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You'll want to cut the loaf into bars as soon as they are hard enough to do so. Usually 24-48 hours is long enough to harden up. Could be more, could be less. Don't panic! Why do you want to hand mill? It's a lot of work! If you've made a great batch, then there is no need. Reserve...

The GV stuff has both tallow and palm, which I like because it saves money on buying palm! That stuff is not cheap!

You may also be able to find lard in Hispanic food stores. I believe it's calld "Manteca". I buy the Walmart GV Shortening, the one with the fried chicken on the label. It's $3.38 here for a nice sized tub. The veggie shortening is right next to it, as is lard in a green and white package...

I find that with HP milk soaps, the soap can sometimes smell burnt and can alter the FO's smell. That's about my only issue with HP.

Castile is good for baby soap, though I've never HP'ed it. Give it a shot! I like HP for its quickness of being ready to use.

In general, you can. Clay, though, might be tricky. Try to stick blend it into the liquid that you're adding to the soap to rebatch it and it may work. I generally just add things like poppy seeds for a rebatch so I'm just guessing here. Hope it works!

What do they feel like? Is it a scrubby feel in the tub? And with all the CO and salt, are they not drying? I think I'm sensitive to CO as I can go super low on it in a recipe, and I still find that it's drying to my skin.

Is there any way to compensate for hard, mineral rich well water? I'm a little disappointed with the lather and bubbles in my soaps. My friends and family who live up north remarked that theirs lather and bubble just great. I think my water is kicking my soap's butt. Can I add anything to my...

I made two castile batches back in April. I did an 80% OO, 10% CO, 10% canola/soybean blend recipe. Finally gave them a try in the last few days. Made one with water instead of GM, and the other with GM and coffee with coffee grounds. The one with water is pretty decent. The one with coffee is...

I think it looks like a very fatty steak! I like it!

Oh no, we need more contestants for the meat soap competition!! I'm sure everyone else has some! Come on, don't be embarrassed. Show us your meat!

I think I have you beat on the meat soap! I got too picky with my whipped pear coloring and decided to re-batch it like I did the purple and blue grapefruit whipped soap. I should have just left well enough alone.... It doesn't look quite so bad in person, and it does smell amazing...

Yesterday I went to a Dutch market and saw that they were selling GM soaps. Of course I had to go over and check them out. When I was inspecting, I noticed that some bars had DOS! Each bar was unwrapped in a basket. I remember them being there the last time I was at the market back in March...

Wait a few weeks and then you'll really see what hard is! I'm 2 months into a cure with 80% OO and it's very, very hard! It's OK that yours was ready in 12 hours, I believe mine were too.

It can be, depending on your supplies. If you make mostly castile soap, just olive oil and lye would be all you needed. Get the OO on sale or at Sam's, and find the lye locally and you'll be OK. Or, use a mostly lard/tallow based soap and that greatly reduces the price of the bar. You can get...

I do half 3x strength coffee and half GM for the liquid. Color looks awful, liquid smells awful, but turns out a nice bar of soap. I did a castile and a HP that way and both are great. HP was rock hard after about a day. Kinda shocked at how fast it firmed up.

I think I may be one of those people. I've gone from 30% to start to now about 10% and I still find it to be drying. I've upped all my SF to 9% and added shea and cocoa butter and still, kinda feels the same to me. It is the worst on my hands, though. No one who I've given any to has said that...

Right, if you don't stir enough or mix something that's not clear, it's hard to tell if it's dissolved and takes longer to dissolve. I did it once and had a crystal mix at the bottom of the bowl that I couldn't see till I poured it off. I suppose it came off wrong as I know the lye is...

Discounting too much means that you have less room for error with your lye. Just a bit too much and your batch is ruined. Plus, it is much more dangerous to work with if your solution is so concentrated. Discount it a bit if you wish, but don't go too far. It's not worth the potential for burns...

A friend of mine saw some of my soap photos and asked to buy some, I said sure. Sent her what she ordered plus a sample of my cinnamon coffee GM soap. She used it, went nuts over it, and now wants to buy 6 bars for gifts. I LOVE the scrubby feeling of the coffee grounds. I rub it so hard on my...