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I've been soaping for about a year but recently I feel like I am taking backwards steps instead of progressing. I mainly follow recipes from what I think are reputable sources and stick with the ones that have worked. My most recent batches have either come to trace really fast or have not held...

O my gosh thank you so much for the help. This forum is amazing. Thank you.

Hi violets2217. Hey thank you for the input. Would you please clarify what you mean by "If you’re using part water/ part milk, "...Do you mean I should make the lye solution with water only (as traditional) then add the coconut milk to the melted oils, then add the lye solution as usual and go...

Hello. Made a batch of soap w coconut milk about 6 months ago. Best soap I ever made. It featured coconut milk & shea butter. I used the recipe below, which offered no direx for adding the coconut milk except "When making soap with milk, mix it with the water and continue cold process...

Thanks for your response. I swirled about .1 oz green powder (dissolved in a teaspoon of the oil from the recipe) into the soap mixture just before I poured into the mold. Recipe made a generous 12 bars in a loaf mold.

OK, I have been soaping for about a year. I have the basics down. I get consistent results and have enjoyed experimenting with oils/ingredients (my new favorite is coconut milk!). I am at the point where I am experimenting with pigments and color. Fun! But...I notice some pigments color the...

My very first batch of soap was all OO/Castile soap. It LOOKED and smelled fantastic (I used a combination of lavender and peppermint). The resulting bars lathered very little and were slimy. I now look for soap recipes that have a bunch of different oils to bring out other properties. I am not...

Such great insights. Thank you. I hope I get to the point at which I can be of help to a neophyte as you all have done with me.

Thank you for the responses and encouragement. So it sounds like I can expect this recipe to harden up during cure? In order to avoid this in future, do I need to get it to thicker trace? And, if it does still come out soft, wrap it as Kim recommends.

Hello. I have searched a lot of answers that kind of address this issue, but none discuss what might have happened with a recipe that has worked well in the past. Basic 3-oil soap. 9.4 oz Crisco, 6 oz olive, 6 oz coconut. 7 oz h2O, 3 oz lye, 1 oz fragrance. I have made this recipe a bunch of...

Just found this this morning after churning out a quick batch. I had been using BB soap calculator but was a little miffed that I could not get any feedback or input on what my recipe might yield (Im new and would LOVE a spot where i can show a recipe and have experienced folks or a calc weigh...

Thank you kindly, AliOop. I wonder if you have any suggestions for a close replacement for lard? Palm? Vegetable shortening? I have a family member who wont use lard soap, but your recipe sounds so reliable! Do you use lard because you dont like palm? Just curious. Learning....

I have always heard you need to have 30% olive oil in basic soap recipes. Is this not so? (Sorry....serious beginner here)

Rank beginner question regarding color of CP soaps. I have a package of liquid dyes that says it is used for soapmaking. It is from Amazon and the little vials look like food coloring you get in the market. I used one or two successfully when I made M&P. Then I moved on to CP. I sent away for a...

Hello. My vert first CP soap was an all-olive oil soap. I had NO idea what to expect either in process or in outcome. It was touted as a beginners recipe. In retrospect, and with the benefit of about 8 batches of varieous kinds of CP soap under my belt, I realize now that in this first...

Here's a photo, just for kicks. Individual molds.

Thank you. You may be right... Do you think it will harden more?

Hello. New here. Ive made 6-8 batches of CP using recipes I found online with varied success. I wanted to create my own recipe so as to incorporate some of the luxury ingredients I have accumulated. I used a lye calculator. I researched the max/min percentage of which oils/fats are optimum for...

Hello. I started w M&P about 6 months ago and quickly moved into CP. I've followed a few recipes and had some moderate success and a few missteps. I've started to try to create my own formulations and am unsure of the result and why some things might have happened. That's how i found you! Very...

Hello. Brand new here. My username is a version of my daughter's nickname since my own name was already taken as a username here. My avatar is Anne of Cleves because I have a particular fascination with her history.