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Quality rather than quantity 😉 I have carrot seed oil but never really noticed a difference When using it. I love mixing honey with clays, sometimes even lemon juice. I’m lucky to have non sensitive skin and 😍 rose hydrosol, that wonderful rose aroma without the price tag!

I have olive skin but find olive oil too heavy. As you get older you need to look at whether your skin needs more oil or “water”. Hydrated skin helps absorb more oils into it. I use jojoba oil with essential oils, and I usually change the mix every time I make a new batch. I use rose...

This may be a silly question, but have you thought of using those exotic oils to make your own moisturiser? I’m an aromatherapist and been making my own moisturiser for years. It seems to me that you would be better off using them in a product that is being absorbed into the skin rather than a...

Thank you for that. It’s the first time I’ve made a soap with that much olive and I’m not sure I would bother again, lol. I have a terrible habit of seeing new recipes I would like to try. Note to self, make a small batch rather than a whole loaf! Hopefully I can incorporate it into make...

No, not to cold but we’ve had some really hot days, summer here. I’m really impatient when unmolding and cutting. I’ve worked with olive oil recipes and using sodium lactate before. The funny thing is that I had a small amount of batter left (50mls) and I’ve cut that ok. You would think the...

I didn’t take out of the silicone mould yesterday as the sides were really soft. Within 24 hours it went from soft to rock hard 😢

I made a loaf soap 2 days ago, yesterday removed it from the wooden box yesterday but didn't unmold from the silicone liner as it seemed too soft. Today I tried to cut it using the box cutter, first with the wavy blade and then with the straight blade. The recipe I used was 950g olive oil, 50g...

I buy my oils at av-at.com. I’m an aromatherapist so using for therapeutic use rather than fragrant ingredients. I also end up paying through the nose for shipping unfortunately as I live in New Zealand. I can certainly see why so many people use fragrances, rather than essential oils in...

I would say you would need quite a high percentage in a soap blend as Black Pepper is not a particulary strong smelling oil. If you we're going to put in a massage oil blend, I'd say go for it as it's excellent for increasing circulation, and reducing any sort of muscular aches. All the...

I've used RBO and liked it, but I had a really high CO 5 in mine. I don't know about others, but I've found grapeseed oil tends to go rancid quickly, hence me using RBO as its one of the cheaper oils in NZ ;)

I'm relatively new to making soap and as I have a Diploma in Aromatherapy, I didn't want to use any aroma except for essential oils. I buy my oils wholesale and am only using 2% essential oils in my batches, but the cost adds up! I now know why lots people use fragrance oils! I totally hear...

How confusing but I have it sorted now thanks! A know a lot about oils due to completing an Aromatherapy Diploma, but we don't study this one. Thanks for the recipe, I will give it a try. It's nice to see a relatively simple recipe, so many sites seem to want to add all these different and...

Thanks Zany. When I first decided to look at making soap, I thought I would keep away from the whole palm kernel oil and what's happening to the world etc as organic coconut oil was easy to source from the local supermarkets due to use being close to the pacific islands. I'm having to think...

I mix at 38oC Thanks everyone, I'll reduce the CO and look at adding a high oleic oil. I have tough olive skin so really interesting on the comments on the CO and the rest of the family hasn't mentioned anything. Do you find that high CO dries out the skin or causes irritation?

You also need to look at how full your bottles are and the temperature. Once the temperature is above 20oC (68oF) , the rate of oxidation increases dramatically. More oxygen and heat, the quicker the rate of oxidation, which turns some chemical constituents into peroxides with essential oils...

Hi, I've been using the same recipe 4-5 times and happy with it. I wanted to have a play with swirling. The only difference between the last 2 times and previous is that I infused the rice bran oil with calendula flowers. I had a quick google and from what I read, it shouldn't affect the...

Hi, here in New Zealand, we're in lockdown like most of the rest of the world. Luckily we are still allowed to go to the supermarket but can't order anything that needs to be delivered, so I'm stuck with the oils I can buy at the supermarket. Traditionally my soap ingredients are coconut oil...

Hi Zany, From my understanding, Unrectified Bitter Almond Oil is not commercially available due to the "Hydrocyanic acid " content (=prussic acid,=hydrogen cyanide) as it's highly toxic. What you can purchase is a rectified bitter almond oil FFPA (free from prussic acid) and this is...

Mobjack Bay, thank you for that thread, its given me a lot to think about. So when we look at certain soap recipes with oils that have "skin conditioning " properties, we should really look at what oils contain particular saturated/unsaturated fatty acids and use those that give us the correct...

Hi Earlene Was this contraindication list compiled from the IFRA standards? Perusing the IFRA standards, I have no issue with the recommendations given for fragrance dilutions for products and I can understand that they give recommendations for INDIVIDUAL CHEMICAL COMPONENTS, but just...