AVD

Well I wont give out my exact blurb of what I put...but I will give you a short version that you can turn into your own. I basically state that since we try to keep our products as natural as possible and that every ingredient has expiration dates to keep products fresh, we only guarantee our products for 3-6 months (this varies per product). We preserve every product for safety, but even preservatives expire and are no longer effective. I am working on my site and have gone into much further detail of an explanation. I have also stated experiences I have gone through myself (severe infection) from non-preserved products. I sometimes too have a hard time coming up with wording. But I check thesauruses and dictionaries for help...and eventually I get it. I feel it is very important to come up with your own wording with pointers from others.

I am highly allergic to Dove soap. It amazes me that so many dermatologists recommend this. I know quite a few of my family members and friends have the same problems or at least get dry and itchy from it.

I always label with expiration dates (usually not more than 3-6 months and they should discard) just to be on the safe side. I also put a blurb on the label explaining why. I myself even with a mass produced lotion never kept them longer than 3-6 months.

If you are afraid of germies from the mouth and preserving lip balms due to that (meaning not something to preserve oils/butters), liqupar (plain regular liquapar-not optima, not pe) is safe for use in lip products.

Another helpful thing is if your recipe is in a formula is to use grams (its more precise when making smaller batches IMO). If not, you can always convert it (herbalsoapsbyrj.com has a lot of good calculators to do so). I also have a small scale that measures to 1/100th of a gram which I could not live without. I now do all my formulating for any soap/B&B in grams. When I package to sell or ship, then I use lbs/oz....but otherwise I stick with grams. It is also a lot easier to take a formula to grams than a formula to ounces in my opinion. For instance say you are making 100 grams and it calls for 35% well that ends up being 35 grams. If you are making 500 grams, it ends up being 175 grams. If you are making 1000 grams, its 350 grams. It takes less math work IMO.

soapsillywholesale.com bought dragonlily essentials I believe and wont have them in stock until June 1st.

My 6 qt does but I have never found a bowl that fits underneath to do an ice bath that wont make a mess. Care to share where/what type of bowl you use?

I got my scale that measures in 1/100th of a gram from him and it has a stainless steel base (all my scales for B&B/candles have the stainless bases). But, I believe Lotioncrafters.com also has the metal bases. I am anal and create recipes in formulas and use grams (and I measure down to the 1/100th gram if necessary). If I find a recipe online I like, I convert it. I could not live without this small scale and I find it a very valuable tool. Even my shipping scale from him (weighs up to 125 lbs I think) has a metal base.

I use LiquaPar Optima in these types of products. I use Liquid Germall Plus in lotions and creams and EDTA.

Another thing I do when wanting to cool things fast is wrap some ice packs around the base of the bowls. I place the ice packs in old socks, and tie or rubberband them (even have taped them) around the base of the bowls. One of my Mom's meds comes refrigerated so I end up with tons of ice packs and I hate popping in freezer, taking out, etc and have not found a way to do a water bath with the KA.

I have 2 kitchen aids (a 4 qt and 6 qt). I wish I had the 5 qt (yeah undecisive). My whip and flat beaters on my 6 qt are stainless steel so I do use it for both. I just dont add fragrance while I am using my kitchen aid. The 4 qt I have committed to B&B.

I have also used clear contact paper over top of the labels because depending on your clear labels, they arent always clear but more translucent IMO.

Snowdriftfarm.com has a black fly repellent in their formulary section along with a couple other recipes for pest repellants.

I love cream soap. I agree with the yahoo group for info. I use it as a facial soap and a shaving soap. The process does take a while. You "rot" the cream soap in the same way you would cure cp/hp soap. Although even cp/hp can be used immediately, it is best to wait to use the cream soap until the rotting period is over. The other cool thing is you can add a bunch of additives like you would for lotions that makes it even better.

Emu Oil is ok to put in soaps. The thing I have read is the cost of emu oil and do the benefits of emu oil actually survive the saponification. Most say the properties dont last, therefore its just a very expensive oil added to soap. I can not say if this is totally true or not, as I have not personally used emu oil in soaps (due to cost). Also, since soap is a wash off product, I am not sure the emu benefits even if they survive the saponification process would last because it is rinsed off. I personally believe emu oil is better in a leave on product. I make both veggie and animal fat soaps and do not have a preference really. It is really about the consumer and what they want.

I 2nd Old Will Knot, I have 3 scales from him. The other option I would check out is Lotioncrafters.com - they have some great scales as well.

You can buy a numbing spray for waxing at Sally's Beauty Supply. It works quite well IMO. You just have to give it a few minutes to work before applying wax. The one I have is made by Gigi.

If your tea is too strong, I find I get dark brown....even with green tea.