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Thanks for the advice but it's too late!! But I have a question: it called for 15g of citric acid, which would mean 15g of water. What would all that extra water do to my recipe?

Thanks. I just added it to the still-warm lye solution, stirred for a few minutes and it has yet to dissolve. I'll wait a while to see what happens. I might just cut my losses and dump it :-(

I somehow overlooked adding the citric acid before adding the lye (I did add salt and sugar that the recipe called for) so now am wondering where/when to add it. The water is already adjusted so I can't leave it out. Should I add it to the cooled lye solution? To the oils? Thanks!!!

This time I'm following a recipe I saw online so will stick to the 10% salt but in the future I'll definitely try the soleseife method. Your soap is absolutely beautiful! Thank you.

I know that salt bars can be problematic to cut since they harden so fast. Cavity molds are often recommended for this reason. My question is, at what percentage does this become a problem? I plan to use 10% salt (percentage of oils) which apparently isn't much, so I'm wondering if I still might...

Thank you both. I was stuck on following the recipe exactly but have no reason to use more water so will try 33%.

That worked great for the oils, thanks. But what about the lye solution? The calculator has to have my input for percentage or ratio, and I don't know what that is in the recipe (unless my calculation of 31% is accurate)?

I have a CP recipe I want to make but need to scale it down. It only gives amounts in grams; no percentages. For the oils, I know how to figure out the percentages. But for the water and lye, I'm not confident in figuring out the %Lye Concentration or the Water/Lye ratio in order to enter into a...

Thanks! That's what I was hoping to hear.

Has anyone used Pompeian Simply Light Taste Olive Oil, sold at Costco, for CP soap? I've never seen it before, and have always used Kirkland Signature Refined Olive Oil. The Pompeian seems slightly lighter in color although it's not easy to tell. Any input would be appreciated.

I'm preparing to make by first salt bars. When I go to a lye calculator to enter my recipe, I don't see anywhere to enter the large amount of salt I will be adding (60% of oil weight). I understand that the addition of salt does not change the amount of lye needed. But by adding salt I'm greatly...

Thanks to all. My concern is whether or not I'm giving my sister soap that is safe to use, with my instructions that she let it cure for six weeks. I just put my tongue to a piece of the soap and felt nothing, so I'm guessing it's safe in spite of the high pH. I'll go with that!

I followed the recipe accurately (at least I think!) and cut it after two days. I've been testing it with pH strips daily. While the strip is slightly more green that it was, it's still very dark. I know there is debate on the accuracy of pH strips, but I tested it on another of my soaps at the...

All this is very interesting, as I struggle to get good color with clays. Do you disperse with water or oil? And what ratio? Thanks.

I like adding clay to soap for color. In the last year, I've had two successful batches, one with Brazilian red, one with Brazilian purple. Both maintained their colors very well. Recently I decided to use French green clay in a small batch of 400g oil. I used two rounded tsp (undispersed) of...

I'm a hobby soap maker. I've been wanting to make an oat milk soap but, not wanting to make my own, I hadn't found any without many things added to it. But now at Trader Joe's, I see they have an oat beverage made of only water and hydrolyzed oats. Has anyone used this for making CP soap? Would...

This gives me hope! I'll give it the full 72 hours before concluding anything. Thank you for the explanation.

[Edited to include recipe] I made a small batch of soap 20 hours ago. I just unmolded it. It was tackier than I'm used to, although not soft. I used a pH strip and see the pH is 12. I compared it to a batch from two weeks ago that is curing. That batch is pH 9, normal. I haven't yet tried to...

I ended up getting the ZipLock containers you recommended. They seems the right size (4 cups) for my current needs. Thanks for the suggestion. I once tried the ice cube method and made the mistake of using ALL ice cubes and then did a double-take when I saw the temp was 39F! I then had to set it...

Thanks to everyone for all the comments and suggestions. I'm seriously considering master batching, at least the lye. And I appreciate all the ideas for plastic containers with lids. It's great to have such a resourceful community!