Recent content by Candybee

I've used all kinds of milk for soapmaking from goat milk, coconut, hemp, soy, even yogurt. I haven't tried buttermilk yet and want to try it. I'm curious to know if others use buttermilk or have experience using it in their soapmaking and the pros and cons. I tried the search feature to find...

Trying to keep my scents down is not always easy. What works for me is how many can I successfully restock as needed and what scents work with my business theme? I have a sea/beach theme soap, bath & body biz so I have ocean/sea/beach type scents along with classics, fruit, florals, clean, etc...

I find my favorite is regular olive oil or what is sometimes referred to sauteing or cooking olive oil. Its a light golden olive color and feels good on my skin in the finished soap. I also like that it does not impart any off white or dark color in the soap batter like of the EVOO's or pomace...

Congrats on your show! I love it when you still do good at your show even though the weather has turned out nasty. I am on my 2nd Eurmax tent. Been using Eurmax for about 7-8 yrs now I think. Used to have Ez-up tents that were more fragile and ended up repairing or replacing struts over the...

Relax, there's no such thing as a lotion recipe "requiring" a hydrosol let alone a specific hydrosol. As jusjacqui mentioned simply sub for distilled water or another liquid. If you desire a botanical in your lotion you can always use a botanical extract. You can still get the benefits of a...

My favorite is soap high in linoleic. I do have to watch my numbers thou as too much can bring on DOS. But man oh man does it feel good on my skin. My favorite is simple sunflower oil, not the high oleic one.

I've used baby oatmeal, colloidal oatmeal, and even my own ground oatmeal. I find I prefer oat flour the best. Colloidal was too expensive for a product that is simply 100% oatmeal, my ground oatmeal was too scratchy no matter how much I ground, and ground, and sieved, and baby cereal was, well...

Thanks for getting back to me. I really want my scrub to be paraben free and was fairly certain that either Germall Plus or Opthiphen Plus would be okay but it really helps to get another opinion.

giant rain storm coming PICM

vacation

Looking for an alternative to phenonip for a sugar scrub recipe. I have Optiphen Plus and Germall Plus. Would one of these work?

I started my soap biz in 2005 so I have been at it for a number of years now. I can tell you that several times over these years I would get into a rut or burn out period that would last for weeks or months. It happens and its normal so don't beat yourself up about it. One of two things can...

Is this a recipe she is selling? Does it use a M&P base? Just curious. Would be interested if it is a made by scratch only and not M&P.

The dry ingredients in my facial scrub are hand milled grains. Remember the Japanese Washing Grains from the Body Shop? They used 100% milled adzuki beans. Mine is similar but I also add a dry foaming agent and a couple other dry ingredients. Because my business has a sea theme I also add hand...

If its an anhydrous, all oil or all dry powder formulation if it will be in contact with water you should include a preservative. For example, if you are selling sugar scrubs I would definitely put a preservative in. If its for personal use you could exclude it, but how long will it sit on a...