Coming back to soap

[lalam]

Hi All!

Lovely to be here again! Long time reader, first time poster!

I started soaping in early 2020, but around mid-year 2020 I had to stop because my husband and I were expecting and my biggest pregnancy-aversion was bar soap (!). My husband quickly hid away all of my soaping supplies and lingering Nurture Soap orders as they came in because I just couldn't stand to even think about bar soap (detergents were A-OK, weirdly). Now that our little one is here and we've settled into a routine, I'm getting back into my hobbies. The good news is that all the bars I made before had a nice long cure...the bad news is that they are all a little too drying for the amount of diaper-change-related handwashing that goes on in our house!

So I'm happily experimenting to see if I can create a gentler recipe right now. I'm very grateful for all the knowledge that you lovely folks have shared and collected here over the years that helped start me in soaping two years ago! Thanks All!

 

[Zing]

Congratulations on your little one! You are pretty ambitious to make soap while raising a toddler! My diaper changing days are long over -- but my hands are raw from pandemic-related handwashing. So I'll just put a plug in for homemade lotion bars. Takes just a few minutes to melt, no curing time, easy to re-melt and adjust.

I use 1/3 each of beeswax, a butter, liquid oil -- and my latest fave is mango butter for the butter, and meadowfoam seed or jojoba for the liquid oil. Just an FYI. All the regular members are rolling their eyes because I just won't shut up about this recipe. I'm not bragging -- it's been so effective on my raw hands.

Pregnancy-aversions are wild. Mrs. Zing avoided the produce section of grocery stores because she could smell pesticides. Kinda neat how mother nature/human mothers are able to protect their little ones.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

All the regular members are rolling their eyes because I just won't shut up about this recipe.

Not ttue! Well, maybe a little... But VERY good advice from "Lotion Bar King" Zing!

So I'm happily experimenting to see if I can create a gentler recipe right now.

Following @Zing's lead, here's my favorite recipe for sensitive skin. You no longer need to wait for 3-12 months for castile to cure. I do the 85% olive oil, 10% coconut oil and 5% castor variation. I start using it after 2 weeks, although, the longer the cure the better. Good for sensitive skin and babies too!

Zany's No Slime Castile

ZNSC on YouTube

 

[lalam]

Thanks both for the welcome!

@Zing, I will absolutely look into getting some beeswax to make your lotion bar; that sounds like exactly what my hands need!

And @Zany_in_CO, believe it or not I have a batch of your 100% OO ZNSC curing right now! I chose it for my first soap batch when I returned to soaping last month so that I could practice my lye-safety with a low-ingredient recipe. I know it's safe to use now, but I want to give it just onnnnne more week to cure!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

@lalam Thanks for sharing. You just made my day!

 

[AliOop]

I started soaping in early 2020, but around mid-year 2020 I had to stop because my husband and I were expecting and my biggest pregnancy-aversion was bar soap (!).

Mine was Doritos. I could smell them a mile away, and the nausea was instant and overwhelming. Unfortunately, they were the hubs' favorite chip, and my daughter was 10 years (not months) old before I could even be in the same room with a bag of them. It was another ten years before I tentatively put one in my mouth.

I'm very glad to hear you didn't have to wait that long to return to soaping. Can't wait to see what you create!

 

[GGWP]

Congrats on your little one and welcome back to soaping! My hands became suuuper dry due to over-sanitizing during the pandemic, so I'd really like to make a sensitive-skin friendly recipe as well. @Zing I'm not a regular member, but I guess it's a lucky coincidence I came across your recipe today, so don't stop mentioning it haha
Will definitely try it out, sounds like the perfect thing for me!

 

[KiwiMoose]

This place is like Hotel California
Welcome back!

 

[lalam]

Thanks everyone for the welcomes!

Mine was Doritos. I could smell them a mile away, and the nausea was instant and overwhelming.

It's totally bananas what our bodies do! Never experienced anything like that before, and I hope never to again!!

 

[Zing]

Mine was Doritos. I could smell them a mile away, and the nausea was instant and overwhelming. Unfortunately, they were the hubs' favorite chip, and my daughter was 10 years (not months) old before I could even be in the same room with a bag of them. It was another ten years before I tentatively put one in my mouth.

This is too funny! So, um, obviously I've never been preggers but I do have a love/hate relationship with both Doritos and Pringles. I often get cravings for them, especially on road trips, but then I get to a limit. Luckily, Pringles came out with these smaller cylinders that I can tolerate. But oh, @AliOop , twenty years of Doritos sobriety? The things we do for our kids....

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I do have a love/hate relationship with both Doritos and Pringles

Me too! But I DON'T want to think about that! Argh. I'm drooling as I type!
Hurrying off now to WORDLE Archive to hopefully resist temptation...

 

[Zing]

Me too! But I DON'T want to think about that! Argh. I'm drooling as I type!
Hurrying off now to WORDLE Archive to hopefully resist temptation...

LOL! And who the heck turned us on to Wordle Archive??!! There goes my weekend! Must. Have. Self. Control.

 

[AliOop]

Luckily, Pringles came out with these smaller cylinders that I can tolerate.

I think you meant to say, "Luckily, Pringles cans can be recycled as soap molds."

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Must. Have. Self. Control.

JUST. DON'T. GO. THERE.