Tall Blonde

I have a 1/4th of the garage where I soap. My boys (8 & 5) know not to go into my soap corner. When I am out there making soap they are not allowed in the garage at all. They know I mean business.

Personally, I use only OBN olive butter. They've got a good price from other's I've compared to and I think their olive butter is better. And I use A LOT of olive butter! (I sell emulsified olive body butter at a olive oil store.) But, that's just my opinion.

Carrie,

I was under the impression that lemongrass is not a citrus, therefore not photosensitizing. I think it is a green plant...

Bethany

From what I've read it is considered non-toxic, but can cause some skin sensitivity. I've found it to be an extremely strong eo, so I try to use a minimum amount and cut it with vanilla. I'm not that crazy about it, but it's one of my best sellers.

A year or 2 ago I made a 55% shea bar. Can't remember what else was in it though. I remember it was really hard and the people I gave it to loved it. Now I'll have to try it again just to see how it turns out!

You put your honey in the lye water? I've only used it twice but I added some of the water to the honey to thin it down then added to my oils right after the lye water.

I usually add my honey at thin trace.

I was thinking of the ice cube thing for milk soap. Is that how you get it to work? Clearly this process is an all day thing. I'll have to try again later this week. Thanks for all the advice!

I've found that plumeria can vary widely. I got a plumeria from Candles & Supplies that I loved! Ordered plumeria from MMS and it smells like flowery bubble gum. I don't know what plumeria is supposed to smell like either, but see if you can get samples before buying any. These are the only 2 I tried, and I definitely like Candles & Supplies better. Did you check out the scent review board?

So, I was making my beer shampoo bar. Now, the beer had been in the fridge for a couple of weeks, so it was cold. I poured the lye in. How do you keep the lye from solidifying at the bottom of the pitcher? This is why I never have any luck with milk soaps. I pour the lye in and it freezes in the bottom of the pitcher. Do I then have to sit around and wait for several hours for the lye water to completely liquefy? Then, it wouldn't come together, it separated and no amount of mixing would help. So I put it on the burner. It was finally looking better. Poured in my honey. Volcano. Honey burnt. Separated again. Finally, I quit. So, the mess is still in the pot in the garage, and I'll see how it looks tomorrow. I don't have much hope for it though. I hate the waste of money in supplies that represents!!! AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!

Not every soap will develop DOS. The only soap I've had develop DOS is some 100% oo that's been sitting around for over a year. Have you used the search feature here on DOS?

Can I volunteer to be a tester??!!

I've never seen or heard of mineral makeup before. Is this something you make entirely yourself? The colors are fabulous! I don't like wearing liquid foundation 'cause it just makes me more oily. Powders do nothing. But from what everyone on here says, this stuff sounds pretty good. I'd love to try it!

ETA: What an idiot I am! I just noticed the date of the original post! August!!! Just ignore me, I'll go to your website and order.

I just checked out your website, and your candles are fantastic! Whichever one you bring will definitely be the hit of the party!

I've pretty much stopped giving soap and lotion to friends and family for this same reason. You give them your wonderful soap and they give you a funny look and then never use it! Or you make a special lotion for someone and when you ask if they're using it they tell you "Oh yeah, I love it." But then you find out they never used it at all. But people are buying my soaps and lotions, so...whatever.

Is Roebic the one sold at Lowes?

Ooo-TB that bar sounds so good!! Can't wait to see your recipe.

Glo

Thanks-but I still haven't had time to make any. I've still got the beer sitting in the fridge, but I just haven't the time to get to it! Maybe this week I'll be able to squeeze it in...

Thanks for posting that! I'm finally running out of lye and will need to get more soon. I thought I'd have to make a 20 minute drive to Lowes, but now I'll only have to drive 5 minutes to Ace!

As long as it doesn't seize in cp! I don't know, maybe it's just me. I just came in from making some lemongrass cp. It wasn't till after I poured it into the mold that I realized I forgot to add the eo!!!:embarasse

No I gotta go make my milk & honey and I suck at milk soaps too! I think I'm just not in soap mood right now.

I've used WSP's White Gardenia in cp 3 times now and each time the batch has been ruined. The first 2 times it seized immediately so I had to cook it. So last night I thought I'd be clever and hp it. Well, it riced. Gardenia is a very popular fo for me. Does anyone have a gardenia fo that smells like gardenia (that's why I love WSP's) but doesn't seize/ rice?

I thought I had my recipe in my notebook, but alas, it isn't there. It's a lavender and honey shampoo bar and I used lavender eo and tea tree. How much castor oil did you use? I used I think 10%, but this weekend, if I have time I'm going to make a beer shampoo bar with avo and shea butter. I'll look for my recipe some more.

For me, how quickly the CP hardens depends on a number of factors. What kind and what percentages of oils I used, and what the weather is like. Just give it time. You may be surprised.

The owner of the olive oil store where I sell my stuff told me oo was good for about 2 years, food wise. For making soap...probably longer than that.

Well, it's thinner than I'd like, but I'm just labeling it Light & Lovely Hand Lotion and going with that.

I just never considered the wheat protein and cyclo to be part of the water phase. Yet another brain fart on my end. I should just stick with the recipe I already have!!!

I usually go a little higher than 50% butters to oils. I used shea butter, mango, butter, sunflower oil and olive oil in this one. As to how long I mixed it, I can't say. I mix it until I think it's well blended, then I alternate mixing and resting until it cools enough to add the preservative.

I think my numbers were just off. My previous lotion had 75% water, 17% oils/butters, 3% ewax and 2% stearic, 2% clyco and apparently no cornstarch and I think that worked out ok. I'd like to put the cornstarch in though. I think the wheat protein threw me off. I bought it for my shampoo bars and should probably just stick with that.

I just had my husband nail some wood together! He made me a slab mold that I make anywhere from 70oz (aprox 20 4 oz bars and some 3oz sample sizes) to 120 oz (or more!). Then I put a sheet of paper on top and then a board. Works great for me!

I make a cream that's 60% water and 20% oils/butters and it's super thick (like frosting!). Maybe if I cut the water down to 70% or so, up the ewax & stearic a bit?

Ok. I made some lotion yesterday and it still seems pretty runny, so I need some help.

75% water

14% oils/butters

3% ewax

2% stearic

then I put in

2% wheat protein

2% sodium lactate

1% cornstarch

1% cyclo

did I use enough stearic and ewax? Will it thicken some more? I'm going to use it the way it is anyway, but I'm just wondering how I should tweak the numbers. I may lower the water a bit.

Opinions!

When I ran out of freezer paper I used a trash bag. Not a heavy duty one, just a regular kitchen Glad trash bag. I think I like the trash bag better because it was easier for me to put into my mold. And I can use the bag for trash after!