Recent content by American Valkyrie

This is going against the general tone of "I Hate Ash," but I kind of like to work with mine. If I sculpt the tops of the soap a bit before setting them to gel, then after it's cooled I lightly rub the tops with a woven cloth like a cheesecloth, I get an antique finish. The high points of the...

I set them on paper-lined cooling racks for a couple of weeks, turning them every few days. Then I put them in a paper bag or cardboard box, in the top of a closet far from my kitchen or laundry room. It works great. I soap in such small quantities that closet space has been enough.

Moonblossom, where do you add the mag sulfate? I have some lying around, and it's super cheap anyway. Do you put it in with the detergent, or toss it in the rinse cycle? tlm884, I love coconut oil. I buy LouAnn brand at Walmart: 32oz for $2.50. It's low-grade, 76-degree melting point, but...

I just made my first laundry soap today: Recipe: 1 cup low-SF soap (I made a 100% CO soap at 0%SF, HP in crockpot) 1 cup washing soda 1/4 cup citric acid for tough stains (1/4oz PPO fragrance, which I hear will wash out and not linger on clothing, but it makes it more enjoyable anyway) I made...

Re: Looking for a good musky/leathery/tobacco FO - have a fa I like BB's Leather. It reminds me of walking into Wilson's Leather when I was younger, smelling the new jackets. Not so much a tobacco cowboy type smell, but still very masculine without being overpowering at all. I make it with...

That's the kind of input I was looking for. Thank you. The salt recipe I use is awesome for my skin, though I don't know how it would do for someone else's. It's pretty much cured my acne. I like goatsmilk on my body, but it's a little too rich for my face and causes breakouts.

Hi, I'm about to start my holiday soaps, and I have a half ounce of peppermint EO here. I was hoping to make my facial soap (100% CO, 20% SF, equal salt PPO) with the oil. I've used FO in facial soap, but never a peppermint EO. Does anyone have any experience with this, and have advice to...

I HATE wasting anything. Just hate it. I even hate washing out my soap pot and pouring the water down the drain. (We pay an incredible amount for water, and it rains about 5 times each summer, so it's a pretty valuable commodity here for anyone trying to conserve or grow food.) But last...

Sorry, I posted this before realizing that Healinya beat me to it.

http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm This is a very interesting post where the author took single-oil soaps and rated them, then rated them again at 6 months old. The canola and Crisco soaps didn't rate well at all. Sunflower rated even worse.

Nice! My husband hasn't been interested in helping me soap, but he'll give his opinions on the finished product and market it to his friends. And BTW, that orange, leather, and tobacco fragrance sounds SOOOO good! Did you create it or buy it?

Both the alkalinity pre-saponification and the heat process should take care of whatever crushing doesn't do. That would be a serious seed to survive those conditions. I'd say the chances are pretty high that there will be no sproutage going on.

I saw that in the store today. To anyone who tries it out, please post your results. This summer we're going to route the washer drainage hose out onto the garden and I'm currently checking all the safe soaps.

I don't have TV at home, so I'm only a little familiar with a daytime show called The Drs. Twice at the gym I watched it while doing the elliptical trainer. When a blurb about soap flashed on, I switched the sound over. Basically, a girl had written in complaining that her soap burned her...

So Sunlight soap is made with lard, cocoa butter, palm kernel oil, glycerine, fragrance, salt, titanium dioxide, and a couple additives to help it lather better. If you search tetrasodium EDTA on Google, you'll find some environmental concerns and possible health issues. We also need to keep...