doris

Thanks. I did a search but only came up with fbb, and would have needed to wade through tons of stuff to MAYBE find an answer.

Doris

I'm sorry, but I can't find the answer. What does FBB stand for?

Doris

There are lots of EO's that you would practically have to drink to get any adverse effects: lavender, lemon, orange, peppermint, litsea cubeba, etc. There are a lot of dangerous ones, but most are safe if used in sensible quantities. Almost anything can be dangerous if used incorrectly.

FO's on the other hand, in my opinion, are not as safe as everyone seems to think. There are lots of people who have problems with chemical scents, who have no problems with EO's. I was once sick for a week, felt like my lungs were on fire, from a 1 minute exposure to a highly scented candle. I use EO's all the time, as room sprays, in my soaps, in bath salts, in water simmering on the wood stove, and have never had a problem. I have a shop in which I sell my soaps and bath salts, along with lots of unscented things, and we've had people come in and tell us that it is nice to be able to shop in a store that doesn't stink to high heaven from the masses of scented products that most other stores seem to carry these days. Many people like highly scented candles and soaps, but there are many, like myself, that dislike them, and many that get very sick from any exposure to them.

If your friend wants something "natural", EO's are the way to go.

I think you just take it apart to unmold te soap. That way you don't have to wrestle it out of the mold if something goes wrong. Also, it is easier to clean if you get soap on it. Just take it apart and scrape away.

Doris

Stay away from the type of flea markets that sell mostly junk and yard sale stuff; most people attending these want a pile of stuff for very little money.

Doris

Hi,

For my first GM soap, I poured the lye into the goatmilk (what a smell!), gave it a stir as usual, and left it whild I prepared my oils. It turned bright orange, and developed a thick crust on top, which never quite went away. I made soap anyway, called it "pee & puke", a reference to the appearance and the smell. It looked a bit funny, smelled a bit odd, but is quite a usable soap. We use it in the bathroom at work. Subsequent GM soaps, I did the oils first, and stirred the GM and lye almost continuously and had beautiful creamy ivory coloured soaps.

Doris

Hi,

summerbeemeadow.com has a calculator that will resize your recipe to fit whatever mold you have. I've used it several times. You can use it either with a new recipe, or use it to recalculate an old one to fit a new mold.

Doris

Hi,

Check out raindancesoaps.com. They have an idiot-proof way to line wooden molds, that I've used for several years now. It looks hard at first, but makes sense by about the second time you do it. If you peel the paper off carefully, you can re-use it several times and save the bother of folding another one.

Doris