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After cure - I also have (had) a soap mountain for curing purposes but it's significantly reduced these days since I no longer have 20+ soaps in the cure phase at once... And yes, the kitchen table demands are shocking! I feel you on that 😲

If you've been using the cheap stuff so far then it seems your sensible first step would be to go for the hold and possibly pH aspects. There's no point in trying to get all the way to formulating an amazing nourishing, conditioning, etc product in a single leap, especially if the baseline...

Something like this you mean? ;)

Um, have you met this community? 🤣 think 'enablers' rather than supporters ;)

I think I've used palm once... Wasn't particularly impressed. Mostly I use tallow instead, and I've recently found that my supermarket occasionally has lard in the Polish section so I've been buying that when I see it and I like the result.

Starting a thread here to be polite and not start/contribute to another detour. I was already suffering from semantic satiation but this was the last straw... 🤣

Congratulations! @Mobjack Bay @Peachy Clean Soap @ResolvableOwl well done on some amazing soaps! And all the beautiful entries, it was a great little insight into another side of you all :) And of course thanks again to @earlene for a fun challenge, although I didn't manage a submission I...

Um, this caught my eye on the way past. Does that mean you can sell adulterated misbranded goods if you only sell within the same state? 🤔

Oh wow... I was curious about the huge discrepancy so I went to take a look - and I got sucked into the insanity of the labels. I had no idea. https://www.straightdope.com/21342071/why-the-weird-religious-ravings-on-dr-bronner-s-soap

Well done! How did the trace go? It looks like it was still nice and fluid from the picture, hopefully it gave you a feel for what it's meant to be like :) Depending on your area, essential oils may be an accessible option for fragrance before you get into dedicated fragrance oils for soaping -...

That's a lot going on in your bar! 🤣 Our local bar is much quieter, although one of the gals met a chicken and was very confused as to why it was on my lap being hand-fed!

I had that problem a lot when I started soaping - unfortunately I can't help with your problem as specified since the only solution I found was to change the recipe... Soaping hotter didn't help because it traced faster, but when it was too cool it would harden up suddenly as if seizing, but I...

Thank you, the chicken is very much on the mend, I think! He spent all day yesterday in my office being tended to regularly, but this evening we decided he's well enough to join the rest of the flock and we'll keep him under observation. (Sour crop, for the curious, quite unpleasant and...

Oh, I wouldn't think that's within the spirit at all! Actually the only reason I mentioned the printer is the same as the sick chicken - it's a troublesome distraction keeping me from making soap, not that it was going to be part of the process. (Luckily for the chicken) I did consider making...

Argh, it's really getting away from me this month. After the ribcage incident I'm really struggling to work out a better approach, and on top of that I have a sick chicken and my 3d printer is giving me grief. I'll see what I can achieve before work tomorrow but I don't have high hopes :(

I would imagine this would be a candidate for salting out, at the very least? As I understand that process, it would definitely ensure all the lye was dissolved. You won't end up with quite the same soap, but at least it wouldn't all be entirely wasted.

When I was getting started I read on this forum that you should use plastic marked with a 2 or a 5 in the recycle code - PP and HDPE although I can never remember which is which. I've stick with that advice and it's worked well so far, not to mention that HDPE jugs and containers of various...

Oh - yeah this one doesn't test clear so I don't think a clarity test will help :/ If it were me I'd be inclined to proceed with test diluting a small bit according to the recipe (i.e. Adding the stearic acid) and testing for zap once that's completed.

There's something different about this video - I can usually see them inline, but this one was just an icon and when I clicked it downloaded it. Great video though!

I generally leave it overnight to make sure it's finished saponifying and dilute the following day. I've had no issues with harshness or separation in doing it that way vs storing the paste a long time.