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I purchased White Tea & Ginger FO from Fragrance Buddy this past summer when I was in the USA, based on enthusiastic recommendations here on the forum. And I love it! And my friends and family love it! It's fresh and unisex and lovely! The issue: I recently logged onto the FB site to check...

I've opened a thread on Humblebee & Me Sulfate-Free Shampoo Bar with Rice Starch because there seems to be a lot of interest about this recipe. I hope this is in the right place. I also wonder if there's a way to move over the posts abut this recipe from the "What Bath & Body . . . " thread so...

Three weeks into the cure, I noticed that my soap transformed from this: to this: My recipe: Sunflower HO (49%), Soy wax (24%), Coconut (12%), Sunflower oil - regular (10%), Castor oil (5%). 2% superfat // 33% lye concentration. I used white vinegar as the liquid. I gelled the soap on a...

My soy wax CP recipe is very fast-moving AND I've recently been having issues with accelerating micas (who knew micas could accelerate trace???), so I decided to stop frustrating myself with swirls (with this recipe anyway) and go for a simple layered soap. This is scented with Black Raspberry...

I recently decided to try rice flour instead of rice puree because it seemed like less fuss. I used 2 teaspoons of rice flour in a batch with 500g of oils. I let the rice flour soak in 1 tablespoon of distilled water for about 45 minutes. Since I use soy wax and it needs to stay very warm, I...

I've been thinking about revisiting vinegar in my CP soaps. I've only used apple cider vinegar but was wondering what others use. White vinegar (ingredients: acetic acid and water) is much cheaper where I live. Is it just as good for soap making? My main reasons for using vinegar are hardening...

So much about salt bars on the forum lately! And, okay, I feel pretty weird bringing this up, but . . . my son and daughter, both young adults, have reported separately that salt bars don't clean their arm pits well enough. They are both very devoted soap testers and have never given me that...

I've been using citric acid at 1% in all my soaps to cut down on soap scum. It works really well! I found that solution here at SMF - and my bathtub and I are very grateful! Question 1: Can I use citric acid in salt bars? My salt bars are usually 50% salt. Question 2: I recently started using...

I'm about to try palmarosa EO for the first time and can't figure out what to blend it with. I've checked eocalc.com, but I don't have most of the EOs in the blends they suggest. So here are the EOs I do have: anise basil eucalyptus citriodora fir needle ho leaf (which I haven't tried yet...

I made my first batch of soy wax soap five weeks ago. I just tried it in the shower and while I really like the hardness of the bar, it made my skin a bit dry. Here's the recipe: 28% Olive 27% Sunflower HO 20% Soy wax 12% Coconut 8% Grapeseed 5% Castor oil 4% superfat // 38% lye...

Inspired by @KiwiMoose and @Mobjack Bay, I'm considering soy wax for my CP soap. I wondering what qualities it brings to soap, beyond being affordable and vegan. Lather? Skin feel? Hardness? Something else? I found a local supplier of soy wax, but they sell a kilo of soy wax and a kilo of shea...

One of my biggest frustrations in my 11 months of soap making has been accelerating fragrance oils. I finally got brave – and organized – enough to use that power to my advantage. I made a 3-layered soap in a small loaf mold (600g of oil). Here's what I did: I had all my mica and fragrance oil...

I have found an independent local olive oil producer who is willing to give me (!!!) about 18 liters of olive oil. I have a bucket with a hermetically seal-able lid that was previously only used for olive oil. How can I make sure it's clean enough for this new oil? Wash well with soap and hot...

Hi, I'd really appreciate some feedback on this soap. I'm so frustrated! I made rice water (inspired by @Dawni) soap and I got stearic spots (I'm pretty sure that's what they are) both times. I made the same recipe twice, just with more mica the second time. 189 g olive oil (35%) 189g HO...

I need to buy a new stick blender for CP soap making, and I was wondering if it's okay to soap with a blender with a hard plastic stick. I've read recommendations for stainless steel, but we use lots of other plastic items for soapmaking (bowls, lye storage, molds). I'd really appreciate...

Hi everyone, I appreciate some thoughts about the soap I just made. I've used beeswax, shea and honey a couple of times before, but this time something went wrong! There are little brownish and white spots in the soap. Here's the recipe: Olive oil 70% Coconut oil 13% Shea butter 10% Castor...

I'd like to use sugar instead of castor oil for bubbles (I've run out of castor and will only have some in a few weeks) in goat milk soap. I'd like to use GM for 100% of the liquid in my soap, if possible. The issue is that I use frozen goat milk and can't figure out where/when to add the sugar...

I recently purchased supplies from New Directions UK . I was happy with their essential oils, but I really didn't like the two fragrance oils I ordered (cucumber and honey & oats). They were way too perfume-y, if that makes sense. The cucumber also seized terribly. The brand of the oils is...

Hi Everyone, A friend and I are teaching ourselves to make cold process soap. I'm Cheryl. I'm so happy to have found this forum! You are all so kind and generous with your support! I have a question about oil temperature. I've been reading here on the forum that people soap at room temperature...