Search results

I wanted to be able to add herbal infusions to my soap for their herbal properties, but the more I read the more I think the herbal properties don't survive saponification, other than scent in some cases. Disappointing. I live in a rural area and have lots of wild plants that i would like to use...

Hey, does anyone know if it is effective to remelt soap to add in herbal infusions? I read somewhere that the properties of herbs can be kept if they are added after saponification, that is, rebatching without adding new oils/lye. Let me know if anyone has a take on this.

I have read something about remelting soap and adding herbal infusions. Do you know anything about that?

I read somewhere about adding herbal infusions to rebatched soap. The soap was remelted and the infusions added, so it wasn't a rebatch where new oils/lye were added to the old soap. Do you know anything about this?

I'd have to get a digital camera first...I'm not very up to date with gadgets.

Actually, just Google "Oregon Grape bererine oil infusion" and a bunch of stuff pops up. Some may or may not be credible; decide for yourself.

I've read it several places...in some books...but its been a while so I can't direct you to my source. :( Sorry. My oil turned dark orange. Once I finish setting up my little home lab, I intend to do a bit of biological experimentation. Anyway, it made my soap a nice yellow, if nothing else.

Oh! I want to grow Woad SO BAD!! But its a noxious weed in Washington state.

Interesting. Everything I have studied says it is quite easily extractable in water, oil, and alcohol. I guessed that it would survive soapmaking, but wasn't sure if it had been tried much.

Its kind of a regional thing, I suppose. Oregon Grape is a common Pacific Northwest native plant, with some significant medicinal properties. Actual medicinal properties; a lot of herbalism is voodoo in my opinion. The plant contains berberine berbamine oxyacanthine, which is an antibiotic...

Has anyone ever uses Oregon Grape root (rather the yellow inner bark) oil infusions in any of their soaps? The inner bark contains a high concentration of the antibiotic berberine, but I wonder if the survives saponification.

Thanks for the tutorial! I did the zap test today on my very first batch of soap. I am concerned that it is lye heavy since it is hard and breakable (after sitting in the mold for two days), but I didn't get a zap. At least I don't think I did; sounds like the "zap is hard to miss. I'm still...

Thanks so much for all the input. I've read differing opinions on rebatching lye heavy soap; some say no, others say yes with added oils, so I'm just trying to get as many people to give me their opinions as possible. I don't know how hard it is to rebatch since I've never done it, so I don't...

So I did the zap test and didn't get a zing, but I am worried that it is lye heavy. Is it possible to save it/rebatch it?

I ran my recipe through the MMS lye calculator with 5% superfat. My batch reached trace and looked like all the batches I'd seen demonstrated on Youtube. I haven't done the zap test yet since this is only day 2 of the setting process. Would now be a good time to zap test? No I didn't refrigerate...

Hello, I'm new to soap making and would appreciate any input. I've been doing a lot of research on cold process and room temperature process, and decided to go with room temp for my first batch. Everything seemed to go well, but when I took it out of the mold the soap was too hard and brittle to...