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If you buy homogenized palm oil, and it all melts for some reason, is it still homogenized? Meaning, if it sat in a hot garage, or even a hot truck while being delivered, does it re-harden still evenly distributed, or does it go back to its normal state?

I'm considering doing a night sky themed soap, and was wondering if anyone had an suggestions on how to make the best dark blue. I don't really want to do black because enough black to be really black seems to always make grimy looking bubbles.

I have WSP's Cobalt Blue Ultramarine Powder. I've used it a few times, in both HP and CP soap. Until now, it's been totally reliable, always producing a nice blue in line with the amount that I used. This weekend I created a set of TARDIS soaps. I scented them with a mixture of almond...

Microwave- and pouring-friendly bowls suggestions? I'm hoping people can chime in with their favorite mixing vessel for making moderate size batches (3 to 5 lb oil) of soap. Ideally, I want to find something that is: microwave safe for melting oils easy to hold with a solidly attached...

I use a few blended FOs on their own, but I also really like creating my own scents out of simple oils. Some of my favorite one- or two-note FOs for blending come from Save On Scents. I have a few from Wholesale Supplies Plus, but their oils that are named as though they are single note are...

I have a customer request for a soap scent based on an English dessert called a Bakewell tart. Unfortunately, I don't know what those smell like, beyond a written description. I know that the pastry includes almonds and is sweet. So I ask you, particularly any of you who have eaten...

Since I picked up a watermelon fragrance oil and used it in shaving soap, my 11 year old has been asking me to make bath soap with it. My standard bath soap is lard, olive oil and coconut in decreasing order of weight. I also add some glycerin for moisture and a bit of sodium lactate. I...

I have a couple of shaving soap scents that make use of low-flashpoint essential oils (citrus oils & rosemary, specifically). Waiting for the soap to be (near) cool enough to add the EOs results in a very stiff product, even with sodium lactate in the formula and added glycerin. This week I...

I made some bar soap this week. I made the formulation I used to test EG's "lard is as good as butters" theory: 45% Lard 35% Olive Oil 20% Coconut 2lb oil Scent: 50% cucumber FO, 50% canteloupe FO, 1oz total. Things started off fine. I mixed up my lye, then measured my solid oils. Then took a...

I picked up a pack of lard at the supermarket, and made my first lard soap. I'd been meaning to try lard or tallow for a while, so when Efficacious Gentleman said that a palm or lard based bar would be just as nice on the hands as one with butters, I tried it. Well, I have to say that early...

I have been using distilled water, as most books suggest. It's no big deal. However, I have also seen mention of using rainwater, which is not pure H20. The justification being that it was "very soft." I've also seen instructions that mention using borax to soften hard water before soaping...

Just like it says on the tin. I'm starting off from scratch where selling things is concerned, and I'm curious if any of the packaging distributors or mfgrs sell samples of their stuff.

I love having the ability to do lots of work in the palm of my hand, and I'd be happy to have a soap calculator on it. The ones that I've found online don't seem very well reviewed, though. Does anyone here have a recommendation for a good one?

I made a soap today that I've made before as both CP and HP. I decided to try my first CPOP procedure. The Soap: 40% Palm 25% Olive 25% Coconut 10% Shea Butter Full water, 5% superfat. Fragrance: Crafter's Choice Strawberry Shortcake at about 5%. (Used before in CP without...

If I wanted to use shea butter in a hot-process soap, primarily for its emollient/conditioning properties, would it be better to add it at the gel stage? I ask because the butters tend to be more expensive, and obviously if I want the unsaponified oil for skin care, this seems like a more cost...

I made a soap a little while ago out of 50% olive, 25% coconut, 25% palm, with a 5% superfat. The whole family seems to like it, but my wife says it's very slippery and hard to hold on to. Is there a way to make soap easier to keep in hand without making it rough on the skin? Is it possibly...

I created a hard soap shaving puck, based on the premise "what if I focus on the creaminess rating instead of specifically the stearic number?" What I ended up with was a soap that's 65% palm, 25% coconut, and 10% stearic acid. I meant to put in extra glycerin, but forgot until after the batter...

The same day that I made my hot process soft shaving soap, I tried a cold process version of the same recipe. Since it was 50% stearic acid, it seized. Horribly. I mixed in the glycerin as best I could and crammed it into a mold, because you never know. When I peel the mold off later today, I...

This weekend I made my first shaving soap. It was a hot process soap, and used a recipe posted by a fellow forum poster at one of the wet shaving forums. I did a small batch (8 oz). 52% stearic acid, 48% coconut oil, saponified with KOH. I added 1.5 tablespoons of glycerin after it was done...

This past weekend, I made my first soap! It was a lot of fun, and I got my wife involved as well. I made a 50% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, 25% palm oil soap. The soap-making process itself went really well. I used hot process, just so I would have a testable end-product a bit early. I molded...