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I do 100% tallow (beef and deer, occasionally lamb) and while it does come to trace fairly fast, it’s pretty easy to work with as long as you remember that beef tallow has a high melting point and if it drops below about 120F, you can easily get a false trace. I make other soaps too, but deer...

She likes the salt bars, but they don't really help with the itching. She isn't allergic to anything and likes my homemade soaps, particularly deer tallow (but I'm out of deer tallow). I don't go heavy on coconut oil, but otherwise she does fine. Her night RN job has been very stressful...

My daughter has dry skin, psoriasis and ezcema (poor girl). I am going to make a pine tar soap, basically like this (what I"m thinking so far): As I think of this, I wonder about Neem oil, which I've never worked with before. Is that a bad idea, or would that be a good addition to a pine...

I just saw this but I'm a kombucha maker (even did a seminar on it last year, and served it at HomebrewCon). I can try to help those who have questions.

Where are you in central Florida? I live in Crystal River November- April. It's not a class, but if you're close by we could get together for a soap day if you'd like.

That's a typo! It's supposed to be 2 %! Not 20%- I have used 2% with great success.

I love tallow soaps- I render my own fat from deer and beef and I think it makes the best soap. One tip that I learned a long time ago is that using up to 20% KOH instead of all NaOH can make the high % tallow/lard or hard butters soap lather more easily. I am no chemist, so can't tell you...

I'm helping out with the new soap calculator here for SMF, and the question of adding masterbatching lye to it came up. Since I have never done it (can't have lye solution hanging around), I need some advice on how to go about mixing it, and the amounts, and then how to use it in a soap recipe...

I'm a forager/hunter/gatherer and I found that my best soap, ever, is made with deer tallow. Unfortunately, the deer from the forest tend to be rather lean so I haven't rendered deer tallow in several years. Here's the recipe! Deer tallow 75% Castor oil 5% 72d coconut 20% 50% coconut...

Not in my experience- my liquid soap is crystal clear.

One thing that really works for me to thicken liquid soap is to use a mix of KOH and NaOH for the liquid soap. It really does work, and I never add anything to my soap at all. Not much NaOH, about 70% KOH and 30% NaOH for my smallish batches of 2 pounds neat soap. It might be worth a try...

I LOVE my salt bar with 100% CO, 20% SF, and 50% weight in salt. I have, um, mature skin. And it's awesome for me. My friend sells a wonderful "luxury" bar with avocado oil and real avocadoes, and it feels rich and wonderful and fabulous. And it makes me break out- so I had wrinkles, gray...

I HAVE to make this now! Thank you for the recipe.

I've never even considered soaping with wort! I guess the sugar content is what would be scary to me- as the most sugar I've used before is 1 tsp or so ppo. There are residual sugars in beer, but they are relatively minimal and I don't consider them in the recipe (but don't add sugar or...

My husband always uses soap on his hair. He often uses my salt bars (80% CO, 10% Castor oil, 10% sweet almond oil, coconut milk for the liquid, 20% superfat) on his hair. He uses my liquid soap also, and mixes it up. My hair hates all soap on my hair- except for those same salt bars! If I...

That is so helpful- thank you so much for the great write-up and explanation. I really am going to do this, but not until spring. We go away in the winter, and we'll be leaving our home soon. But we'll be back in late March, and I'll be itching to get back to brewing and soaping and...

While I do appreciate that thought- I actually know the two beekeepers within 150 miles of me, and they don't sell beeswax. One is actually a personal friend, and she has one hive and is trying to keep it going. We have a pretty harsh climate. My friends at 200 miles away have lost 2 out of 3...

Like I don't have enough hobbies already, but I have it in my head that I want to make beeswax candles, and pretty much only tapers for the dining room. I'm wondering where the best tutorials may be, as well as the best suppliers you've found? I don't plan on fragrances at all (one...

Ha. You got me there...................... :)

I have posted some deer tallow recipes on this forum- not 100% tallow I don't think, but some that are mostly tallow. I use deer tallow, lard, and now lamb fat (is it tallow also?), as well as beef tallow since we believe in using the whole animal when we butcher an animal. The lamb fat is...