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  1. S

    Salt bar - salt not dispersing

    It *was* a bit more of a beginning trace than past batches. Thank you!
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    Salt bar - salt not dispersing

    Hi everyone! Fingers crossed someone has the answer here. I've made several batches of salt bars. My favorite recipe is the simplest: 100% coconut oil, 25% sf, 100% sea salt. I dissolve lye in coconut cream and always stir in salt after oil & lye mixture come to trace. This time, however, my...
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    So I did something crazy yesterday..

    If I saw this on sale somewhere, I would not gasp in horror but my brow would furrow in confusion. I think the cork makes a hole in the bar of soap for no aesthetic or practical purpose and, when the bar of soap is kept in a humid shower, there's the likelihood of the cork getting moldy before...
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    What effect does humidity have on curing soap?

    I made several batches of soap in May just in time for hot & humid June, July & Aug to come along while curing and cause all of my soaps to sweat. All of my soaps cure (& are stored) in an office in my home that is not air conditioned. In Aug, when I went to try the soaps I had made in May, I...
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    Avery or Online Labels?

    I use OnlineLabels for my products. I used to order their labels and print them at home with my inkjet printer but I recognized the need for stepping up the professionalism and now I order my labels printed from them directly. It makes a gazillion points of difference in the look of my products...
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    Less oily body butter please!

    Apricot kernel oil and grapeseed oil are two of the lightest oils available. I'm a licensed massage therapist and they're the two oils I recommend to new parents when teaching an infant massage class. That said, they both also have quite a short life span before going rancid. In my body butter...
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    face masks to prevent flu

    Well, I can't recommend a facial mask but do heartily sing the praises of homemade elderberry syrup and thyme syrup. Both have kept my family in the clear for years. Whenever we do start to feel something coming along, we quadruple down on both of those (along with sautéed garlic, maybe a strong...
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    Bramble Berry gripe

    When I first started ordering from Brambleberry early last year, I wasn't aware of a lot of other suppliers out there. I took their lengthy processing/shipping time + expensive postage to be the standard. Then I started ordering from different vendors and the difference is night and day. I now...
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    First Salt Bars Today

    If you don''t use individual molds for the salt bars, how soon after putting the soap into a loaf mold should they be cut? I've only used individual molds but want a larger bar so would like to try my loaf mold but am worried about it hardening too quickly and then them not cutting well.
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    Coffee fragrance in soap

    I think this is a very personal preference. I make a mocha scrub bar with coffee essential oil (Liberty Naturals has a reasonably-priced Roasted Coffee e.o.) and used coffee grounds that people really love. I think there's something about the aroma of coffee coupled with the brisk sensation of...
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    Lavender

    No, I use 10 grams of essential oil total for the entire 4 lb. batch of soap, not ppo. 10 grams is less than .5 oz. I think the recommendation of .5-1oz of fragrance ppo is waaay too much but that's just me. My system's extra sensitive I guess? That said, if you were to give someone with closed...
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    Lavender

    I make lavender soap and only add about 10 grams of the Brambleberry 40/42 Lavender to 4 ounces of soap. It definitely smells like lavender. Not hit-you-over-the-head headache level of fragrance but it's for sure there. I do add dried lavender but only about 4 or 5 tiny leaves for the top of...
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    Witchhazel

    I use melted shea butter as the binder. No witch hazel. They stay super hard.
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    Substituting water for yogurt

    Hello everyone, If I were to substitute 1/2 of the distilled water (for lye) with yogurt that I add to the oils, would that still be enough liquid? I'm trying to formulate a yogurt soap but am not sure if I can replace one with the other of if I must take into account the thickness of the...
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    Coffee soap doesn't want to smell of coffee

    I've used Plant Therapy's coffee essential oil in my soap with great success. I use only their small 10ml bottle for almost 3 lbs. of soap and the smell still comes clearly across and is wonderful. Adding coffee beans to the top of the soap also helps accentuate the coffee smell - those beans...
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    Shrink Wrap and Whipped Body Butter

    It won't melt them. It takes less than 20 seconds to secure the band with a hair dryer or heat gun. Even if it did make it warm, the degree difference would be so minor that it wouldn't liquefy.
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    Coverings for gelled soap

    I typically do not aim for gelling my soap. I make primarily uncolored or mute herbal-colored soaps so usually soap at lower temperatures and then set the mold, uncovered, in front of a fan. Simple soaper I am. I would, however, like to dry gelling a batch. I've read as much as I could -...
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    Using beer in soap

    Since it does accelerate, do you rely more on hand stirring and less on stick blending?
  19. S

    Using beer in soap

    Thank you everyone! This is very helpful.
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