Cenz, I get mine at Trader Joe's, do you have one of those near you? I am in LA, so shopping central, but there are no Walmarts near me either
Slow trace, hard bar, frothy AND big bubbles, I want it all.
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Have you checked Walmart. It comes in a gallon jug and usually in the pharmacy area.
Or you can order it online at Walmart too.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-Of-The-Earth-Aloe-Vera-Juice-With-99.8-Aloe-1-gal/10314798
commoncenz
Well-Known Member
Nope, no Trader Joe's here. Just Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Kroger's ... garden variety generic shopping experience. Have to travel 40 minutes to the Pittsburgh area to get any type of real selection. So, most of my soaping supplies are ordered online ... My Post-Master thinks I'm a shopaholic .. lol
I'm sure my postman thinks I am crazed, too. I do give him soap, though 
I know my postman/ups man thinks we need a 12 step program and the neighbors likely think we have a bunch of money as we have deliveries almost every day. They are probably starting to wonder if we are hoarders too....
julieanne
Well-Known Member
not_ally- I was speaking of 75-85 bubble factor being a total of SoapCalc's creamy and bubbly values. The recipe posted has a total of 80. I don't use any additives with consistency. The recipe usually gives me 5 minutes to color and add fragrance before it is like pudding in its consistency. If the fragrance misbehaves, I have soap on a stick in about the same time period. I sometimes use a water discount, but never more than 5%. I can color and do an in the pot swirl if I move quickly and burst with a stick blender ~ 3 times.
Obsidian, my soaps can be somewhat tacky but not inconsistently so. Once it gets wet, it goes away. The bar shower life for a shower shared by two is ~ 4 to 5 weeks for a 4 oz bar drying as much as it can between use in that shower. I can send you a sample if you want to try again. Overall, the lather is stable, coats like a looser shaving cream and keeps it up with little prompting.
OliveOil2, the bars are harder than you might think. See my comment to Obsidian above.If they got mushy quickly, I would have reformulated it using less Castor. I'm still trying to decide if a total creamy + bubbly value of 65 is as plush as 75 or 85. I don't pursue selling my soaps but people always ask for them. A repeat customer's niece liked them so much that she wanted 120 bars for wedding favors. That was a lot of wrapping over a very short time period. Odd, too, is that guys really like my soaps. Maybe they are flirting! I am so naive sometimes, who knows?!
Newbie- I'll try your recipe & compare it to what I have on hand. Thanks for taking the time to create with what you know I have. That was thoughtful..
Obsidian, my soaps can be somewhat tacky but not inconsistently so. Once it gets wet, it goes away. The bar shower life for a shower shared by two is ~ 4 to 5 weeks for a 4 oz bar drying as much as it can between use in that shower. I can send you a sample if you want to try again. Overall, the lather is stable, coats like a looser shaving cream and keeps it up with little prompting.
OliveOil2, the bars are harder than you might think. See my comment to Obsidian above.If they got mushy quickly, I would have reformulated it using less Castor. I'm still trying to decide if a total creamy + bubbly value of 65 is as plush as 75 or 85. I don't pursue selling my soaps but people always ask for them. A repeat customer's niece liked them so much that she wanted 120 bars for wedding favors. That was a lot of wrapping over a very short time period. Odd, too, is that guys really like my soaps. Maybe they are flirting! I am so naive sometimes, who knows?!
Newbie- I'll try your recipe & compare it to what I have on hand. Thanks for taking the time to create with what you know I have. That was thoughtful.
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Walmart, Kroger's, Brookshire Brothers/Super 1, Albertson's down here all have it on the baking aisle. It may be the region of the country that determines where the lard is located in the stores.
