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I see a lot of recipes call for a 60/40 mix, however I have not figured out if there are any other benefits to NaOH other than hardened soap. Is there any lather or performance wise? I ain't cutting pucks so I'm not super concerned about hardness, but I don't want to leave any benefits on the...

Basically is there a way to make a roundish bar that looks like commercial bars we all bought before we started filling our homes with soap? 🤣

Hey gang, I'm back with more shave soaps. The purpose of this thread is to compare a palmitic acid heavy shave soap to a stearic acid heavy shave soap. Glide, cushion, latherability, and stability are all going to be examined. My hypothesis is that stearic may be superior in cushion and...

Just curious at what method you guys use. I'm thinking about getting some of those plastic 3 drawer chest things at Walmart and cutting holes in some thick foam and sticking the 1 ozers in. Problem is the labels are hidden. :-/ I know there has to be a better, more logical way....I just can't...

I want to order Japan Wax and From Nature With Love seems to be one of the few suppliers who carry it. $15 for 8 oz I can swing, but with $15 shipping.....just LOL. My question is, is there anything you all get from FNWL that is particularly good or worthwhile? Alternatively is there a better...

I'll preface this thread by stating I've learned a lot in this little journey. Biggest lesson is you cannot trust soap calcs to always be right. This stearic example is one of a few I have personally dealt with, however there are some other fats that are problematic. Second lesson is you cannot...

Hey all, I plan on making 2 shave soaps to compare the differences between palmitic acid heavy and stearic acid heavy recipes. I've managed to formulate two recipes with roughly the same FA profiles, save of course for the SA and PA numbers. As with many things in life where compromise has to...

Being I'm a somewhat novice soap maker I'm curious what could be causing a draggy soap. Basically it is not smooth against my skin during use. Wondering if it's cure time too short (4 weeks), recipe (below), or just a fact of life. I have had soaps from big artisans that are also draggy. If it's...

Hey all it's just another shave soap thread wheeee! I just made up a 100 gram microbatch. Description and details below, I'll be updating on performance and notes. First note: unrefined Shea smell has overpowered my FO. It's kind of a bummer, I should have tried this with refined, but figured...

Putting in a big ol' samples order to try some stuff out. I specifically wanted to try Citrus Tree, the rest are from suggestions here or my own curiosity.

The question occurred to me while trying to replace coconut oil in one of my soaps. Can a soap with 100% liquid oil (such as RBO) have a superfat? Being that the superfat wouldn't react with lye, will there be a risk for an oily soap? Or does it incorporate somehow?

Today I made Mac n cheese using sodium citrate. 4 cheese blend of Gouda, Muenster, Swiss, and....cream cheese. Even topped it with breadcrumbs that included parmesan. I subbed in cream cheese as the recipe called for Velveeta which I didn't have. Took foreeeeevvvveeerrrr to incorporate the cream...

Hello all, I've got the hang of using sodium citrate for my chelator and would like to start using sodium lactate for pourability and other benefits. In my reading I've come across accounts of rubbery soap and other issues and understand that using multiple salts can be a bit of a gamble. I'm...

Not the end of the world here, but I have just discovered a mistake in nearly every batch I've made. I've operated under the assumption that my KOH lye has been 90% pure from my first recipe till the one I made last week. Well folks, it just ain't so! Crafter's Choice Potassium Hydroxide sold...

98 conditioning, and not a single fatty acid that contributes. Curious as to where the conditioning number is being derived from here. I know there's a bit of black magic surrounding certain fats and their properties, this kinda stood out to me though. I originally saw the fatty acid profile and...

WSP has a sale on Shea again, and I'm curious if there is any other difference between the refined and unrefined shea butters beside smell and color. Specifically performance differences in soap. I got unrefined Shea my last order and holy moly that is some woody/earthy scent! I may try using...

On Reddit there's an opinionated person who's convinced himself that stearic acid in shave soaps is a "cheap" ingredient that artisans are using instead of using kokum or illipe. I explained the reason for using stearic acid isn't simply to cheap out while charging premium pricing, however he's...

Hey all going to make a few bath bars with the usual multiple purposes in mind and being I haven't made many bath bars figure I should run this by some soaping wizards first. First purpose is to test an oil infusion. I've infused 7 g of Himalayan Rhubarb root powder into 500 g of HO sunflower...

I have a bottle of flaxseed oil in the fridge, I've yet to mix in ROE. I'm curious if flaxseed's DOSsy tendencies can be tamed with ROE, or anything really as I don't want to waste the oil or the ROE if it's not meant to be. If it's ok to use, is there some sort of guideline? Stick with the 15%...

You guys steered me well when I asked for a good rose FO, I got two different ones from NG. Ordered 10 other FOs as well, some real nice ones (Mahogany and Teak definitely going in my next shave soap), but one that sort of disappointed me was Orange Blossom. I got excited when I saw it, as...