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These seem to be kinda silly questions for someone who has been making soap for several years, but I have recently returned to it after a 4 year gap and I feel I have forgotten quite a bit. Firstly, is what you call rubbing alcohol the same as the alcohol spray we currently spray everywhere...

Almost all my soaps are milk soaps which I make using the split method. In this recipe I had 760g liquid, and had 360g distilled water, 280g milk and 20g water for mixing kaolin clay. It curdled before I added the essential oils. I usually hand stir all my soaps, but I tried stick blending it...

Does anyone have a failsafe alkanet infusion that gives a beautiful purple? How much alkanet to how much oil; which oil you use for infusion; what percentage of your soap oil you use infused; how long do you leave your infusion or do you do a hot infusion; what is your oil combo in your soap. I...

I'm not really a fan of castile but I need one for my range and am trying to get it looking as well as feeling as good as possible. I have seen some really pure white castiles, but mine always turns out a creamy yellow. I do split method milk soap, could the milk be the reason (although milk is...

I have got some white kaolin clay which I have been told may help to preserve the scent of my soap. Opinions on that also welcome! But my questions are, as I use individual moulds and pour quite thin, will the clay just sink to the bottom? And what is the best way to add the clay - mix it into a...

I started making soap in September 2014, and still have several bars of every batch I have ever made. I use EOs to scent the soap. Almost every single scent has completely disappeared. Even soaps I only made 2 months ago have pretty much lost their perfume. Lavender seems to stick around the...

Experienced soap stampers: do you have any tips for a really clean stamp? Do you rub your stamp with anything? How long do you let the soap after unmolding before stamping? Do certain recipes give an easier stamp? Do you press the stamp in to the soap or use a mallet? My stamp is locally made...

I want to make a salt bar but I have never tried it before so don't know all the potential issues. My regular recipe is a milk soap using the split method, and the oils are: 45%OO, 20%CO, 25 - 30%PO, 5%Castor oil, (5% cocoa butter). SF5%. Is it best to use 100% CO for salt bars or can I stick...

For those of you who use the split method for milk soap, have you ever tried doing a 60:40 or even 70:30 milk-water ratio instead of 50:50? I know that I can use milk powder to up the milk content, but if I can avoid that and still get the super-conditioning qualities of milk, it would be great...

I am soooooo annoyed right now. I have just made yet another batch of soap which traced really fast and I had to spoon into my silicone molds. I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I have made 6 batches of soap this week and the same thing has happened with 4 of them. When I hear people...

All those of you who use quite a lot of hard oils in your soaps: do you have your lye and oils at particular temperatures? I made a batch yesterday which was: 45 % Olive Oil, 30% Palm oil, 20% coconut oil and 5 % castor oil, using 100% cow's milk (lye concentration of 31.5% and 5% superfat)...

Oh man. Please tell me how many batches of soap you made before you were absolutely, completely happy with one? I am a relative beginner but I have now made 23 batches of soap, and although I have made some really good ones, not a single one has been exactly as I want. I use silicone molds so I...

My latest soap turned out like this - white on the bottom and yellow on the top. It was not supposed to! The yellow part is also significantly softer than the white part. This is my recipe: Olive oil 45%, palm oil 30%, coconut oil 20%, castor oil 5%, mint and lavender EOs. 100% milk, lye...

I'm sure this has probably been asked before, but what is you absolute all-time favorite CP soap recipe, and why? I'm talking mainly about percentages of oils but also favorite EO blends and any other factors are welcome!

I have been experimenting with 100% castile soap using 100% milk. I would literally do anything to get rid of the sliminess of castile (I live in a country where olive oil is cheap and castile is seen as the holy grail, so as a potential seller I want to take advantage of these things but try to...

Okaaaay, where do I start? I have been experimenting with natural colors for my CP soap, and I bought the ebook "Coloring Soap Naturally". First I tried cinnamon and used both the oil infusion for scent and adding cinnamon at trace for color. I insulated the soap so it would gel. It turned...

I have been making soap for about 7 weeks, so just last week used some from my first batch. When I made it it looked pretty good but as it cured it seemed to get softer and softer. It was a nice pale cream color. When I used it it immediately turned to a horrible slimy goo, and after a few uses...

I want to make a CP soap inspired by the Arabic sweet Layali Lubnan which is flavoured with rosewater and topped with pistachios. Can I use rosewater for my lye solution, and would you recommend just a small amount with regular water or could I use pure rosewater for the lye? Or a rosewater and...