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Oh no! I once did that with activated charcoal so my sympathy is with you!

Try USPlastics out of Lima, Ohio. They carry a wide variety and ship fast.

You are not alone! My first batch was a disaster too, but it turned out to be an awesome soap once it cured and I was hooked. You have lots of good advice on this thread, so use it and go make more!

The only problem with BA is they are often out of stock. However, you will know it once you try to add the product to your cart.

I have tried ordering from WSP several times all the way back to 5 years ago. Every order has been a problem. Either it takes weeks to ship, or they ship the wrong products. I've even been locked out of their website and had to spend several hours working with their head of IT to figure it out...

Haha! Now when I make shave soap I’ll give it a kiss!

Sodium lactate and using full water will help make it more pourable. I've also heard yogurt helps too but have not tried it. With all the stearic acid in there, I doubt if a shave soap will ever be as fluid as a cold process regular soap but the sodium lactate and water helps. I kind of plop...

Some soaps are refrigerated or frozen to prevent overheating which results in dark colors, volcanoes or heat tunnels. Recipes that include sugars, like milk, honey, molasses, etc., are prone to overheating.

No picture, but the first time I used vanilla EO and the color morphed from a beautiful lemon yellow to puke dark brown. Not even an attractive brown! I was just starting out and didn’t know that vanilla EO needs to be stabilized.

After having a few experiences like you with clove EO, I switched to HP. I was tired of smashing it into the mold! But it’s worth it! Clove smells amazing even under the 0.5% safety limits and it does not fade.

Tennis Girl I use a half vinegar / half dish soap cleaner too. I find Dawn dish soap works best. My shower is white fiberglass which shows EVERYTHING. If the vinegar/dish soap cleaner does not clean all the scum off, I make a paste of half borax, half Dawn dish soap and a little hot water. Apply...

I have to congratulate you on sticking with it to figure out the problem! You mentioned HP. Do you monitor the temperature of the soap as it is cooking? I like to keep my soaps cooking at 190 -210F. That’s what works for me but I don’t use palm or palm kernel oil. I’m not sure how hot you can...

I melt in the microwave. When I started soaping, I was warned to melt butters on low heat so I played around a bit with settings on my microwave and found that 40% power for about 5 minutes was perfect.

Tallow gives a nice glide.

The castor oil soap sounds like bacon sizzling in the pan! 🤣🤣🤣

After a bad flare up of eczema earlier this summer I had a patch test done of the 36 most common skin contact allergens. One fo the 36 was a "fragrance mix" which surprised me because it tested for compounds found in essential oils, including cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ylang ylang, rose...

Very interesting thread! I’m sure my grandmothers made soap in their younger years, but by the time I came along they were not. Often times I wish that I had their recipes. 😓

Wow! Lots of great data and observations. What surprised me the most was castor oil in a foamer. I would think that the bubbles would hold much longer due to the ricinoleic acid. But it would be interesting to hear them pop!

To make a shaving soap with lasting lather, you need a formula high in palmetic and / or stearic acids. The combination of both should be higher than 50. Most shaving soap makers get this by using either soy wax or stearic acid in their formula. Some butters like kokum butter and tallow are high...

Activated charcoal is nasty to clean up! I’ve tried lots of things. Here’s my best tip. My charcoal came in a plastic bag and every time I took some out I spilled some. I ended up pouring the charcoal into a wide mouth jar so now it is easier to spoon out without spilling.