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Salt bars! No color, nothing fancy, but I like the look of them. A couple lower corners crumbled when I popped them out of the molds.

Made my first salt bars!

Great to know. Here I was thinking I was showering too much. Now I'm worried I'm not showering enough ...

Made my first confetti soap today!

Interesting. Maybe I'm just expecting too much. Mine are lasting around 4 weeks in the shower. Great, I appreciate that. I am messing around with other variables as I go ... don't really want to change that one unless/until I have a good reason. (I'm not completely fluent with this quote...

I've been using a 33% lye solution. What would you recommend?

Thanks very much! My climate is pretty humid actually, hadn't thought about that. And I haven't tried adding any salts yet but I do have some options in that realm. Further experiments to come, appreciate the ideas! & don't worry, I am having fun. :)

Thank you! I've tried working with beeswax before and found everything had to get too hot and then solidified too fast. I'm sure I'd get better at it with practice. Soy wax is intriguing, never thought of that. Appreciate it.

Here's my basic recipe: 30% olive oil 30% palm oil 18% coconut oil 9% shea butter 9% sweet almond oil 4% castor oil + tetrasodium EDTA I play around with it some, but generally I use mostly olive and palm and no more than 20% coconut. On that basis I have not been able to increase the...

I got back on the forum. :) Got distracted for a minute there, but I've been out here making soap! Think I've figured out a few of my favorite bars to make: a rosemary one, a litsea/lime one (yes I'm following the fragrance safety directions!), a lavender one, and a cocoa butter/unscented one...

Just so I'm sure I understand: you remove some of your batch liquid? Is that your water/lye solution? EDTA is my only additive right now so I don't have any other liquid except oils. I also have hard water but haven't started using sodium gluconate or anything else yet. Lots of advice flying...

Thank you! That's a great page. There's so much good information about EDTA on here. I feel sure this question has been answered before. I just haven't been able to find it..

@Mobjack Bay @KiwiMoose and anyone else who knows - how much litsea does it take to anchor a citrus blend? I used a fragrance calculator and it looks like the max I can use in a blend safely is 50%. Is that more than I need? Could I do something like folded orange or lime 90% and litsea only...

Soapmaking fam! I've started using tetrasodium EDTA to deal with our hard water. Made several rookie mistakes so far but that's what learning is all about, right? Question: My EDTA is in a solution. Not 39%, and not 50%, no: 35%. Don't ask. I'll make the math easier next time. But for now-- and...

Thank you all very much!

Thank you, @Mobjack Bay - could you say a little more about resins? How would I learn about what resins are/ how to use them? Also, is there an easy way to know whether something would make a good base note vs. top/other note?

These and the rest of your comment are wonderful details, @not_ally . I really appreciate them. What I want to end up with eventually is a list of fairly simple fragrances that stick in cold process soap-- @Mobjack Bay 's links are going to be helpful too I think. Some of the scents I know I...

That's a fabulous list, thank you so much.

Amazing, thank you all!

Thanks. I'd love to hear your recommendations.