Recent content by shmaria

Ok, my two cents from a low-tech (healthwise) country - India. I've had severe sinus trouble for years, from a combination of allergies and a blocked nostril (which I found out about and had fixed about two years ago). Although neti is an ayurvedic procedure, I could not find a neti pot...

Thanks, I'll try that. Although grating wont be required - It's over 2 months since I made the soaps and they turn into mush with a good squeeze.

Just got a delivery of sea salt (coarse) and himalayan pink salt (fine). Which one should I try first?

Those are actually pink spots (took the pics at midnight so they've got a yellowish cast) - only one bar had them and the silicone mold i used is pink so I wonder if somehow a bit of the mold color transferred to the soap. About the cracks- i'm worried the soaps are going to break into pieces...

Hi all, I'm not exactly new to the forum - been asking questions and having them answered for over a month now, but thought I should say hi just the same. Trouble is, i'm easily distracted and there are so many shiny things here to distract me! So every time I log on thinking to do the intro, i...

thanks, everyone! lessons learnt- use less palm oil, grind the salt before dissolving, expect lots of ash, muted colors. And make smaller batches :) I'll wait 3 more weeks and see what happens...

Sorry, just went through my notes because it reminded me that i had changed the recipe a bit - I actually increased the water to 423g because of what you've mentioned (I read through a post on another site that said salt should be 25% of water, but I wanted to see if it applied to our rock salt...

So, i've read so much good stuff about saltwater soaps that I went and made some last week. or at least I tried to, because what i've got is SO far from what it should be. From all reports and recipes, the bar hardens within hours of pouring, but mine has a soft talc-like feel and i can still...

Gaah! took 20 mins uploading the pics by phone and it didn't work! here they are now (in the right order this time)

uploaded the pix in reverse order so 1: stirred up LS 2: LS with scum skimmed off 3: LS in pot with scum layer

No, we don't get foamers here, just flip-top bottles, which is why i wanted to thicken it a bit. And yes, it did get nicer in the time since i made it. I don't mind cloudy soap, but yes, I think my problem is soap scum. will upload some pics soon. That explains it - I made this recipe just to...

Will do. What about thickening the mix?

Oh, no offense taken, Teresa. Just thought I'd try to explain why it's such a task for us to find the western/English counterpart to our native species. There are also instances where the name of a plant or fruit gets passed back and forth between languages and next thing you know it means...

Thanks Susie. I looked at soapcalc but couldn't quite figure out the chnages when using KOH, so thought i'd just follow the recipe. I've described what the soap felt like in my last reply - Do you think I could make up another batch at 0% superfat and then mix with this one to compensate for the...

Thanks, DeeAnna. I used filtered water- my filter claims to remove hardness and purify the water. I'll try distilled water (the stuff they use in car batteries) next time and see. I don't mind the cloudiness, just wasnt sure if it was safe to use. Did try it out yesterday - tested with ph strip...