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Thanks IrishLass! Oh, the things you learn as you go!

Okay....I am using a 5 pound mold made from HDPE (which typically I partition, this one, I didn't...)- I've made nearly 50 pounds of soap and up to this point, have never had an issue 5% castor 25% CO 20% sunflower Oil 15% OO 35% PO 5% SAO The soaping was business as usual. The only...

But does it mean I need to do my cuts earlier and if so, how early?

So, I did everything as I normally do..made the soap...waited 24 hours and began prep to cut the loaf into bars. Only this time, the soap was so hard I had to literally pry it out using a knife. The recipe was the same as normal. The only difference is I put it in an oven preheated at 170...

Thanks for this. I was kind of curious as to the effects after the molecular change and am beginning to think that a lot of the things in soap is more marketing appeal than actual benefits and the different things in the soap has more to do with how they "feel" or the "suds" factor than...

I know that different oils have different benefits for the skin but given how caustic the process is and how, when mixed together, the chemical makeup changes completely, I was curious as to what happens to the beneficial compounds that make the oils so good to the skin. For example, let's...

Awesome! Thanks so much for this. I have a cucumber mint recipe that is next up to try and I am going to follow this exactly.

This batch, I mixed the goats milk with the lye (ice cubes). It's the powdered version. I was unaware of the "split method". Will have to look it up.

When you say soap with a higher lye concentration, are you talking working with a water reduction? And should I try make my lye concentration even cooler (say 75-80 degrees)?

So I'm 27 pounds in now and have learned a wealth of knowledge from you guys (thanks!) as well a few minor mishaps as well (both learning experiences). This batch I decided to go with a goat's milk soap. I soaped cool (kept it at around 90 degrees) and put this in the freezer overnight. And...

So, I've made roughly 30# of soap so far and have learned quite a bit in the process (thanks everyone for suggesting going with 2.5# or less for new batches!). I've bought from both brambleberry and bulkapothecary and while I have loved the brambleberry scents, I am less in love with the time...

Thanks. I knew that there was math behind the madness (math is life). And it is only slighlty off from the various online calculators I've been messing with.

Thanks you guys! Quick question. I know that to produce a 5 pound loaf (approximately), I need 51.6 oils without superfatting. Using that logic, it would be roughly 10.32 ounces per pound. Could I simply reduce my recipe that way and then adjust my percentages to ounces accordingly?

I'm new too but I got the majority of my stuff at BulkApothecary. Brambleberry is slow....

Thank you so much. I am going to try this recipe my next batch later this week. I know it seems like 5 pound batches is overkill considering I just started but I bought a 5 pound mold set and figured that since that is the mold I am likely to use regularly, I may as well practice like I play...

It's my practice oils....and I have a lot of friends and family, lol. My plan is to do a 5 pound loaf a week until I get comfortable with it so it should go fairly quickly. Plus, I figure that a couple hundred dollars of soapmaking materials for "school" isn't so bad. It may appear that I am...

Let's see... 200 ounces Olive Oil 128 ounces Coconut Oil 32 Ounces palm kernal oil 112 ounces of palm oil (because at the time I didn't realize the difference between PKO and PO) 128 Ounces Castor Oil 120 ounces Sunflower Oil 120 Ounces Sweet Almond Oil 14 ounces Jojoba oil 14 ounces...

No objections. I just don't have any (and have a ton of other oils, haha)

Awesome! Do you have any suggestions if I'm not using lard/tallow?

Good to know. Anyone on the forum want to buy a gallon of jojobo oil? (JK). In all seriousness, I hate that I bought it now but probably can make use of it down the road. Are you using any more exotic oils/butters? Right now, my bases seem to be OO, CO, Shea butter, PO, Castor Oil and now...