Recent content by kagey

while bacon fat is technically lard -- it's lard plus a whole lot of other things (that was used to cure the bacon). So it's contaminated lard that might even have water in it. when I create tallow from beef fat, I typically purify several times (with salt water). I don't know whether you used...

sorry - I felt I had to keep the discussion on track - otherwise it would go off into a tangent that provides no useful information to the question. I have seen multiple threads here devolve from a very specific question to a conversation about how certain soapers have extremely sensitive skin...

@Zany_in_CO Your green mountain veggie formula looks a lot like what you can find at Dr. Squatch, Bearsville and Sudsy Bear. Which begs the question: how do you differentiate yourself from the market when you're imitating it?

what exactly did you add? vitamin E isn't really an "oil." what are the ingredients of your Vit E additive?

Thanks all for responses. This was a very enlightening discussion! To recap: PO & PKO only recipes will only create "crap soap." So, these companies go through the expensive process of triple-milling it (provided that they all do that) to give it a more luxurious feel. Then, they add their...

thanks for replies all -- but I'd like us to focus on the question at hand, please. @dibbles - upscale, overpriced, underpriced... whatever. The point of my post wasn't to segment the market into luxury vs. non-luxury. --- it was to demonstrate how ESTABLISHED brands seem to only use TWO main...

Lately, I've been doing a deep-dive into successful bar soap recipes - trying to understand why they're formulated the way they are. Here's what I've found that's surprised me: Many luxury soaps seem to only use 2 major ingredients to make their soaps: Palm Oil and Palm Kernel Oil. This...

I freeze my beef fat to make it easier to cube before redering it in a crockpot. I'm told that the smaller the fat pieces, the easier it renders. As long as the freezer didn't experience a power outage - I'd imagine that the frozen beef fat or tallow is fine.

sorry y'all. I couldn't help myself. i used to live in Chicago and had friends from North of the border... and used to tease them. hope I didn't offend. it was meant in a playful jest. we all have our dialect eccentricities... ya know wadda mean?

isn't New Directions a Canadian company, eh? https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/products/fragrance-oils/bay-rum-fragrance-oil.html

I use Dawn to get things clean. On a rare occasion, I will leave something to sit overnight and turn into soap. But even then, I do more than just rinse them. (you can soak them and "fresh" soap will dissolve completely.) I wash them so there's no residual on anything that might interfere with...

I've taken to wiping everything as clean as possible with old newspaper. Then, I hand wash everything with Dawn. I rarely use the dishwasher because most of my soap-ware is plastic and I don't want them damaged or desire to have to dry them after they've been washed.

Being a guy - you know I hate to ask for directions.... or help. But this has been killing me for a while. Where the heck should I be buying my Bay Rum?? Brambleberry doesn't sell it. Lebermuth has discontinued it. And WSP's Crafter Choice wants nearly $5 an ounce!! While I've found it on...

for a bright vivid orange - I've used red palm oil and sunflower oil soaked in paprika in my soap and it worked great.

I haven't used any freeze-dried additives - but I have been experimenting with clays and more natural colorants. I found these interesting articles and refer to them when I want to try a new color: https://lovinsoap.com/2011/07/natural-soap-colorants-gallery-spice-and-herbal-powders-at-trace/...