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Lately, I've been doing a deep-dive into successful bar soap recipes - trying to understand why they're formulated the way they are. Here's what I've found that's surprised me: Many luxury soaps seem to only use 2 major ingredients to make their soaps: Palm Oil and Palm Kernel Oil. This...

Being a guy - you know I hate to ask for directions.... or help. But this has been killing me for a while. Where the heck should I be buying my Bay Rum?? Brambleberry doesn't sell it. Lebermuth has discontinued it. And WSP's Crafter Choice wants nearly $5 an ounce!! While I've found it on...

I've seen lots of post where one person says an EO accelerates trace, while another contradicts this. Maybe they're both right?? I've recently performed a test where my 12 indiividual soaps in their mold were perfectly well behaving - and then, for grins, I added some EOs to a few of them. I...

26 hours after soaping - I'm unmolding the soaps. This is what they look like. Top left is #1. Followed by #2 & #3. Next row is #4 and so on. I created my batch of C34 (cleansing) soap batter. Poured it into the mold. Then, added approx ⅛ tspn of additive. And, if any, 1 tspn of EO. Mixed...

big thanks to @Ford for her insight into using Red Palm Oil. (I had ordered it and wanted to make an orange soap without using colorants/micas.) I, too, used 15% along with some Sunflower HO oil that had been infused with Paprika. Also used some Sesame Oil, which had a dark color. Split the...

Let's say you used water from a spring or well... or rainwater that possibly has some contamination. Yeah, you could always boil it to be sure... but... if you used it to make lye water... and then allowed your soap to gel... seems to me that there shouldn't be any chance of microscopic germs...

New Orleans thanks all of the well-wishers. We're preparing for the worse but are cautiously optimistic. The things that folks like the Weather Channel don't like to talk about is all the changes that have taken place in New Orleans since Katrina. We've got more pumping stations and most have...

In specific - I'm looking at adding one or more of these at trace (prolly not all for the same bar of soap) magnisium hydroxide aluminum hydroxide beta cyclodextrin sulfur (or sulphur) (I'm hoping @DeeAnna our resident chemist my chime in!) I'm on a mission to extract certain stubborn oils...

Goat's milk, cow's milk, breast milk, yogurt, coconut milk, condensed milk, buttermilk.... you name it, i've read something about it... I've been researching the pros and cons on the different types of milk. But I have yet to find a good resource that talks about the chemistry of this: i.e...

Let's say I separate my batch into thirds at early trace. I add activated charcoal to one ⅓ batch I keep another third as my base. and I add my scented bentonite to the last third. (so that ALL EOs are in this portion of the batch) Then I make pretty swirly things... When cured, will only the...

Would love to hear how folks clean up their equipment following a soap-making session. Especially after using activated charcoal! I've heard one video say to leave everything in the sink until it becomes soap. But I don't have that luxury. I use up a lot of paper towels to wipe off as much as I...

Hi all -- a total newbie here - but have done a lot of extensive research.. so, I'm dangerous because I think I know what I'm doing! I'm trying to create a soap that's "stronger" than what's out there. Stronger, as in, I'm trying to get find a way to get manly BO and deep-seated oils off...