Recent content by scraggybeard

Anyone have much experience with Bramble Berry's fragrance calcultor? I don't like strong scented soap and was looking to add just enough FO to cover the scent of the oils I'll be using. I see they have a light scent amount, would that amount work or would I want to even add a bit less? The...

Looking to try my first salt bar, unfortunately all I have is a loaf mold that I usually do 54oz batches in. My recipe would be 85% CO and 15% avocado oil with 20% superfat and 80% of oil weight in salt. Does anyone have an idea of how much volume the salt would add? What amount of oils should I...

Sage, do you still get the hoppy aroma eith your method or would a concentrated method provide more beer quality to the soap?

Thanks all for the replies! So if I have a batch that calls for ~20oz water for the lye mixture, I can use reduced beer for all ~20ozs? Seawolfe, I was thinking of adding some pellet hops to the soap to give it a hoppy smell - is that not necessary in your experience?

Anyone have a good process for making beer soap? I've seen various posts about boiling/reducing the beer ~50% (what's the reason for this, by the way?) but haven't found much beyond that. Does the beer replace the water in the lye mixture? Does it get added after the lye and oils are blended...

I added essential oils to the first two, fragrance oils to the third. Lye solution was 2.667:1 (per soapcalc). Temps are around 100*F, I pour lye mixture in and go to stick blender. Should I be stirring first instead?

A question for the masses, I've done three batches now and they all have traced extremely quickly after only about 20 seconds with a stick blender. First question is if this is common, most research I've done suggests it should take minutes rather than seconds. Second question is what could be...

I'm trying to find somewhere in/near Minneapolis that sells fragrance oils. I've only done a few batches and am hoping to explore more fragrances but am leery about purchasing online because I'm unfamiliar with many of the fragrances. Does anyone know of any shops in the Minneapolis area that...

Bars have cured for 5+ weeks, no cocoa butter in any of them. Maybe it just is what it is, wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong or it could be remedied. Thanks!

The bar itself is not sticky, nor does it leave my skin sticky. What happens is that the bar sticks to my skin when I use it, it doesn't glide normally if that makes sense.

Yeah, the tops appear to have a small amount, though the broad sides (where the bars get cut) don't appear to have any soda ash and that's primarily where they are sticky/tacky.

I have made a couple of batches so far and they are great. The only issue I am having is that the bars are sticky/tacky on the skin for the first couple of uses but the stickiness then wears off, almost like there is a film or something that needs to be rubbed off. The first recipe I did was...

Carolyn, did you use lavender and fir needle EOs? If so, what ratio did you use for the mixture?

I'm looking to make a winter bar and was originally planning to use cinnamon leaf and orange EOs. When I went to titrate a mixture tonight, though, it seemed very potpourri-y. Has anyone else used this combination? Any feedback on the results? Alternatively, I am thinking a lavender/pine combo...

I'm looking for any recipe recommendations for a soap to help with dry skin. In the winter, my skin always gets dry and itchy and I was hoping to prevent this. I've ready peanut oil or castor oil can help, does anyone have any input? Thinking about doing a basic recipe with Coconut oil 35%...