Recent content by KristaMarie

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
  1. K

    I want it to be purple, grrr

    I love alkanet! Definitely give it a shot. It does crazy things and morphs while mixing, but in my experience always ends up purple within a few days of cutting
  2. K

    safest of the safe EO's?

    Yup! I use tea tree neat, with no issues. I have normal skin that borders on sensitive, but I'd advise against it for full on sensitive skin
  3. K

    safest of the safe EO's?

    I use undiluted lavender all the time. It's great for burns and I'm less than graceful in the kitchen, so it's used frequently. I'd say it's one of the safest, but that's just from anecdotal evidence :)
  4. K

    Thinking of Soaping - Introduction

    Hi and welcome! I stumbled across your site a few weeks ago when I was researching a raw diet! I just started my Fireball on raw a week ago :)
  5. K

    Is this cocoa butter refined or unrefined?

    Not sure how it gets refined, but there's no reason you can't use unrefined :)
  6. K

    Activated Charcoal & Essential Oils

    In my orange bar I used kaolin and stuck the loaf immediately in the freezer to avoid gel. I used 10x from BB
  7. K

    Creating first recipe - am I going in the right direction?!

    I don't use lard or palm, but do use 20-30% butters. Trace is fast, but not unmanageable, and I still have time to swirl. Not a lot of time, mind you! My recommendation would just be to use full water until you're comfortable.
  8. K

    Christmas soaps

    I'm so impressed with the trees and holly! Really cool looking
  9. K

    SOS!!!!! Beeswax not melting in crockpot!!!

    Don't bother with the ph testing strips. They can't tell you if the soap is good, or even if it's not, actually. HP soap is SAFE to use right away, but it's not a quality soap yet. It still needs a cure as long, or longer, than CP soap. Have you tried zap testing? That's how you're going to...
  10. K

    Yeah another Coconut Oil Allergy thread

    Coconut oil is moisturizing, but sodium cocoate (saponified coconut oil) is not. If you don't care about bubbles, you have a million options! I don't use lard, but I feel like that's going to be a good option for you. People love it, it's cheap, and won't require as long of a cure as something...
  11. K

    Is 100 percent coconut oil soap drying?

    The calculator I'm most familiar with is Soap Calc; you just type 20% into the superfat bar. I assume most work the same way :)
  12. K

    What's wrong with Palm Oil?

    Usually it's not because of allergies, but because of environmental issues. Unsustainable farming techniques and deforestation/loss of habitat for, most often discussed, orangutans. Sustainable palm is available, but questionable. It's something you'll have to research for yourself to make the...
  13. K

    Here we go from NY

    Hi and welcome! For your first soap, I would avoid fragrance and keep the recipe short and simple. What do you have in mind? I'd also stick with the smaller, 9 bar mold. 18 bars is a lot of soap to use if you're not happy with it, or a lot of ingredients to waste if it's a big mishap (though...
  14. K

    do I need to use a preservative in my bar soap?

    Bar soap doesn't need a preservative. I've only been making soap for a bit over a year, but I have some of my firsts and they're still good. Many soapers here have soaps that are years and years old. Your soap will lose it's scent after enough time, but if it's well formulated and stored in a...
  15. K

    Superfat in salt bars

    Did you make a salt bar, where you add salt at trace, or a brine/soleseife bar, where the salt is dissolved in water first? If the former, you're not likely to get much, or any, lather. Those bars are typically made with at least 80% coconut oil. If the latter, you're in the clear. Either way...
Back
Top