cold process

Hello All, Thank you for allowing me to join this forum,..my name is Teresa About 14 years ago I had a successful handmade soap and skin care business and made TONS of handmade cold process soap. I loved it but had to give it up and go back out into the workforce when my daughter went off to...

Hi! I'm very new to this and just tested my first batch which was a peppermint and pine scented cold process. I used coconut oil, olive oil, and lard for this soap. The soap smells wonderful until it gets wet. Once wet it smells like fish. My husband says I don't smells like fish but the bar...

Hello! I'm making an Activated charcoal brine soap and want it to smell herbaceous, minty, uplifting, fresh! However I've had a hard time making this EOs stick, even by the time I'm unmolding I can barely smell the blend. I've been using 3% of oil weight, which is what I use for my other...

Unlike many others, I have been only focusing on the room temperature method for making soap. I feel that it is faster in the sense I don't need to track temperatures and wait for oils to cool. I make my lye water and let it sit until the next day. Once it is fully cooled, I weigh out and mix my...

Hello, I’m a new soap maker, have studied up on it for years, and have made my first batch just last night, but since then, I’ve been scared that my house is a lye filled place and I’m going to go blind or die! I’ve washed my dishes with a separate sponge like I should and I cleaned my sink with...

I have only made a few batches of soap, and have a few questions. First, I’m not really trying to promote my soaps going through the gel phase since I use essential oils and natural botanicals that I’m sure are heat sensitive. What should the temperature of my cold process soaps be? I’ve...

I'm fairly familiar with soap making and using soapcalc.net, but also know that soapcalc is only kind of a guideline and the true values may not always be as the calculations say, especially if you're using liquids other than water and other additives. I've done some research into the oils and...

has anyone used CBD oil in cold process soap? If so what were your results or any recommendations? Thanks! ❤️

Hello! Most store bought bar soaps are hard to the touch, meaning there is no give. I personally like this quality, but I'm unsure how to achieve this in CP soap. I've read a lot about the various soap properties - hardness, cleansing, bubbly etc. and have learned that solid oils greatly...

Made my first batch in years today and it's been several hours and it does not appear to have gone through gel phase. Below is the recipe. Used SoapCalc.net's calculator. Total water: 190 g/ 6.7 oz Total lye: 70 g/2.47 oz Total Oils: 500 g/17 oz Eucalyptus Spearmint FO from MMS...

Just getting back into CP soap making after many years and trying to learn about all the different colorants appropriate for CP soap. Of all the choices - micas, oxides, FD&C, D&C, pigments, liquid lab colors - I don't know how to choose. Many sites that sell these products just don't provide...

hi everyone ! i want to cure my recipe faster (50%OO, 28%CO, 12%Beef Tallow, 10%Castor, 5%Super Fat) right now i use 38% water as a % of oils , and i read that the discount of water help to cure soap quickly. so how much discount i need to make ? Or do you suggest me to add any other...

ive tried using the plumeria FO before and it came out too strong for my liking. I used the brambleberry calc that time and I had to ditch the batch. Anyone have any experience or opinions on how I might be more pleased with the outcome? I guess I’ll go light on the fragrance this time. It’s a...

Hello all! Thanks for having me! So, little background,I’m a chef, and have been soaping professionally for about three years now...I have never (other than some sweating) had a problem with production until now...for the past few months every batch of soap false traces! It happens as soon as...

Hello, has anyone studied the pH in their soap from the day made throughout the curing process? I just started monitoring mine with a calibrated electronic pHmeter. I was assuming I would have a curve going downwards, since the reaction of lye and oils would cause the pH to tend more to neutral...

Hi ! So, I'm new at this soap making thing. I was trying to do a soap using Aloe Vera gel directly extracted from the plant. I read that I could do a 50water/50aloe gel. Does it mean that in a recipe with for exemple 100g of water I could do a 50 g of water and 50 g of Aloe Vera gel right ? If...

Hi all, All my CP soaps have a lifespan of approximately 3 weeks when used properly and kept relatively dry between uses. I've tried adding salt water, sodium lactate, water discounting to no avail, not a noticeable improvement. I want the bars to be harder and long lasting. Any...

This is my 4th batch of CP soap, and my first attempt at swirl. It has only been curing 3 hours in a warm oven and seems to be sweating an orange oil (I didn't use an orange oil). I can post my recipe & process if that helps. IMG_4461 by Michelle Gaylor posted Sep 12, 2018 at 3:37 PM

Hi all I was following a recipe today that called for 14 g of lavender essential oil for 1,300 gm oil. When I ran the recipe through soapcalc to check the figures I had been given their recommendation was the same. When I came to add the oil I only had about 5 g so I used it all. I only made...

Hi. I need help with this. I have made a Room temperature method soap, same recipe for 4 yrs now. Have always made it in 500g batches. And then poured into single soap silicone forms after. Getting 20 single soaps out of the batch Now I wanted to make double as much. A 1000g batch with the...