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Try a 50% lye solution, 6 weeks cure time. maybe coconut milk for creaminess and bubbles. Lard is pretty good. I also loathe coconut oil, it’s terrible in soap. Butters are exceptional, but mango always leaves me disappointed. Cocoa and Shea are much nicer. If you don’t like coconut, skip the...

One weird thing is that even my “bad” soap is amazing after 6 months of curing. I made a ton of goat milk soaps this summer, and, well, stored it away thinking it was junk. Nope. I was wrong, it’s, you know, the best soap ever. And cheap, wholly moly, less than a dollar a bar for some really...

Lard takes a stupid long time to trace. So, try going to a thicker trace next time.

Get some tussah silk. It’s $ 3.00/ half ounce and you only need a teeny tiny bit. Place a piece the size of your pinky nail in the water before you add your lye. I won’t soap without it. It literally makes the bar “silky” and extra slippery.

What temperature did you mix at? It looks like too much water. You used A LOT of water. I wouldn’t go over 7 oz with that much lye. Soap a little cooler and you shouldn’t have any acceleration issues. The most you should use is 9 oz, which makes a 33% lye solution. Soap calc is terrible for that...

I use both. If you take soap out of silicone too early, it does look pretty bad.

I have/do on occasion make soap with rancid oil. I super fat at 1-2% and the soap comes out fine. Also, dos soap is safe to use. My husband loves that smell. He says it smells like soap did when he was a kid. Strange man, that one.

Wow. Thank you for the recipe!

OSHA standards would indicate that you use non-vented goggles, a respirator, and a face shield. Now, no one does that, and we aren’t subject to osha regs in our own home. But the respirator would direct the breath out and forward, and the non-vented goggles would fog up. The face shield is for...

Thank you so much, I will definitely check it out!

As the question states, I was wondering if anyone had any idea who first piped soap. It is important that I know this, or at least know if it's public domain.

Pomace and palm are cheap and easy; They make soap that's fast and freaky; but when you want to slow it down; Lard and olive come to town. Canola and soy have a way; of browning up your whole damned day; peanut and castor soap like rubber; at least it's not illegal flubber; beeswax will reduce...

I say, don't skimp on the scale. Not worth lye heavy soap. I had one of those, it was barely lye heavy, but about 2-3 hours after I got out of the shower I had tiny bumps all over from the lye. zap tested fine, and I had used the FO before. Chucked 5 lbs of soaps... bleh. Anyhow, a whisk is...

Arimara, I am terribly sorry you can't use tallow. It's really pretty special. I wonder why it bothers you?

For 4 lbs of oil, used lye calc... I used 25% palm 1 lb 25% coconut oil 15% lard, 15% olive oil, 10% avocado oil 10% grapeseed oil At 5% super fat ... I added colors mixed with extra olive oil, Then I super fatted some more with about an ounce of castor. I soaped at about 125...

Bought some palm oil. Have made 2 batches with it and I have to say... I'm going to lose it. I may whip up some plain, boring bars with it to give away, but this stuff just sucks. I have to mix with the whisk to prevent it from going to heavy trace. I must say, the smell is a bit better with the...

I have found most touristy places out east have soap that's not very scented. I went out to Williamsburg and the outer banks of North Carolina and found the soaps very lacking. Out in New Mexico and Arizona it's a bit different. There's a "southwestern" ambience they are playing to, so I guess...

Ha! I knew the BHA in my lard was helping!! Not bht, like he said, but shelf stable lard definitely makes for reduced DOS. That's my secret.

http://chemicaloftheday.squarespace.com/todays-chemical/2011/4/4/benzyl-benzoate.html Found more info on it, apparently lice don't like it any, either.

Brambleberry's ginger patchouli FO... LD50 for rats is 1700 mg/kg, 4000 for rabbits. Benzyl benzoate is the toxin, so I'm guessing small quantities in the FO for soap is so diluted it won't cause death, but still, my conscience is sendinf up little red flags.