Recent content by myriad

The first batch I tried made a pretty hard bar without many bubbles, so I did it again using the same method, but raised the amount of added oils. I used the massage bar “Percup” which weighed 50g (without all the coffee beans). 50g massage bar (25g shea, 25g cocoa butter) 45g coconut oil 45g...

Hey, thanks again for the advice to use moisturizer as hair conditioner! I made a 50/50 mix of the boys’ hair conditioner and it seems to be working! I’m also using it in the shower mixed in my hand with my own hair conditioner, which stretches the time between conditioner purchases. Brilliant!

Thanks for the Dove link. I’m shocked they can advertise that it contains 1/4 cup moisturizer when it has absolutely none and is stuffed with surfactants? No stearic clump - maybe because it’s just a bit, already melted and well blended? I tried the lotion for conditioner substitution on my...

Thanks for the replies, all. To answer questions: I ran the weight of the moisturizer (it was shae butter based) plus about 100g sunflower oil in a calculator at zero superfat, and hot processed it. Some of it traced, but I had a lot of lye water still separating from the mix, of course...

We have a ton of moisturizer in our house, and I’m the only one that uses it (house full of boys). I‘ll never finish it, and we are always being gifted more… is there a recipe out there for making it into soap? I imagine it will be hit and miss because every moisturizer is different. Last...

Added a photo this morning, it was late and dark when it finished :) I broke it up a bit to get the extra liquid out, but isn’t the texture bizarre? I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m going to salt it out again to see if I can get some bars out of it.

Today I made an abomination, I dissolved a whole jar of out-of-date fig jam (still sealed & looked fine) in 1L of water, strained it, then added enough lye for 250g of olive oil and 250g lard. Obviously way too much water so I tried to hot process it. I managed to get some soap curds but it...

Hello! Once upon a time, I bought way too many Lush massage bars at various 2-for-1 Boxing Day sales… and they don’t melt or massage well, especially in this cold country! I don’t want to waste the lovely scent, or all that cocoa and shea butter, so I’ve been experimenting with making them...

I need (pure) sodium stearate for one of my recipes - a recipe which does not go through saponification. Unfortunately sodium stearate is hard to find in Europe, I'm only seeing it sold at great expense from large chemical companies. However, stearic acid is easy to find here, and when combined...

I will never use palm, having witnessed the gigantic palm plantations in west Africa. Huge swaths of natural jungle destroyed and the ecosystem completely disrupted. Sure, locals may do the labor (maybe) for pennies, but the plantations are owned by huge multinationals that rake in all the...

Over here in NL, grocery stores sell a version of beef tallow called "Blanc de Boeuf" or "Ossewit" which is meant for deep frying. It's very white and very nice to use in soap. Unfortunately one of the ingredients is a "natural aroma" which is distinctively BEEFY. I'm assuming the original...

I tried the BS and CA neutralization experiment in water and wow, it does bubble for a good while! Baking soda has to be imported into my country, so I'm curious about creating citrate from other common household bases, like washing soda and potash. (Jackie Thompson's Liquid Soapmaking, for...

We've got cheese, clogs, tulips, tons of rain, and very hard water! I confess I've run across this forum for years as I've researched soapmaking, and I've decided it's finally time to join and contribute! Altogether, I've been making soap for about ten years. Almost all laundry products and...

I'd like to make some sodium citrate to use as a chelator. Do any of ye chemistry-minded folks know the proportions of sodium carbonate to citric acid to form sodium citrate, and what the final weight of the result might be? Some background info: over here in NL, we have very hard water, so I...