What Bath & Body Thing Have You Done Today?

[AliOop]

I will be sure to report back when it's done. Besides making the scrubs, which is the fun part, I must decide what other products I can donate to the Christmas Boutique. Bath bombs and soaps for sure, and maybe lotion bars and shower steamers, too. What gets in my way is the labeling. It is so time-consuming, and not really in my skill set to design them, either.

 

[kirsten.]

I just spent a hot minute trying to figure out how.we started talking about sewing. Scrubs. I'm a sleep deprived nurse lol!!

I had some friends over to show them how to make some basics. Herb infused oils, whipped body butter and drawing salve.

 

[dmcgee5034]

I got the cutest 4oz mason jars to make ?sugar? scrubs with 2 FO from BB that I didn’t realize isn’t recommended for CP soap. I’ve never made scrubs before so I’ll have to read up on them. Tips and tricks and advice welcome. FOs are Cherry Almond and Pineapple Papaya.

 

[dalewaite48]

I introduced to my line of products a Men's Beard Conditioner. It is called Bourbon Tobacco and it smells terrific. I plan on also adding to my men's line a shampoo and shower gel with the same scent.

 

[Misschief]

I introduced to my line of products a Men's Beard Conditioner. It is called Bourbon Tobacco and it smells terrific. I plan on also adding to my men's line a shampoo and shower gel with the same scent.

I LOVE Bourbon Tobacco! I used the same in a line of men's products; women were buying it for themselves. LOL I did a beard balm (who doesn't love a good balm?), beard oil, and an all in one body wash.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Today I shredded up about four batches of soap that were just sitting on my curing rack and not going anywhere; the picture of all those pretty shreds is posted in the Soapy Thing thread. My plan for them is to .... make whipped sugar soap scrubs!

I posted back in September about how I made a sugar scrub using a combination of a Stephenson's jelly soap base, and the foaming scrub based recipe from DIY Bath & Body. It took some tinkering to find the right consistency plus lather, but the verdict is in. I made a huge batch of scrubs for a ladies' retreat, and they all raved about it. Of course, I have no more jelly soap base, so I was thinking about making it with a more traditional liquid soap paste base. Because next up is our Ladies' Christmas Luncheon/Gift Boutique, to which I'll be donating a lot of products.

Then I happened upon this video from Mrs. Soap & Clay, where she explains how to make a whipped sugar scrub from soap shreds. What?!? I am ambivalent about her as a YouTuber since I don't agree with some of her practices. However, she is very generous with her knowledge, and she offers some really good ideas... like using soap shreds to make sugar scrubs! It's going to take some experimentation but with all the shreds I have, that shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for calling attention to the video. I kind of sorta watched it, but lack the time right now to study/focus through the long narrative. Basically she’s mixing very dry CO shreds with an equal amount of water, melting the mixture, adding 40% of shred weight in glycerin as a solvent and then adding X amount stearic acid as a “hard“ fat(?), presumably because she started with pure CO shreds. Then she whips it up, adds the X amount of sugar and whips some more. I assume less water is needed if the soap is not fully dry and less/no stearic is necessary if the base shreds are from a balanced recipe. Does that sound about right? I might give it a try.

 

[AliOop]

@Mobjack Bay yes, that sounds right to me. As I understand it, the stearic also helps maintain the emulsion, although the soap is the primary emulsifier.

After the big shredding process the other night, I remembered some 0-SF-100%CO stain sticks that were languishing in my laundry room (made waaaay to many of them). So, I grated those up, too. Altogether, my basic starting mix will consist of:

1. Four parts shreds from my regular CP soap recipe (lard, tallow, low CO, butter, soft oil, 2%SF)
2. One part shreds from my (former) shave soap recipe (dual lye, high tallow, stearic acid, low CO, butter, 5%SF)
3. One shy part gratings from my stain-stick recipe (100% CO, 0%SF).

I'm hoping create something that melts down easily, bubbles well, isn't too drying, and doesn't require lots of expensive ingredients. Yes, I want it all! I'm not sure I'll add any stearic acid to start since the shave soap has quite a bit, and my regular recipe has some.

After watching her entire sugar scrub playlist, there were definitely nuggets along the way that will help inform my experiments. For instance, per this other video of hers, if my initial mix doesn't bubble well enough, I'll try adding some melted SCI+CapB. That's essentially what I did with the last batch; I started with the jelly soap base, but it didn't bubble well enough, so I added in some of the DIY B&B scrub base - which includes SCI + CapB, among other things. Had I found her video first, that process would have been much faster, but I'm actually happy that I figured it out on my own, and then found someone else confirming it.

Good luck with yours, and please let us know how it turns out!

edit: Here are my recipe notes from her video:

Start with soap shreds.
Add 50-100% water, depending on how dry or soft the shreds are.
Add 50-100% glycerin, depending on how cleansing or conditioning the shreds are.
Add up to 10% soft oil but probably reduce the water or glycerin a bit.
Using the total weight of the combined shreds + water + glycerin, add 10-30% stearic acid.
Melt it all together.
Let cool completely, then whip.
To thin it out, add more water or glycerin.
To thicken it, add more melted stearic, let it cool, and rewhip.
Add 50-100% sugar.
Add preservative.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Thanks @AliOop I think I have some stearic acid in my stash, but not much, so I guess I will start small. I don’t have anything in the syndet ingredient realm.

 

[AliOop]

Thanks @AliOop I think I have some stearic acid in my stash, but not much, so I guess I will start small. I don’t have anything in the syndet ingredient realm.

