A Big Hello from Ohio

[Rizack2]

I'm a perfume enthusiast, I'm married with one daughter and I have two Shelties, hence the name Rizack ( Riley and Zack). I'm just starting out with making a few bath products, no soap as of yet. I do well with the easy stuff like bath bombs and salts, but would like to learn more. I've attempted to make bubble bars with little success, not one is willing to share a decent recipe. The ones you get on the internet don't seem to be working out very well for me, and i am getting frustrated spending all this money when i could have bought a ton of Lush bubble bars, ha ha. My first attempt I was so excited and made three batches, they contained BS CS and SLSA and glycerin. They flopped and never did dry, in fact after three weeks they got weepy. Since i was told it was probably the glycerin i bought more product and a mild surfactant. Those didn't dry very well and they left a film in the tube which I think was the CS. So i made two more batches with less corn starch and a bit less surfactant, and so far very little improvement as they have been drying less then a week. Today I made a small batch ( about six hours ago ) and this time left out the CS and added citric acid, and seem to be drying better, at least they don't feel damp cold like the others did.
This is one of the main reasons i haven't attempted making soap, and the other reason is it would be just for me and my family as I have no desire to sell them, so why add the expense.

Nina

 

[Hazel]

Hello Buckeye!

Welcome to the forum!

I've never made bubble bars (yeah, another thing on my to-do list :roll: ). I did see a bubble bar recipe on agriffin's blog. She's very generous about sharing recipes so you might want to take a look at it. http://www.lovinsoap.com/2010/11/solid- ... bath-bars/

I make soap and don't sell but I consider it worth it. I've noticed I have less problems with my skin since I switched to handmade. Also, I can add cream, buttermilk, wine, beer and additives depending on my mood. I like being able to pick my own oils, liquids, fragrances and additives. It doesn't have to be expensive to make a batch of soap. You can find oils in the grocery, use some for soap and the rest for cooking and baking. A shoebox lined with freezer paper can be a mold, an old PP#5 pitcher to mix lye, you probably already have some stainless steel utensils and you can generally find lye at hardware stores. You just want to make sure it says 100% sodium hydroxide on the container. It really doesn't take a lot of investment to make a batch of soap.

There is a recipe for grocery store soap on the forum. Please let me know if you can't find it and I'll hunt up the link for you.

 

[Rizack2]

Thanks for the Welcome Hazel. That bubble bar recipe from the link is the one I made that had way too much Corn Starch, just slightly better then my first batch, but still awfull to crumble ( well i will give it another week to be sure ). I might try soap eventually but as of now i'm trying to master bubble bars, that is if i can get a fail proof recipe. I'll check out the grocery store soap.

 

[Hazel]

Did you see this recipe? http://elementalbathco.blogspot.com/200 ... -bath.html

 

[Rizack2]

Yes I saw this one, and it seems a bit better. I'm not sure hwere to get these ingredients
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
3 tbs Cocamide DEA


The bars I made yesterday with BS Slsa, citric acid and glycerin seem to be drying up much better, and will give them another day before i crack one open to check the inside and also to see how the bubble are.

 

[Hazel]

The Chemistry Store carries both; unfortunately it looks like 1 gallon is the smallest size they have.

http://www.chemistrystore.com/Chemicals ... e_DEA.html
http://www.chemistrystore.com/Cocamidop ... 1_Gal.html

 

[Rizack2]

Thanks for the link, if i get anything it would be the Betaine because the other ingredient is from another recipe and i think I will stick with the recipe that is working. So far this recipe which I substituted the betaine with glycerin is drying pretty hard on the outside, but I broke one open and it appears pretty much dry but not to a powder dry yet. I'll test one tomorrow.

Update, decideded to test one and it was dry enough to get a fair easy crumble but a little more time would be even better. Now all i have to do is get a PH tester to see what it reads.. I'm so happy!