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That makes sense because of the acetate result. Those are great at increasing viscosity.

I am a crusty, cantankerous, old and grumpy (yeah, I am truly multi talented) man and shaving soap isn't something I demand to be a luxury item. A great soap should speak for itself and not require a hand carved parrot horn dish with a lid excavated from the tomb of Tutnkamen. When I make shave...

Do you have to up the lye to counteract the acetic acid? Most store bought vinegar is roughly 5% acetic acid and that would surely make some sodium acetate out of the lye causing an overshoot on the superfat... wouldn't it?

Yeah. It's not good for eating. Lethal dose is 10-15 grams per kilogram of body weight, so you won't die from skin exposure and you'd have to eat a couple pounds of home made soap with it to get in the lethal range. However, even non-toxic levels are a really bad time. Plus it smells bad...

See here, under "Bakery Release Paper": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parchment_paper Although, I learned it from Alton Brown, who is infinitely more interesting than Wikipedia.

Wax paper is paper coated with a wax. Chances are any free lye in your soap will react with the wax much the same way as it does with oils to make soap. This would let the water permeate and microscopic rust particles transfer by capillary action. I would suggest parchment paper which is...

I have found that my shave soap, which is usually 50-55% stearic acid, makes more scum than my bar soap which is normally coconut oil, lard, and castor oil. What that means, I can't say. I suspect some soap salts are better at sticking the insoluble minerals to surfaces. I also suspect that Ph...

Uncle John's Soap YouTube channel has a video that says to measure your mold volume in cubic inches and multiply by 0.4 to get ounces of oil to make enough soap to fill the mold. I used that with a 33% lye concentration in soapcalc and it was spot on. So...if you're using 12lb of oil, or 192...

The menthol smell definitely fades, but the feel doesn't. Glad you like it and so does "Santa". [emoji16]

This is probably mild enough for the legs, but...uh...anything more tender might be an issue. The lady of the house uses my shave soaps and has yet to weigh in on this batch.

That was the purpose of the menthol. To make a cooling sensation after the shave. It's quite nice actually. Soothing.

Yes. Stearic melts so hot it's rather difficult to do a real cold process shave soap.

I made some shave soap last weekend and I must say... it's goooooood! Turned out very nice. Compared to my standby recipe, I upped the castor percentage and added additional glycerine. Then....the secret sauce: 15g per pound oil menthol crystals and mango fragrance oil. Very nice aroma, nice...

That was indeed the line of thought. However, much DDT was put down in the Midwest, far away from costal fish eating raptors, and no weak shells occurred in chickens who would eat flies and such that had DDT in them. Most farmers feed chickens bone meal to strengthen the shells. Fish don't...

When I was young, my father was an aerial sprayer (cropduster). We had all kinds of stuff around all the time. Some nasty, some not. So... here's the straight up on DDT, without all tue California mandated cancer warnings or the Silent Spring propaganda. DDT is a synthetic copy of the chemical...

You said you did some things others would shake their heads at, but, it's your soap. If it works. All is good. I started with the Modern Soapmaking recipe for shave soap that used soy wax. It os absolutely horrible for shaving, but makes a really good body bar. Go figure. Then I did some...

Coconut oil, lard, and castor oil make a very white bar. Cold process with no gel and it is beautifully white. Hot process makes it somewhat translucent.

I am having trouble understanding why people think chemistry isn't art...? Just the same as watching the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels. Its all completely engineered, right down to how hard they pull back on the stick to make a perfectly round loop in the sky. Everything is by the numbers, but it...

The acquisition addiction is one of those first rule of Fight Club type things!

Have you considered some tea tree oil? That stuff works wonders on...uhh..."guy fungus" or athlete's foot. Maybe a bit of it in the beard oil would banish the little beasties? Just a thought.