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la-rene

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Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
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Location
La La Land
So, my first day posting! Yay! I've been making soap and thrusting it in my friends and family's hands for several months now. I started making it last May on a whim and now I can't stop. I've done, or I should say, my roommate and I have done (since I dragged her into this hobby as well) probably 80+ batches of CP soap. Mostly those little lunch meat containers for molds. They hold about 12-16 oz of soap and are perfect for little test batches! We are having a great time. I love buying and trying others soaps too. My latest purchase was the Zum Bar. It was pretty good. Smelled great!

I should join up in Soap and Bath Products Anonymous. At any given time, there are at least 6 (probably more) soaps going, a couple body washes and several different lines of hair product in my shower, just for me. It seems only natural to make my own, right?

We've had a few not so good batches and we struggle with the SoCal heat and DOS (no air conditioning...) But, mostly, we've made some great stuff! Recently we've been playing with color only and then rebatching and adding scent. We made a soap that looked like guacamole and smelled like fresh cut grass. LOL (that's my favorite smell!)

Anyhoo, just wanted to say hi. I've had fun reading about canola oil tonight, since that is in one of the recipes we've made. It hasn't caused us too much grief yet, but the oldest batch is only from June, so we'll see. We did have some DOS, but like I said before, we made soap through the summer and it stayed above 90 degrees in our house for a month or more and we had a really sh*tty scale, but even so, we only had maybe 5 batches show the spots. Time will tell.

Have a great night!
LA
 
Welcome! You sound amazing. LA and no a/c huh?? Must live in the valley! Cuz if you lived near the beach you don't need A/C anyway. One question, what's a Zum Bar? I'm glad you're having fun, and welcome again!
 
Hey thanks, Melstan! Nope, not in the valley, (not beach either... darn it) but the last few years it's been really hot all summer, so... go figure. Zum Bar is a goats milk bar that is sold at Whole Foods. The company is out of Kansas City, Mo and is called Indigo Wild. They've got a very comprehensive website.

How's it up in Reno? Drove through there a couple times on my random x-country road trip some years back. I liked it. Beautiful area.
 
Reno is unusually cold this year, lol. I'd ratherbe in LA. I used to live in the Inland Vsalley... totally miss socal weather!
 
Welcome to the forum! I'm in LA myself. :) There are a few of us actually - gotta represent! :)

I've been doing this a couple years and have not yet tried Zum. You liked it? I seem to see it around quite a lot.

Anyway, glad you're both addicted. It's a really fun hobby. If you have any questions don't be shy. :)

Dean
 
Welcome to the forum :)

We don't have a Whole Foods around here, so I can honestly say I've never tried a Zum Bar. I haven't bought soap from a store in years though LOL
 
Like I said, I'm an addict! lol! I like to try them all. I should take a pic of my soap shelf, but honestly, it's a mess and I should not subject anyone to that. I like reading all the soapmaking blogs and looking at the websites of all the sellers out there. I get so envious sometimes! Especially when they have a farm or ranch or an old house that they've renovated to live and work in. Man, that would be fine.

Honestly, I miss snow and cold weather. Kind've sick of sunshine. Sounds odd, but true.

Thanks for the greetings everyone.
 
Welcome to the forum! I'm in LA myself. :) There are a few of us actually - gotta represent! :)

I've been doing this a couple years and have not yet tried Zum. You liked it? I seem to see it around quite a lot.

Anyway, glad you're both addicted. It's a really fun hobby. If you have any questions don't be shy. :)

Dean
I thought it was pretty good. It didn't dry me out, which is a plus in the LA weather. It is very aromatic. Which I have to be careful with sometimes. I volunteer with a therapeutic riding program on the weekends and some scents attract the bee's like crazy!

What I did like though, is how well they advertise themselves. They definitely market to the type of person Whole Foods markets too, so it works. What I didn't like is that they wholesale in logs where chunks are cut off, when you buy you don't know how many hands have handled your bar since no one is attending it.
 
Yea, their marketing is pretty darn good. I agree, I am not a big fan of the wholesale logs, though. Soaptopia is a pretty big company out of Venice, CA, and I've seen some of her logs at whole foods. They're gorgeous, but I prefer pre-cut bars.
 
Welcome~ Sounds like you've really had a good time playing (with soap of course)..
I love the Zum bar fold out flyer about the company and all the scent combos.
Food for thought for sure.
Enjoy and Cheers..
 

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