Do you have any shave soaps you could shred up? Those are so high in stearic, you may not need to use your stash.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Do you have any shave soaps you could shred up? Those are so high in stearic, you may not need to use your stash.

3+ years and I still have not made shave soap…

 

[AliOop]

Had I known that, I would have sent you some of mine before I shredded it all up!

 

[AliOop]

Made another batch of soap-shred sugar-scrub base in the turkey roaster pan. Followed the Soap & Clay recipe and used (edit to clarify) 100% water and 50% glycerin per shred weight, plus 10% each stearic and FCO per batch weight. It came together beautifully. I think it also helped that the shreds were much softer (not as old), and that it was only ⅓ the size of the previous batch, making it easier to melt and stir.

This came out to 3900 grams of finished base, for basically the cost of the glycerin and stearic acid (since the soap shreds were already costed out in the original soap recipes). The pic isn't that great, but it's a very pretty light blue-green, colored solely from the shreds. I'll probably scent it with a peppermint EO-vanilla FO mix.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Sugar scrubs - my first bath and body thing

Details over in the photo gallery: dmcgee5034 CP GMS soapy photo gallery

 

[Servant4Christ]

I made my first shampoo bar today. DIY B&B's pourable recipe.
Something I learned is not to put your silicone mold in the microwave even for 5 seconds thinking it will smooth the tops. It won't. Instead, your shampoo will swell up and out like a jet puffed marshmallow!
I scooped out the mixture and gently remelted/repoured. It went relatively smoothly for a first try and my mixture never was outside the target temperature. As for the resulting shampoo bar, I didn't really know what to expect, but a light weight bar (compared to the same size CP soap) that smells and feels like uncolored candle wax or crayons wasn't it at all. I'm actually disappointed because I spent the money to purchase every ingredient except the castor, which I happen to keep stocked for my CP soaping, and I can't imagine using most of these ingredients for anything else.
I should disclose that I made this without color or fragrance to get a feel for the process. Maybe the smell will dissipate in a day or two. Anyone know? I know the raw batter smell of CP soap does, so I can only hope.

 

[AliOop]

@Servant4Christ I'm so sorry to hear that! Mine is definitely lighter than soap, but still lasts much longer than you would think. It doesn't smell like crayons, but I always add a very low amount of FO or EO since I heard that some of the ingredients don't have the greatest smell.

As for the texture, I'm wondering if that extra heat in your microwave did something to the ingredients? Mine feels smooth, but not waxy or crayon-like. Can you make another bar and see if it comes out better?

For future, a hot blow-dryer or heat gun might be a better option, although the recipe creator recommends planing or grating as her method of choice.

I hope you do end up liking how it works! Please keep us posted.

 

[Servant4Christ]

Mine feels smooth but lumpy if that makes sense. I'm sure it's just because I didn't pour fast enough as it cools down super quick and I didn't feel like remelting it again. I'm not sure why I'm surprised at it being so much lighter than soap. It's not soap! The smell is what's throwing me. It's not strong, but it's noticable and certainly not scent free. I'm going to give it a couple days and then attempt washing my hair with it anyways. I'll definitely have to buy some FO/EO now. I'd also really like to try some mica for a bit of color. The recipe didn't say how to add it, though. Will mica just mix right into the phase B ingredients? I know that in soap, it's dispersed in oil first. Syndets really are a different animal.

 

[SoapSisters]

@Servant4Christ My friends and family have been happy with the DIY Pourable formulation, so I urge you to keep trying. I agree with you, though, that it's tricky to melt it down and pour fast enough. I've been using the microwave but decided that next time I make them, I'm going to use a double-boiler (bain-marie). I'm thinking I might have a better handle on the melting if I'm staring at in on the stovetop.

Regarding scent, I use rosemary essential oil as the extract ingredient in the formulation (I wrote to the recipe creators who said that would be fine). So the rosemary then serves two purposes, scent and extract. I added litsea EO as the essential oil component, which tempers the rosemary a bit and gives a nice, fresh scent.

 

[Servant4Christ]

Thanks. Thankfully, the smell isn't as strong or noticable this morning so maybe it's just the surfactants I'm smelling which I'm not accustomed to. I'm more anxious to see how it performs on my hair than I am about how it looks, right now, but here's a pic of my very first bar. I'm sure it'll look nicer the more I practice.

 

[AliOop]

@Servant4Christ That looks much better than my first pourable bar. Mine still gets a little heat sink in the center from pouring them hot enough to make them smooth. I don’t sell, so it’s not really a big deal, because I do like working with that recipe.

I also like the original one as well. It is a harder bar and requires a little more work to make it look nice. I’ve used my moon cake presses for that one, and been very happy with how it turned out.

But like you said, the main thing is how it works on your hair!

If you don’t want to use mica, you could add a little colored clay or AC to the bar for color. I would stay away from bentonite bc it would probably make the recipe less pourable bc it is so absorbent. But French green or rose kaolin would be nice. I like to stir my colorant into the preservative/EO mix before adding those. That way I can see how well those things are mixed in to the rest of the batter.

Anyway great job!

 

[Misschief]

Thanks. Thankfully, the smell isn't as strong or noticable this morning so maybe it's just the surfactants I'm smelling which I'm not accustomed to. I'm more anxious to see how it performs on my hair than I am about how it looks, right now, but here's a pic of my very first bar. I'm sure it'll look nicer the more I practice.

That looks better than my first pourable bars, too. That recipe takes a little getting used to. I was so unhappy with my bars that I softened them up (about 10 secs in the nuclear box), then pressed them into my shampoo bar molds. I was much happier with them after that.