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My first thought upon seeing your question, was the lotion designed for your skin? Meaning if your skin is dry like mine and we are barely coming out of winter, a 20% oil preparation probably won't be sufficient. Especially if there are no humectants in the recipe. I absolutely need glycerine...

I remember reading something like that on soap queen blog, let me see if I can find it for you. Here it is, https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/free-beginners-guide-to-soapmaking-common-soapmaking-oils/#more-27224

Sorry you had trouble but I hope the soap turns out alright. I know you will be better prepared next time and your second batch would be a success, just hang in there.

Thanks Susie! I got used to using parchment paper, it's fairly easy and cheap. I just have to lay a length of it in the mold and pour carefully so the paper is still centered when I'm done. when I bought the molds, the maker advised to use parchment, I already had 2 big roles of it from Costco...

DeeAnna, I knew that this would work. It was an accidental discovery when I rebatched my very first batch (which was a plain Jane with unrefined Shea and cocoa butters in it, couldn't take the 'scent'). I put some food color and essential oils in it after rebatch and to get them mixed well I...

Congratulations on your first CP soap. Looks pretty. Also, I own several of those molds. If you didn't line or coat them, the best way to release the soap would be to introduce a knife edge between the mold and the soap and gently pulling the mold away, on all four sides. Trust me, no length of...

I'm not a guru on anything but I do use drops of lavender, rosemary and sometimes peppermint essential oils in extra virgin CO for scalp massage, no ill effects till now.

Kitchenaid stand mixer owners, one word of caution, you can't use it to whip up soap if you only have a stupid aluminum flat beater. I almost tried the one time I tried whipped soap about a year ago, caught myself just in time, avoiding a disaster. I know you folks are much more smarter and more...

In my basement, but I do bring the pot of hard oils to my kitchen for melting. Now that I got myself a crockpot I'll just use that in the basement itself. Before we came to this house though, I used to soap in the kitchen. Just the standard precautions and soaping with care.

While I believe the folks who say soap damages their hair, my hair is still loving it after almost a year. When I went to India, I forgot to take my shampoo bar and ended up using actual shampoo with conditioner, the L'oreal ones for dry and frizzy hair( my natural hair type without maintenance)...

Gigi, so happy to hear from you. Ever since I've come back from India, I also wondered about you, hoping that you didn't give up soaping. So glad that that's not the case. Take care of yourself and come back when you have more time on your hands.

Mango butter is pretty much odorless but I haven't used it in a body butter yet, not sure what it would bring to the party, so no real help there. But when you omit the CB, you could've added that amount in SB, another solid instead of distributing among all three fats( I'm assuming that that's...

What exactly is the recipe of the soap you ended up making? The oil weights and the lye weight, everything. Even if you are to just mix this soap pieces into the new soap, which is not a great idea in my opinion, you still have to figure out the percent SF for this soap and decide if you are...

You are so right DeeAnna! That probably means extra lye during rebatch after calculating lye for the two batches together, making sure to set the lye discount.. But then, how would the OP go about rebatching a huge batch of soap, as huge as theirs? May be rebatch the original high CO soap first...

I would probably make that huge batch of tallow only soap( it would be something other than tallow if I'm doing it of course), then rebatch both the batches together. Or I might actually consider using the high CO soap for laundry.

You got good advice. Only thing I would add is that you let the soap cure for a good long time, min 6 weeks before sharing them with your friend.

So sorry for your loss but glad that you are getting back to soaping and also reconnecting with the forum. Welcome back!

Hi DD, sometime ago I indulged a bit and bought myself a rose absolute, it's only a 3% dilution but still pretty expensive. I just use it in my lip balms only, as I doubt that it would come through in soaps. Anyways, it's a subtle rose scent, and the combination with peppermint is just...

Mint is a favorite, I use it in soaps, body butters, lotions, lip balms and I'm sure I will find more uses for it. The soap that's in my shower now is scented with mint and eucalyptus and I just love it. And it's also a part of the one scent combo that DH loves, the other component being Star...

Hi O, your recipe looks fine to me, with just 15% CO, it shouldn't be so drying. I have zero experience with lard soaps but from what I heard on the forum, that's not the culprit, I wonder if it's your fragrance that's irritating your skin, in which case repurposing it in a different soap is...