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Can liquid pine tar or pine tar sticks be used to make pine tar soap? Thanks for your input! :)

African black soap made with sodium hydroxide

My favorite emulsifier is Creamaker CA-20 from making cosmetics. It is a mixture of Ceteareth 20 and Cetearyl Alcohol. It is a good emulsifier for complex, or simple formulas. I don't think (may be wrong here-) that beeswax is a true emulsifier. It may thicken things, but will not hold oil...

Starting is always the hardest part! A good rule of thumb is to use at least 40% of "hard" oils to make sure the soap sets up. That can be a combination of CO, lard, palm, PKO, etc. The hard oils don't necessarily have to be the bubbly oils. Use oils that are easy for you to get locally. Get...

For the peanut-butter at 9%, I just used the SAP value of peanut oil, 0.138. There was palm oil (SAP value 0.142) and diglycerides also in that peanut-butter (I looked at the palm & diglycerides as an extra bonus to the soap formula). I figured if one rounds the sap to 2 significant figures...

You go guy!! Rock that peanut butter. I used the cheapest stuff I could find at 9% of oils with other things. Best stuff ever!

It was the beeswax!:-P

This was a very deep, muddy brown. The soap went through a normal trace and heating phase, and now after 3 days in the mold, (wood, lined with seran wrap) it is a dark, muddy tan color, but is solid. Come to think of it, the beeswax (used at 1.4%) came off a brick I have been saving for awhile...

Thanks for all the information and suggestions. The brown color happened before the addition of any fragrance oils. So perhaps it is the nature of that particular palm oil, as suggested.

Decided to make some shortening soap, and bought some (inexpensive!) shortening, the ingredients: SOYBEAN OIL, FULLY HYDROGENATED PALM OIL, PARTIALLY HYDROGENTATED PALM & SOYBEAN OILS, MONO & DIGLYCERIDES, TBHQ & CITRIC ACID. I have not used this particular shortening before, although I have...

Hi Lina! Thought I'd throw in some thoughts in case you find them helpful to your situation. The recipe sounds lovely. The CO & PO percents add up to 35% in hard oils. When I began, one rule suggested was that total hard oils be a minimum of 40%. Some recipes (especially older ones) actually...

I have found that my skin finds Fragrance Oils drying. That was a hard one to give up. So now I am remaking some of my recipes with no scent or with EO. I'm still waiting for them to cure. Some of my old notes say the formula is finally moisturizing at a 5 month cure (olive oil). My...

I indulged and made peanut butter soap with cedar wood & lavender EO. Wow, did that trace fast!

Here is my last shampoo recipe, it has worked very well for me. (Just to give you an example of some variety in formulas.) 76 deg. Coconut oil at 25%, Lard (Manteca at Walmart) 15%, Cocoa butter 5%, Castor oil 10%, Rice Bran oil 20%, Extra virgin Olive oil 25%. I also used an 18% Lye discount...

Make what works for you Don't hang up on the numbers too much. They are a guide. This is what worked for me: Number one was my skin was sensitive to "cosmetic grade" fragrance oils. No matter what I put in the soap recipe (or the lye discount), it always dried my skin. Go with a good...

Curing time Hello! I would let at least some of the batch cure for 2-4 weeks as per instructions, just so you could see any difference between the cured and immediately used soap. Most soap sold for rebatching (melt & pour) is sold fairly "young", or soon after it's made, because it's easier...

Nice Job! I started with M&P also. It took me awhile to work up to the CP method with lye. I finally made a safe place to work with it in the garage! Call me paranoid!

Hi There! You've done a beautiful coloring & swirling. I can smell the jasmine from here. Perhaps you could learn more by letting the soap go through the curing process. I don't color so I don't have magic advice, but I have learned that the soap does need plenty of time to mix after the lye...

Batch sizing for mold capacity Have you solved your oil sizing yet? Perhaps this comes too late. Your 2.2 pound mold is equal to 35.2 ounces. If you adjust the soap calculator to calculate in ounces ( as opposed to grams or pounds), and then put 24 oz. of oils as your weight (set the water...

Seizing by FO Hello- I have always put my fragrance oils into an equal amount of a "buffering oil". For instance, I would add 20 grams of FO to 20 grams of castor oil. Then this mixture gets added at trace. I have never had a soap batch seize by using this method. :p