I'm just getting started making soap. My first is going to be a melt and pour project. I have 2 lbs of shea butter melt and pour soap base. Ok how much fragrance do I need to add to it without creating a disaster? Also, I'm going to use the monkeys farts fragrance for my kids and would really like for it to be brown and have a chocolatey smell added. Can I use regular cocoa for this and if so, how much should I use?
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- Thread starter rhonda
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Lil Outlaws
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First off, are you making the whole 2lb just for your kids? It only takes about 3oz for a standard sized bar..
I actually just scent to smell - depends on the fragrance oil's strength.
TYPICALLY I use (and this is converted, I use a pipette for mine but I've measured it out and it equates to..) about 1/4 tsp for 1-2 bars depending on strength. I'd melt your base and add 1/8 tsp, stir and sniff - if you want more add it 1/8 tsp at a time.
To make it brown, yes you can use cocoa. I recommend very little though, maybe 1/4 tsp as well - but I would take a small bowl, but the cocoa in and break up the lumps, and then add a very small amount of your melted soap base and mix it up to make a smooth paste before adding to the rest of the base. Otherwise you'll end up with lumps and it doesn't look good at all.
I want to see pics when it comes out! Good luck and have fun, it's a wonderful addiction
I actually just scent to smell - depends on the fragrance oil's strength.
TYPICALLY I use (and this is converted, I use a pipette for mine but I've measured it out and it equates to..) about 1/4 tsp for 1-2 bars depending on strength. I'd melt your base and add 1/8 tsp, stir and sniff - if you want more add it 1/8 tsp at a time.
To make it brown, yes you can use cocoa. I recommend very little though, maybe 1/4 tsp as well - but I would take a small bowl, but the cocoa in and break up the lumps, and then add a very small amount of your melted soap base and mix it up to make a smooth paste before adding to the rest of the base. Otherwise you'll end up with lumps and it doesn't look good at all.
I want to see pics when it comes out! Good luck and have fun, it's a wonderful addiction
I would not add over 1 tablspoon of fragrance per pound of soap for adults, even less for the sensitive skin of kids. I would not use any scent on babsie up to 2 years unless it's a very mild & minimum natural essential oil.
Cocoa will color your bar but not scent it.
Cocoa may leave a muddy ring around your tub so be aware of that:? .
Hope this helps.
Cocoa will color your bar but not scent it.
Cocoa may leave a muddy ring around your tub so be aware of that:? .
Hope this helps.
what brand of MP soap?
asking cause my kids eczema cleared up when I got away from "detergent" products (such as you will find in craft store MP soap and some other brands as well, and of course in commercial soaps).
asking cause my kids eczema cleared up when I got away from "detergent" products (such as you will find in craft store MP soap and some other brands as well, and of course in commercial soaps).
yes I am saying that. Let me look at that site ...
"Shea Butter Melt and Pour Soap Ingredients: Coconut oil, sodium cocoate, sodium palmitate, sodium laurate, sodium stearate, glycerin, sodium laureth sulfate, propylene glycol, titanium dioxide, triethanolamine, sorbitol, shea butter, water."
OK that base contains a combination of true soap (sodium cocoate, sodium palmitate...) and detergent (sodium laureth sulfate).
I'm sure it's a lovely and mild base - that is a high quality vendor. But some (including my kids) are sensitive to such things. Not everyone by a long stretch though so don't let me scare you. Just saying that if your niece doesn't do well with it don't panic, just try a true soap (I'm sure one of us will help you out) for her.
"Shea Butter Melt and Pour Soap Ingredients: Coconut oil, sodium cocoate, sodium palmitate, sodium laurate, sodium stearate, glycerin, sodium laureth sulfate, propylene glycol, titanium dioxide, triethanolamine, sorbitol, shea butter, water."
OK that base contains a combination of true soap (sodium cocoate, sodium palmitate...) and detergent (sodium laureth sulfate).
I'm sure it's a lovely and mild base - that is a high quality vendor. But some (including my kids) are sensitive to such things. Not everyone by a long stretch though so don't let me scare you. Just saying that if your niece doesn't do well with it don't panic, just try a true soap (I'm sure one of us will help you out) for her.
I SFIC has non-detergent MP soaps which are as "natural" as you are going to get, but still they add something to make it liquefy with heat.
http://www.peakcandle.com/category/Melt ... Bases.aspx (click on the soaps for the ingredients)
For the real deal you gotta go CP or HP. If you don't want to be the one messing with lye you can buy logs of the stuff and rebatch (hand mill - ha ha) it to customize...
But I cannot resist the opportunity to challenge the possibility of all natural soap. Unless you can pick it, or at the VERY least (and I challenge this too) all the components from a tree or something then IT'S NOT NATURAL. And I've yet to see a soap-tree or a lye-bush.
and don't tell me you can make lye from wood ash cause a) wood ash doesn't grow on trees either and once you start "processing" stuff IMO it ain't natural and b) just because someone somewhere once-upon-a-time did it doesn't mean the lye you get today is derived from that kind of source - cause it's not.
<steps off soap box>
http://www.peakcandle.com/category/Melt ... Bases.aspx (click on the soaps for the ingredients)
For the real deal you gotta go CP or HP. If you don't want to be the one messing with lye you can buy logs of the stuff and rebatch (hand mill - ha ha) it to customize...
But I cannot resist the opportunity to challenge the possibility of all natural soap. Unless you can pick it, or at the VERY least (and I challenge this too) all the components from a tree or something then IT'S NOT NATURAL. And I've yet to see a soap-tree or a lye-bush.
and don't tell me you can make lye from wood ash cause a) wood ash doesn't grow on trees either and once you start "processing" stuff IMO it ain't natural and b) just because someone somewhere once-upon-a-time did it doesn't mean the lye you get today is derived from that kind of source - cause it's not.
<steps off soap box>
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