Search results

For your first batch do not use any fragrance, salt, citric acid or other additives. Keep it simple! Use just your oils, water and lye. Once you are comfortable making soap you can try additives.

I saw the Facebook post too. IMHO, the OP overreacted a little. I think sometimes on social media it is easy to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind without thinking it through. If the comment upset the OP, she could have ignored it or replied politely. I've reminded my ADHD son about...

Hola CaraBou!

I make Bastille soap (mainly olive oil with others added) with the same 1.5:1 ratio and never have a problem with clays. I think you either cut too late or the dry clay is absorbing the water when you add the clay at trace. Try mixing your clay with the olive oil before mixing in your lye...

The last time I bought was from The Lye Guy. I like the smaller containers so I don't need to transfer it. Sometimes with other brands static can be an issue, causing the beads to fly everywhere, but there was no static in The Lye Guy bottles.

I haven’t had any spare time to look at it. 😞

Thank you. I plan to give her credit for another bar so she can pick what she wants.

Off hand I don’t have the % CO handy, but it is low and is the same percent as my other bars that she loves.

I recently started making a facial bar with activated charcoal because customers with acne were requesting it. One of my very best customers bought a bar last month and has been using it since. She did not have acne before but since using the activated charcoal bar has several spots of tiny...

I’ve found that the time to cut recipes high in lard depends on your temperature which you said was 125. At that high of temperature it might have been ready in 12 hours. If you want a longer time before you cut, drop your temperature into the 90’s. Even though your soap bars are crumbly, the...

I never had luck with gift boxes. I end up unwrapping them after the season to sell the individual items. Now I don’t make any. 😪

Here's a couple of more good ones: Spearmilyptus from eocalc Peppermint / litsea cubeba / lemon / bergamot. Black pepper / patchouli / litsea cubeba / lime. I use these in hot process recipes so the lemon and lime stick.

I use a similar recipe for my shave soap and yes, stearic acid makes it trace FAST. If you want to keep your recipe, add your lye hotter (I like both oils and lye around 55 - 60C), do it hot process and use a spoon to stir to trace instead of a stick blender. I add sodium lactate after the cook...

Look at yourboxsolutions.com. They will print boxes using your artwork and have reasonable minimums and prices. The folks there are nice to work with too.

I’m going to try it. Soapee was my favorite calculator.

I use a slow cooker, but other soapers use a double boiler. I also make shaving soap. Since soy wax and stearic acid have high melt points it is easier IMHO to use hot process.

I never throw away scraps. Too much of my hard work is in them! When I have enough, I rebatch into bars for personal use. The color is usually a homely brown but smells delicious with upwards of around 20 essential oils!

Is it a rancid odor? If so your oils are old and going bad.

Arthritis runs in my family big time. When I was little, I thought my old relatives were crazy when they said they could predict the weather based on how their joints felt. Now I can do the same, except for my knees which were both replaced.

Did you do the zap test on the spots?