Recent content by leeleetrue

Thanks, everybody! I'm feeling emboldened about my recipes choices. Oh, and I completely forgot in my last post to thank DeeAnna for the links, so thank you very much :D I'll definitely check those out before I settle on a recipe. I'd honestly never considered castor contributing to DOS, but...

that last bit about coconut, pko and babassu surprises me. i'd read that those are the only three oils that will contribute to cleansing, and castor is for bubbly lather. But checking out SoapCalc, I see you're right; those three have great bubbly numbers. I will say that castor has equal bubbly...

http://www.soaperschoice.com 7 lbs of Organic EVOO, Food Grade 1st Cold Pressing USDA Certified QAI Certified NOP Certified, $21.49, or 35 lbs for $99.05. (plus s&h of course) I don't see any reason not to use extra virgin olive oil, but that's me. It's more readily available.

I'm reworking a couple recipes with my new found knowledge of the importance of lowering my castor oil percentages. I've noticed several of you advise not using castor oil over 5% in body bars. I've historically used much more than that (up to about 17% in some cases), and I can't say I've...

It's funny I saw this now, because I literally just walked out of my studio thinking that I still need to wait a few days before I cut some soap I made on Thursday :think: My recipe is pretty soft, so in my case, it takes about a week 'til it makes a great cut. Earlier, and I lose a lot of...

i've done a couple different soaps with honey, and i've never discounted water per se. i take a bit of the water i'd use for lye, and instead add that to dilute the honey, then add it at light trace and stir stir stir. i will say that in any soap i've made with honey, if i don't refrigerate it i...

I've made some soap recently with lemon peel for exfoliation. I used 1/2 cup for my 4 lb batch. However, my food processor couldn't chop it too fine, so I had more relatively large pieces than tiny ones. That may or may not make a difference for you.

try lemongrass and cedar for a fun blend - it is AMAZING :)

I was pondering the influence of metal on DOS the other night...i have a coated metal shelf that has a few nicks in the coating, where the metal has rusted. it makes sense (at least in my head) that oxidizing metal could very well lead to oxidation in soap - DOS. I can't speak to the blue-green...

I went looking into natural preservatives (if there is such a thing) and found a really good article on the subject here - http://www.soap-blog.com/2012/05/great-debate-is-there-natural.html i followed the link to Texas Natural Supply for the Silverion 2400, and it sounds pretty freaking...

i've been using oat flour instead of grinding my oats - my little food processor is a hunkajunk and takes forever to make flour. it's pretty cheap from my local 'organic' grocer, and i love the results. just my two cents

i usually wait. i've got two little kids, so i usually do my soaping at night once they're in bed. by the time i'm done, i'm WAY too tired to bother. of course, then the next time i go to make soap i've got extra prep-work ahead of me :P

these are great tips, everyone; thank you so much! ironically, the DOS happens in soaps with no botanical additives. some of my carrot soaps fell prey but that was before the a/c. no problems with them since that. i'll try lowering the castor in my new recipes (i was seduced by the 'bubbly'...

my linolenic is zero, and linoleic is 9. i use distilled water (or sometimes things like carrot juice made with distilled water, cucumber puree, aloe gel) for my lye - using my own water would likely lead to disaster lol. i store my oils and cure my soaps all in the same room. i always keep the...

I've wondered if it's my olive oil...most of my other oils come from soap or body product suppliers, but the olive oil comes from a local food outlet (i just can't beat the price). i really don't know how long it sits there til i get it, but talking to the clerk there (my step-aunt), a lot of...