Recent content by Soapin

Thanks again, everyone! Deanna, I see what you're saying now. Traces of metal in our oils might just be a natural result of the metal equipment used to process the oil. Noting you can do about that! Thank you, Susie. That makes sense to me, too: if it was humidity, it would affect all the...

Thank you, everyone! Here are some responses: 1) That's a great thought about the metals my tools are made of. I use only stainless steel, but then it occurred to me that I use a guitar string cutter, and I don't know what the strings are made of. Steel, I'm sure, but stainless? I don't...

Hello. I make batches of 50 bars. I would say out of the 50 bars, less than 5 bars end up with a single small orange spot that does not spread to the rest of the bar. I’ve got bars of soap that are a year and a half old that have never developed DOS. I use distilled water, olive oil, coconut...

Hello, all. I'm sorry it took me so long to follow-up on this! I did decide to buy the liquid soap base as mentioned in in my original post. I contacted New Directions, and they suggested adding the peppermint essential oil at 4-5%. I did 5%, and it's a little strong, but not bad. I think...

Hi, everyone. I had decided to make scented liquid soap from a liquid soap base, but now, thanks to some of you here, I'm considering making it from scratch instead. My concern isn't with the difficulty. My concern is with time. Don't you have to stir it a lot over a long period of time...

Hi, everybody. Thanks for the great answers, and yes, that's right about this not being true castile soap. Looks like it's made with good ingredients, but no olive oil at all! From what I've read, I agree that it doesn't look difficult to make liquid soap from scratch, but I'm concerned that...

Hello! I'd like to get the liquid castile soap base from New Directions http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/liquid-castile-soap-base-p-601.html and add some peppermint essential oil to it. Is there a formula or ratio regarding how much essential oil to add? Thanks!

Hello, everyone. I'm so sorry for my delay in responding! I tried to think of a good excuse for why it took me so long, but I found that I don't have a good excuse! Anyway, your answers are wonderful, and they all point to the same thing: Lye is a generic term used describe any strong alkali...

Aha, yes. I searched Google for the definition of lye, and I got "a strongly alkaline solution, especially of potassium hydroxide, used for washing or cleansing." Merriam-Webster has two definitions of lye: 1: a strong alkaline liquor rich in potassium carbonate leached from wood ashes and...

Thanks, Cactuslily. That was my first thought, too, but when I looked it up, potassium hydroxide is also known as lye. Is lye just a generic term for any strong alkali used in making soap?

If you search Google for "soap definition" it gives you this: "a substance used with water for washing and cleaning, made of a compound of natural oils or fats with sodium hydroxide or another strong alkali, and typically having perfume and coloring added." The FDA provides a similar...

Hello, Saponista! Thanks for your post, but I have to say, I don't know what that means! I'm a beginner. What does it mean to "gel" the soap? Thanks.

Thanks, everyone for your posts. You are all so generous with information. I made two batches on Saturday, and I wiped out the pots immediately after. I used paper towels because I haven't had a chance to buy some rags. Then I let the pots sit 24-hours, and they washed out pretty well. Like...

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! Looks like if I'm set on using EOs only, I'm out of luck when it comes to soap that smells like coffee. The Efficacious Gentleman, there is indeed coffee essential oil. I've bought it from New Directions, from Piping Rock, and from Amazon. It is pretty...

Thank you for the link, DeeAnna. I prefer pure essential oils instead of fragrance oils. It's important for me to know the ingredients, and that's almost never possible with fragrance oils. But maybe a fragrance oil is the only way to get soap that smells like coffee, in which case I'm out of...