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Thank you very much for your very interesting reply, I love the detail. I am in the UK so fully understand the meaning of the safety assessment which I used have some years ago when I did sell a little soap, but now I dont sell at all and just make for home use. If your assessor says up to 1.3%...

Incidentally the official usage rate I believe is around 0.5% which is what I use it at but I dont I think double the recommended amount and you obviously do not have any adverse effects in your soap. It could be that at the 1% range it just becomes overkill? and 0.5% as recommended is actually...

We, as soap makers, need to ensure that the results we're getting from these "time saving" calculators are actually accurate. I have noticed that using a simple recipe will net different results depending on which website's calculator one uses. This has always been an annoyance of mine and I...

Absolutely true, this is something I have noticed as well.

I use Sodium Glutomate @ 0.5% of oil weight which also works better for me than Sodium Citrate. I have hard city water but have never had a problem when using in place that does not. It will not illuminate scum but it will reduce it greatly.

I am pretty sure that here in the UK and in Europe the cosmetic safety assessors say that a preservative is not required, and they are the qualified ones putting their heads on the line to pass our products for big, small and home producers as is required by law over here. Hope that helps.

Welcome from a UK soaper too.

Be aware that Lavender buds on wrapped soap can turn into mould, soap still has a water content so it does become a breeding ground to foreign bodies.

On another point, I understand that some believe a Jasmine essential oil is not possible but only as an absolute. Why is that/how is that? As far as I knew all Jasmine oil was made as an absolute because you cannot render jasmine oil from a distillation process as the molecules are too large to...

Personally I find a hybrid duel lye for 100% CO works best to get the consistency that you require as long as total clarity is not necessary as it does tend to cloud up more in cold weather. I dont like watery LS and like most others have tried all of the gums with little success but duel lye...

That is why I like percentages, then you can decide what type of measurement you want to go with but 10% is 10% for example and it is also quite easy to picture that amount say in a kilo or a pound of oils.

I like AliOop weigh everything by percentage, I really wish all soapy stuff were quoted in percentage for accuracy.

A go to amount in the UK for sugar is usually 5% of the oil weight in sugar mixed into the lye water prior to the lye, and as already said it must be completely dissolved first. I have not tried the trick of holding the sugar back until the soap is fully saponified, does this still give the same...

Hello Shaun, I note that you are in the Scotland UK and we have strict guidance as to the amounts of EO / FO in soap and cosmetics. If you are just making for yourself then that is up to you but with a risk of a potential allergic reaction. If you are selling soap or giving to friends then you...

Hello and welcome. Dont rush into selling, take your time and get your recipe's sorted and full proof first. Its a waiting game but soaps have a tendency to do weird things over time sometimes and you want to iron all of that out before putting a shed load of money on an assessment which may...

Thanks IrishLass, I may indeed need to re visit and play around more, I found that the blade either was not close enough so not doing anything or just seemed to take of a be regular bevel, I cant seem to get the lovely shaping you have achieved on my one for some reason, it must be me and I...

IrishLass I bought one of those but no way am I able to get it to do what you seem to achieve, I have fiddled with the blade but it just takes the edge off and noting more. I got the one from Lee Valley.

Vinegar will not make lye soap any better for your hair as soap is soap and the pH has to be high and alkaline for it to be soap for hair you need at least neutral but better to have slightly acidic, alkaline will raise the cuticle on the hair making it rough and fragile, yes you could use soap...

I am sorry I have never made a shampoo bar but I think there are threads on this forum dealing with them. but you may find also helpful: Snowflake Shampoo Bar - Humblebee & Me https://www.rendezvousgreen.com/2018/11/04/shampoo-bar-recipe/

Hello, Well that is not quite correct, CP will give you a SF if you have put that into your recipe with a lye discount but what it will not do is give you any particular oil or butter it will just not eat up as much of the oil mix so it willl be super fatted but not with any particular oil. If...