Recent content by Deb Walker

Years ago I read a paper by a doctor who researches historical disease. I can't remember who it was or all the details but they found that the death rate of the Spanish Flu increased dramatically when the treatment was changed. US army doctors increased aspirin dose and that became the normal...

I use a citrate and am happy to lower the pH. In the 7's (not 7 exactly) is an improvement from in the 8's.

I have tried a few different approaches to shaving soap in the past with moderate success. Recently I made two batches with different recipes, one batch with mixed lye for a pot and another hard bar just with NAOH. I think they both worked out really well. This is the recipe of the hard bar...

A person saying they don't want chemicals is just the short version of saying, they don't want chemicals that are associated with or shown to be carcinogenic, neurotoxic, immune suppressant etc. I am unaware of lye fitting into the toxic category when used for soap. Many people are...

Thanks for the comments. Like I said it did seem strange to me. I had also forgotten that people make "white oil" for aphid spray and use natural soap as the surfactant/emulsifier. Happy soaping

A "greenthumb" friend told me watering her plants with greywater that has tallow based soap in it ends up killing her plants. Does anyone have any info on this? It seems strange to me that this would be the case but would rather find out beforehand. We are on tank water and haven't had rain...

A multilevel company (think it was DoTerra) came up with a sales term, "for therapeutic use" this implies that "other" essential oils may not be. Herbs are either organic or not, or wildcrafted or not (any herb that is wildcrafted has far higher medicinal qualities - not that planted herbs don't...

Is there any reason that colloidal copper citrate can't be used as a "preservative". Use this as some of the dilution water. I use it in my bar soap for a few reasons, including the antiwrinkle effects (strengthens collagen and reduces old lady dark spots). Since we have been using this people...

The baking soda can be problematic with some people. I was OK for a little while. Both I and my husband have limited shoulder movement - me with just on arm and it is always that one that becomes rashy. The best option for me was to emulsify saturated magnesium oil (Mg Cl) in liquid coconut...

Hi Michele, Yes that's me :). I just put my recipe (nothing special) into soapcalc and put it onto KOH lye. Its not so important to get the hardness because the salt does that. Because of this you can make a far more gentle cleansing bar and this is the quality that I have read is sort after...

Thank you for your kind reply. I presumed a forum would be for the polite sharing of information even if it means making corrections (that's how we learn) so you are welcome. I make liquid soap so I am familiar with the KOH soap paste that is made as well as the dilutions etc. I am talking...

While trying to find how to get a hard KOH bar I ended up reading about African Black soap. Made from ashes of plantain, cocoa and shea it is basically a KOH soap. Black from the ashes and on the softer side. I also heard about traditional Polish Grey soap which is a KOH soap, from friends...

People used soap for washing hair before shampoos but they also used rinses like tea as conditioners. Tea is acidic. I have long hair and also know many others that wash it with natural soap with better results than using synthetic shampoos. We have all experienced improved skin, without the...

Exercise. Have some short breaks from the computer and get your legs working and heart pumping. Dandelion Tea leaf tea (blend with something else if the flavour is not your favourite) is an excellent diuretic and good for you. This one may seem strange but it help many things including...

Hi, I saw your post so joined so I can give you some info. I did a lot of searching for KOH hard bar soap in the past and ended up testing some things. I have been making very nice hard bar soap simply by adding 20% salt. Because the hardness is not so dependent on solid oils, you can make a...