub water for FO for now. If that doesn't work, then maybe try Bee's recipe, rather than reinvent the wheel.

Looks like splashing water, though! I think it fits.

Welcome!

I don't know if this is relevant, but I'm playing with monk fruit. Want me to holler if I find something that works and isn't grainy?

My unscientific theory: your soap was hard because the liquid content (FO and sugar) was lower, and crumbly because the sodium lactate wasn't helping it hold together. If the recipe makes a good dough without those things, you wouldn't want to add them, but if it makes a good dough with those...

If I'm pretending to be wise, the best platitude I've got is, "Don't fix what's not broken." Substitute water for the FO/EO amount, and if your recipe usually makes good soap dough with the additives, don't remove the additives. Also, different colorants (even among Mica) do make harder or...

That is so horrible! And to think he teaches other people, too!

If I remember correctly, Terri from TreeMarie Soapworks happens to be/have been an art major. She's talented, knowledgeable in art composition, and very detail-oriented. I love her instructional videos on different techniques, but I fully expect my results to vary!

Unless you're also duplicating their lotion, I still don't think it's the same thing. My skin can tolerate BBW lotion as long as I don't use it too frequently. So, I usually end up with Aveeno, which doesn't have many fun fragrances, but works better. It could be argued that if I want fun...

Good catch, @AliOop ! I didn't even look at the batch size. In 3 months, you'll have soap you can use, but it probably won't be exactly what you want/need, and you'll need to tweak the recipe and make another batch, which you'll be able to use 3 months from then. So you really only need 3...

Welcome!

Add a cinnamon FO so they smell like mini-donuts instead, or citrus so it smells like lemon bars? JK. I'm sure someone smarter will be along soon, but I know different oils make different-smelling soaps, even if they're FA content is similar. I'm guessing it's the stuff that doesn't saponify in...

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Tempering doesn't remove impurities, though, it just keeps similar FAs from clumping together. And that would be solved by melting.

Most of mine have come from Target: sturdy, reinforced 1-piece silicone that can't come apart and has with no creases for batter to hide in. Stiff enough to get into corners, but flexible enough to scrape well. $5 each. And when I'm cooking or baking, I find myself bemoaning the terrible...

Melt it down with your oils until it's absolutely clear, keep it above 100°f. Stir it before you begin soaping. The lye water can be cooler than the oil, but the oil needs to start warm.

My personal preference on coconut oil: I do 19% coconut for kitchen/bathroom hand soap, since it might need to clean oil/grease, and it's easy to regularly apply lotion if necessary. I prefer 15% or less for bath/body soap, since it's not going to be fighting nearly as much oil, and it's...

I use Shea regularly, and I've never had it cause graininess in my soap. Do you mean stearic spots? ETA: I'll sometimes get grainy soap with high-palm/low stearic FA soap, and with soap that actually wasn't quite emulsified, but was close enough to hold together anyways.

So am I, so I hope it's not bad!