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People who don't know me freak out when watching me perform any task. I use whatever hand the tool lands in, and switch without thinking. When my whole oh-so-very-right handed family can't get to something because of positioning, I just step in and do the task. Eating out with a crowd of...

I used to live where 90% + humidity was common. My soaps sweated all the time. I ran the ceiling fan, and eliminated the sweating. Be sure if your soaps are sweating to turn the bars over every week during cure. It ensures that you don't have wet spots on the bottom.

Clarity testing is not very helpful when you finish making a batch. You only need to know two things: 1. Is there excess lye? Zap testing gives the answer. 2. Are there excess fatty acids? Let the soap sit a couple of hours in a clear container. If it doesn't separate, it's fine. Always be...

My first grade teacher made me stop using my left hand to write. But I practiced a lot of years at home to write left handed. I stopped after I mastered cursive writing because writing left handed is just so messy.

I had the same experience. I have narrowed it down to lack of detergents rather than anything special in the soap. I have tried one bar of "home made" syndet without scents or colors and it was right back to itchy, rashy, dry skin.

I am sensitive to some scents. I used to store my soap in my husband's "library" but now it has become my "office" as I work from home now. I had to relocate the soaps to another room. Long story short, you have to do whatever it takes to take care of yourself. Whether it is wearing gloves and...

I am ambidextrous, but left eye dominant, so anything I need to have visual accuracy on, I do left handed. I use a miter box and the "hacksaw with guitar string" type cutter. The secret is to hold the soap against one side of the box and run the cutter down only one side of the slot. Be firm...

It's not that you can't be as weird as you like when you are making soap for family and friends that you are giving away. You can do whatever you like then. But if you are selling, you need to keep costs and production time low. Then you need to turn out recipes that you know are 100% reliable...

I make 32 oz of oil recipes. But I use hand soap in foamers all around the house. It takes me about 6 months to use it all up. I don't dilute it all at once, though. I divide the paste in half and dilute one half at the time. The only time I ever dilute a lot at once is for gifts at Christmas...

Your recipe is fine. Ignore those "numbers" of the qualities. Make the soap. Print the recipe and make notes on the back about what you think of it from week to week up to a year. Then figure out what you like or don't and we'll help you tweak it. But you need to start with a bar that you can...

Toss this batch. Start over using a new recipe that uses the classic coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil. There are many recipes floating around the forum that work. Pick one. (Just one) Run the numbers through SMF or soapee.com using a 3:1 water/KOH ratio. Do not change anything from what the...

I use this method also when I am making single color or layered designs. I find it will speed trace and hardening, so I can make the next layer sooner and pour over.

I have a front flowerbed that y'all can come work on anytime. I just am not interested in flowers. If we haven't come up with a different plan by next year, it will become my herb bed mixed in with some low care native plants. I thought a ginger plant mixed with some creeping thyme, regular and...

Beautiful!

OK, so I am never going to end up making soap as a sideline. I am OK with that, I guess. I know I make safe soap, because I test that soap first before it ever goes into the shrink wrap. But we have such a litigious society... Thank you for letting us know, though! It makes all the difference...

I was in a similar situation, and I am one of those "If I do it, it must be legal six ways from Sunday" kinds of people. I got around all the folderol by having the business owner purchase all the supplies (oils, NaOH, heat shrink bags, EDTA, micas, fragrance, etc), while I provided all of the...

If it were me, I would add just enough water and heat to get that paste back together, and diluted. I would then wait at least a couple of days. If it starts separating again, I would mix KOH 25 gm with H2O 50 gms, and start adding a little (14 gms) and wait at least 24 hours. Check it again...

That is the same method I use. I call it "add a little and wait". It works for my non-math brain.

Have them test for serum and urine protein electrophoresis (PEL), serum and urine immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE), and quantitative serum free light chain (FLC). My issue is an abnormal (monoclonal) protein in my blood that affects my immune system. I now have an allergy and immunology...