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    How to use Mimosa hostilis in soap?

    Hello there. A friend has requested a soap with mimosa hostilis root bark (jurema, tepezacohuite) in it. I’ve been making soap since 2012, but I don’t work often with herbs or herbal infusions in soap. Has anyone worked with this additive in soap before, and what is the best way to use it? I’ve...
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    How should I list Shea butter in ingredients?

    Hey there; I have a neem soap with hemp and Shea butter. I list my ingredients in the following manner: Saponified coconut oil, olive oil, neem oil, shea butter... Blah blah, etc. I used to list sodium hydroxide as an ingredient but one of my favorite customers asked me whether it was...
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    Magnesium stearate (lip balm) separation anxiety

    Is anyone out there working with magnesium stearate in lip balms or other products? I ask because my balms are behaving rather strangely. I've been working on a tinted lip balm. My balm base is satisfactory to me, (although it could be a little firmer, possibly). My main concern was color...
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    Improving stability and color adhesion in tinted lip balm with candelilla?

    Hey there; I've been experimenting with tinted lip balms but can't quite get the color adhesion/smoothness balance I want. My working formula is 20% beeswax, 25% firm/hard oils (coconut oil and shea butter, usually), 15% brittle butters, and 40% liquid oils. I add a small amount of magnesium...
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    Suddenly Soggy Foot Soak--A tale of woe

    The weirdest thing happened the other day and I'm hoping someone here can help me figure it out... I was making bath salts and foot soaks to sell in gift sets at a craft fair. I started by making a masterbatch of bath salts using an approximately 3-3-3 mixture of epsom salt, Dead Sea salt, and...
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    Splotchy soap

    Weeks before my very first craft fair, and the tension must be getting to me because I have had a run on batches of soap goings sideways. The latest case of soap sideeye happened today. I unmolded and cut a goats milk shaving soap, made just yesterday, only to find it riddled with light-colored...
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    Reselling without permission?

    I make a dog shampoo bar. It's one of the products with which I am most pleased--I've even used on myself, because I love the smell and because it's very gentle! I sell this bar on Etsy and it does fair-to-middling well, but not great. All of a sudden, though, I have this repeat customer who...
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    Sweaty, spicy holiday soap -- Agh!

    (This will be half vent, half OMG, what do I do?) I unmolded my planned "holiday spice" shea butter soap today... boy, what a mess. It's sweaty, slippery, and mushy. By "mushy," I don't mean soft--I mean mushy like uncooked pizza dough. It's firm enough to take out of my wooden mold and very...
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    Preventing FO browning in CP soap?

    Hi there; I'm positive I've seen threads on this subject, but I can't find them now. Apologies if this is a tired subject. I just bought Wholesale Supplies Plus' Frankincense and Myrrh FO/EO blend for use in a holiday soap. The product description says it contains 8% vanilla and will discolor...
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    Unexpected graining in kokum butter/cocoa butter

    Hi there; I've been posting on the Cold Process soap forum for a while, but thought I would branch out a bit. :) I make an all-purpose body and lip balm for chapped skin with aloe butter (which I believe is infused coconut oil), cocoa butter, comfrey-infused olive oil, beeswax, aloe...
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    Adding glycerin to shaving soap--how much is too much?

    Hey there; I know most shaving soap makers add at least 10% glycerin ppo to their shaving soap to improve lather stability. I was wondering if anyone has tried adding it in a higher amount, and if so, what happened? I notice that Mama Bear Shaving Soaps mentions their soap has 20% glycerin...
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    Shaving soap pot separation with cold process :(

    Hi there; I've heard of soaps separating in the mold, but never in the pot, which is what just happened to me. I'm hoping someone can tell me what to do with the resulting mess. In an effort to boost my lather, I tweaked my shaving soap recipe substantially. I left out my palm, and...
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    DOS in olive oil soap?

    Hey there; I recently made a castile-type (or "bastile") soap, using Hot Process. It was a 40 ounce batch, composed as follows: Palm Oil 18.25% 7.3 oz Coconut Oil, 76 deg 18.5% 7.4 oz Olive Oil 57.5% 23 oz Castor Oil 5.75% 2.3 oz I added 1/2 tsp salt to lyewater, 7g roe 2%, and 16 d...
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    preferred superfat for shaving soap?

    Hey there; Perhaps I'm slow, but I only recently realized that one can play with the superfat percentage without risking dire consequences. I'm thrilled to hear this, since it addresses a lot of my initial difficulties with making my soap both conditioning and able to produce a good lather...
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    More questions about high stearic soap

    Hey there; This is a followup to a previous question from last week, when I posted the following: The general verdict on this forum was that I had had a false trace. Well and good, I thought, I'll rebatch--just as soon as I get back from this weekend trip I'm going to take. So the soap sat...
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    High stearic soap mishap

    Hey there; Just a few days ago, I reworked my shaving soap formula to up the stearic acid content. I'm using a high percentage of shea and cocoa butters, along with added stearic, and the number value on Soapcalc is 24 for the entire recipe. With that high a value, I expected a fast...
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    More hot process questions

    Hello; After about a year of making cold process soaps, I decided to start experimenting with hot process using a crock pot. I've made four batches so far, using different recipes. Whether I've made a shampoo bar with jojoba and high castor or a more typical coconut/palm/olive oil bar, I've...
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    How long should HP soap take?

    Hey there; I searched the other topics to see if anyone has asked this question, but there are a lot of questions on HP soapmaking apparently. :). I've made my first-ever two batches of HP soap in a crock post this past weekend. Both times, it took much longer than I expected for the soap to...
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    SCI in Bath Salt

    Hello there; I had the bright idea, some time back, to reverse engineer a version of my favorite foaming bath salt, Aura Cacia's Aromatherapy Foam Bath. The ingredients are as follows: sodium bicarb, sodium chloride, citric acid, sodium cocoyl isethionate, cocamidopropyl betaine, plus...
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