Recent content by Carolyne Thrasher

I use Bespoke Formula's book for my syndet bars. I purchased both hers and Swiftcraft Monkey. I do not have dry curly hair but I would back the slsa down and increase the sci. SLSA can be irritating at too high a percentage. 10% kokum would definitely be moisturizing. You might consider adding...

Hi Oregon Groves! I'm in Salem. And I also recommend Shay & Co if you have to come up to PDX for anything. Ikea ;) maybe.

Hey Peachy Clean! Happy Soap Day! My husband talked me into making soap 3.5 years ago. He wanted us to start a small home based biz together. He works full time outside the home but is always needing to be doing something and we used to work together and he missed doing that. Ha ha. I'm a full...

They sell well for me but I pour them into flower or snowflake molds not loaves. I also market them as Sea Salt Spa Bars. I think the men’s soap idea is a good one.

I like to get creative in naming soaps. Sometimes I will use local place names or something that is associated with where I live to connect to the shop local crowd and because I feel really connected to places. Other times it might be a literary reference. I like to lean into my cultural...

I have tried it and I like it. To me is smells just like Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail. I gave out some samples at my last market and everyone that smelled it thought it was great. It is sticking great. It was easy to work with and no discoloration. I never used the other fragrances so I can't...

Well this is my 3rd year making and selling soaps. Here’s my Christmas/Winter line. Autumn Fig (BB) is a really good seller again, that’s in the one with purple, teal drop swirl. I added cranberry fig (BB) and it’s been popular too. It’s the first one, layers of “hills.”

Did you add td to your base or lye water? I use coconut milk and a fairly light colored base recipe and get a good red from Trial by fire. But I’ve seen other people on Facebook mention having problems with it.

I use Thai kitchen brand (comes in cans) from Costco. The additives are not an issue. I rarely overheat soaping at 80-90 F. If it’s a bakery fragrance then overheating is a possibility. I don’t use powdered because it often had dairy milk products in it. You can get powdered coconut milk that...

How big is your batch?

Awesome! Thanks!

Thanks!

First, I'm not personally in any danger. But I live in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in the US 25 miles from a nasty wild fire. Our air quality has been rated hazardous for 4 (I think) days now. We are trying to avoid going outside. I usually use 1 part washing soda and 1 part borax to wash my...

This is a pet peeve of mine.