Recent content by sandra

Southernsoapers.com has a tutorial on their website. Go to PDF Tutorials in the menu bar at the top then click Bubble Bars. I've used this recipe, they turn out beautifully.

Measuring out my oils for a 4 lb batch. Got everything started. Need 6.4 0z of palm. I realize I only have 4.1 oz of it. Is there anything I can use to make up the 2.3 oz. Don't want to wait for a trip to the store, I finally have the kids out of the house. Arg!!! so frustrating.

"I shed like a Wookie." Love that!! I can so relate. I've been making my own shampoo lately too and love how it makes my hair feel. I use ingredients from the herbarie. As I said I do like the way my hair feels now but would love to find a recipe that doesn't use chemicals. Would much prefer...

where does your soap call home? Brookfield, Connecticut

I can't use my homemade soaps for shampoo. They all leave my hair feeling heavy and stiff. If you're not opposed to using surfactants www.theherbarie.com has some great recipes for shampoo and conditioners in their "formulary" section. I've tried several of them and especially love "Amy's Ultra...

Just received my sodium lactate (powdered form). Heard great things about it and am very excited to try it. How is this added to a soap recipe and is there any adjustments I need to make to the recipe? Any help would be great. Thanks.

I've tried both. Tried to force gel in the oven and tried to prevent gel in the freezer. Both ways (several tries of each) I'm still getting the orange circle in the middle of the soap. If I add at the end of the cook, how much liquid and do I then discount the water amount used for the lye...

Can you HP a GM soap? I tried a GM soap a couple of times but can't seem to find a way to avoid partial gel. I thought maybe HP would take care of that. Any special instructions when Hping a GM? Would appreciate any help.

Well, it finally cooked. Took four hours but finally no zap. Still really smooth and loose though. We'll see how it unmolds tomorrow. I'll let you know.

I'm HPing a batch in the crock right now. It started to expand too much and I had to transfer to larger crock pot . It seems really loose, usually by this stage it's quite waxy (been cooking for about an hour). I thought that was odd and then somewhere in the back of my head I seem to recall...

hardness to bar Sorry to intrude on your thread but how would you add stearic acid? In the water prior to or after lye, or would you add to oils? I know I have some somewhere and have been having trouble with the hardness of my bars. I can't use coconut oil at all, my skin won't tolerate it. I...

video Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the same video I bought. Disappointing would be putting it mildly. I wonder if the guy demonstrating has ever even made soap himself. When I tried my first batch I couldn't get it to trace because I was stirring it the way he was demonstrating it - slowly and...

salt bar Can you sub babassu oil for the coconut oil. I can't use coconut oil in my soaps or my skin gets so dried out I'm itchy and rashy (a word?) all day. I know the coconut oil is for the lather but most things I've read say that babassu oil is very similar to coconut.

After much trial and error, about 7 batches, I've come to the realization that I just cannot tolerate coconut oil. I've had plenty of friends use the offending batches and they've had no problems, but my skin dries out to the point of redness, burning and itching. My question is, is there...

Going to try HPing an OMH soap. Do I add the oatmeal and honey at trace or after the cook, or somewhere in between?