Search results

You can make a very hard bubbly bar with coconut oil, so you don't have to use palm or tallow if you don't care too. A good mix of oils can be very simple- 100% olive oil (castille soap) is a classic. But you can use coconut oil and olive oil and make an excellent soap as well. More expensive...

As Esther said, you don't! That's why I love mine. All soaps pop right out. I've never been great with lining the molds and not having creases, so I don't mind the "not exactly perpendicular" sides because I can trim them if I want.

I bought a silicone bread loaf pan at a Dollar Store- and I love it! I use it all the time. It might be the right size for you, but if not I'm sure there are lots of others just like it!

Whipped shea butter is great on my face. I've read that cocoa butter can block pores, so I've never tried a cream/lotion with it on my face but I've used other body lotions and butters on my face with no issues at all. I tend to use olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, jojoba, sweet almond...

I've never posted pictures, so I can give it a try after dinner. But the best description I can think of is "beige". It's not white, or even off-white, but it's definitely much lighter than tan.

I use soapcalc software, and it has a great list of oils. You can click on the oil of your choice, and see the "numbers" of each soap so you can get one of a similar quality. That helps, and then I use this spreadsheet: http://www.soapnuts.com/indexoils.html and this one...

I just sampled this soap, made on 10/29. 10% shea butter 20% coconut oil 12% tallow (beef) 50% olive oil (pomace grade) 8% castor oil 8% superfat goat's milk for the water, frozen first and lye added to it. Kept cool in an ice bath while mixing (never exceeded 100 degrees) and then avoided...

What I've found that works well is stirring in the lye into the frozen milk, and the whole time keeping the whole works in an ice bath. If you can picture it, I have my frozen milk in a plastic bowl, and then stir the lye into it, while the frozen milk is in a larger bowl of ice and a bit of...

Well, it's definitely the ugliest soap I have ever made, but it was firm enough to cut just now. It's got a partial gel appearance in the middle, along with a white streak. It seems to be a stearic acid streak, but it's 92% OO and 8% castor oil. It doesn't zap, but it's ugly on top and in the...

I saw that thread! I don't know if I have the patience for a 5 year cure, but I might. What I DON'T have is a good enough memory to remember to find the soap after 5 years! :mrgreen:

I can't find anything in the search, as it seems like all of the talk of CPOP overheating involves milk or honey. I made a 92% OO, 8% castor oil soap and poured it at medium/thick trace. I put it in a silicone loaf pan, and put it in the oven at 170. The first hour seemed fine, but now it...

I live in a dry climate, relatively speaking. I have never made a 100% OO soap, but I've used 60% OO with good results. I have a good friend in Texas who has sensitive skin, and I want to make him an almost-castille soap- say, 92% OO and 8% castor oil, as an example. Would the higher...

Thank you! I guess I stink at using the search, because I swear it wasn't there when I looked. :oops: Thanks!

I've used a very small amount of peppermint oil EO with my cocoa-mint lip balm. There is cocoa butter in the recipe, so a little peppermint EO makes a nice compliment to the slight chocolate smell to it. It's 10 drops of peppermint EO to 1.30 ounces of oils/beeswax.

I've only made goat's milk soap in the past with whole goat's milk, instead of the water as the liquid. I'd freeze the milk until slushy, then add the lye while the slushy goat's milk was in a bowl in an ice bath. Then when I stick blended, I kept the whole think in the ice bath. This worked...

Thanks for the input on your experience! Just yesterday, I tried the 62% tallow bar again. It's really marvelous, and now it's about 12 weeks old, I think. I like everything about it- the lather, the "slide" of the bar on my skin, the feel of the soap, and that I'm clean but not "squeeky...

I use very little in the way of fragrances, only essential oils. For the beer/tallow soap, I used a little orange essential oil. It's nice, with a dark tan color from the beer. My husband loves the beer/tallow soap. It is very hard, with a nice lather (due to the sugar in the beer, as well...

I've only recently done tallow soaps. One was 100% tallow and homebrewed beer, and one was 60% tallow (the rest were olive and coconut oils). It makes a very hard bar, and I like it so far. My tallow was rendered and then frozen. When heated, I strained it again though cheesecloth into my...

I don't use sodium lactic, or add stearic acid or anything, and even my 80% olive oil soaps are rock hard once cured. My bars are never slimy, but I do live in a climate that is not humid and some maybe that plays a part. I wonder if there are several things going on for you, if your bars...

My first soap was a goat milk soap, because I was overrun with goat's milk and could NOT face another pound or three of chevre! You can do it, BUT, make sure you follow some milk soap "golden rules". I froze my goat's milk until solid, and then added the lye, while stirring the lye in an ice...