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Is it commonly thought that a heat infusion will break down something of value from the plant? To me it seems more efficient to do a heat infusion, but I'm sure there are some negatives out there that I'm missing.

They have both I believe....most places do.

My problem is, I tend to like them all! Started with WSP, but as it has been mentioned, they are pretty pricey, especially as you go up in size. I've also ordered from NG and Save on Scents. Haven't soaped with them all yet (as others around here, I have quite the collection), but most smell...

Thanks everyone. May as well do the separate accounts and be done with it I guess. Now I just need to find a good business credit card with rewards :).

Title says it all. Wondering if this is a requirement, or if I can simply use my personal accounts and keep the receipts from any business purchases. Not sure if having these separate accounts helps make a clearer separation between personal and business assets when it comes to an LLC or if it...

Good call on the Flintstones! What would Fred Flintstone soap smell like? :) :?:

Well I wanted to try a new technique (to me) where I used a frosting injector to embed black "balls" into my orange soap matrix. I was hoping that it would go in smoothly and create nice spheres. Unfortunately, as you can see from the pictures, that didn't happen. I think I let the orange...

Mine are pretty soft too, kinda like playdoh. I take it since this is for females that you would prefer to not have it living in a mug or container of some sort, correct? Are you simply applying it using your hands? Agreed on the NaOH if you want to harden it up.

My guess is that it would be because of your high amount of soft oils and your high super fat. Also, if your lye concentration was 25% (I assume this is what you mean by "water concentration"), that would also contribute to your soft bar. If 25% is your water as a percent of oils...

Just make sure you like the blend before making a large batch ;).

You're never going to please everyone all of the time. However, it is probably good to attempt to make products that most of your potential customers desire. My guess is that customers in SE Wisconsin would not have a major issue with animal products in their soaps. On the other hand, I'd...

Well marzipan is made from almonds, so it may be as simple as sweet almond oil in her product.

Are these tried and true scent blends, or is this the first time trying these? Sound interesting!

IIRC, people have used a wet sock to "polish" off the ash. Preferably a clean sock :).

Unless, of course, you price yourself out of the market due to your labor costs.

Agreed, the initial recipe almost sounds like a typical body bar soap, not a shaving soap.

Yeah the problem is, you don't really know the weight of your finished product until it finishes curing. As other said, the water evaporates, but the final water weight varies depending on time of year/humidity of environment. Plus, someone may start using it even before the water has come to...

Darn it ;). I was wondering if it was almost like a crystallization process, where if you seed nucleation sites into the solution (add salt), you get faster crystallization vs. the solution having to create its own nucleation sites from defects/contaminants within the system.

Is there any reason/advantage to add sodium lactate vs. say sodium chloride?

Interesting...That additional salt (similar to adding NaCl) probably speeds up the initial saponification and gives the harder bar to start. So perhaps the solution to longer lasting bars is a higher dose of unsaturated fats for reduced water solubility combined with reduced water/added salt to...