Our Walmart has it on that aisle between the pharmacy and Health and Beauty Aids. But you can always order it online, and have them ship to the store with no charge for shipping.
http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=aloe vera juice&typeahead=aloe vera
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CTAnton
Well-Known Member
I had mine shipped to the house for very little money....well, I met their minimum for a break on the shipping....
aloe juice, anyone?:razz:
aloe juice, anyone?:razz:
julieanne
Well-Known Member
All of you who use lard, doesn't it add a fatback/bacon kind of smell to the finished and cured soap when used above ~20%? Other forums mention this and to some, the smell NEVER goes away. To others, the "piggy" smell goes away after about 4 weeks of cure time. In general, I prefer using deodorized products as a means to eliminate the scent they contribute, allow the pricey fragrances or eo's shine through.
I use somewhere in the region of 50-60% lard and I don't find that the soap smells, but the lard itself certainly does before I use it. One thing that helps is not heating it more than you need to when you melt it
I use lard (always above 60%), and do not pick up on the scent after the pour. It does, of course, smell piggy when working with the melted oils. I've never had any one notice any kind of residual odor in the bars after even a short cure. There are some posters who seem to detect it much more, but few, and soapers I think are more than ordinarily sensitive to anything in our own soaps.
I would not order deodorized lard w/o checking out the regular stuff first, I would imagine the regular stuff is much, much cheaper, easier to find, and will probably do the job.
I would not order deodorized lard w/o checking out the regular stuff first, I would imagine the regular stuff is much, much cheaper, easier to find, and will probably do the job.
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Patrick, what is your formula? I am curious about why it seems to trace quickly, that is not typical w/high lard soaps. The butter shouldn't be causing it, either.
commoncenz
Well-Known Member
Found it at CVS Pharmacy for about $10.90, which if you add shipping to the Walmart price is pretty much equal. So, off to CVS I go this evening.
commoncenz
Well-Known Member
Oh, I've figured that out. Actually when soaping yesterday. At first I thought There was something about the FOs from a particular supplier I was using (VA Candle Supply). Then I figured it was the temps that I was mixing at (110 F).
So, I soaped a batch where I prepped my lye water 2 hours before my oils and let my oils cool before mixing. It behaved wonderfully. Only thing is that I forgot and didn't use one of the VA Candle FOs that I had used before ... I couldn't eliminate the FO.
Just did that last night when I used the soaping cold method with VA Candle Lavender Eucalyptus. It behaved great. Basically the problem was "operator error" by soaping too hot.
That said, the basic recipe is:
Lard - 47%
CO - 20%
OO - 13.5%
Avocado Oil - 9.5%
Shea - 5%
Castor - 5%
Oh good! I am glad you worked that one out, is a pretty big pain until you do.
On the rare occasion that I get a wild hair and try an FO from a place where I can't find a lot of reviews, the problem, if there is one, is not that they generally cause acceleration unless they are the usual suspects (florals, water scents, spice EOs). More that they either do not smell nice/true or do not stick, that is a deal-breaker for me, I just don't want to even try non-stickers these days if I can avoid it, no matter how great the suppliers make them sound!
On the rare occasion that I get a wild hair and try an FO from a place where I can't find a lot of reviews, the problem, if there is one, is not that they generally cause acceleration unless they are the usual suspects (florals, water scents, spice EOs). More that they either do not smell nice/true or do not stick, that is a deal-breaker for me, I just don't want to even try non-stickers these days if I can avoid it, no matter how great the suppliers make them sound!
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commoncenz
Well-Known Member
That reminds me. I've got to go back and change some reviews on the Fragrance Review Chart. I attributed the acceleration to the FOs. Also, The VA Candle Supply Scents actually are pretty nice and true and they do stick very well. I'm actually thinking that I may stick with them for most of my FOs as their Ebay deals are pretty good.
Before you reorder, make sure they have cured for a couple/three months. That's the minimum you will need before you know on that, probably sellers would recommend a good longer since their sales really depend on scents sticking. Sometimes they are good for a month or so, and then vanish entirely. Sometimes they stick, vanish, and then comb back. Those fickle FO's ....
