mountainmadness

That is interesting. I had always thought that it was the scents.... I have seen 100% coconut oil soaps before in HI and they had a large amount of ash. All scents, colors, etc. I wonder if it is the oils.... Hmmm. You have me wondering now. How much coconut oil do you use?

I am one that likes the ash. I use individual molds and leave the ash on them. In my experience, it does not seem like the oils that cause this but the FO or EO. HTH.

Baby powder FO does leave a tan color to your soaps.... I have used it from many suppliers with the same results.

Soap?! All I do is shred my CP scraps and add water... I do not sell this but just use it at home with the kids. All you need is a good foaming pump.

Pure white coconut oil.. which is sold for making popcorn is what you use in B&B products. That much I know! :smiley2: The melt point is normally 76 degrees. In the lip balm that I have made I use vitamin E and do not use a preservative. I have never felt the need and have done a lot of testing. By looking at your ingredients my suggestion would be: 60% shea butter 20% coconut oil 20% soybean oil vary the amount of Vitamin E depending on the size of your batch. You do not need much and too much might make it runny. HTH.

My wooden slab molds have come from Brambleberry. They have great customer service and there quality of items are great! HTH.

I use olive oil and have never had a problem with mutating colors. I use pigments from the Pigment Lady. I mix my powdered pigment with a tsp. or so of veg. oil and then add it to my soap. I too, do not know where your brown tint is coming from.

I think that if you have to ask then you are not ready. You have to love what you do. Added to say that for me, having a business of my own was not something that I consulted anyone about, it was a strong desire that I had and knew that it was my goal.

That is so sweet. It is fun to have help in the kitchen..... sometimes.

I purchase the exact ones from Michael's Craft store. They are .99 a piece. Sometimes they are on sale for .49 each. No shipping, is what I like!!

Some should be powder and some should be more whole. You actually get the benefits from the powder (colloid oatmeal). The whole oatmeal is more for looks and a bit of scrub. Oatmeal, Milk and Honey is an awesome soap and with fall/winter coming it is a big hit. HTH.

Your items and website are really beautiful. A very modern, clean feeling. Keep us posted. I think that the gift idea with samples is a great idea. If she learns for herself how nice your items are then she can carry them and sell them when customers ask her questions. Good luck!

The only thing that I could think of is the smell........

We do not deal with beetles up here but other bugs. I have mixed citronella, rosemary, and eucalyptus before and it does keep them at bay. You may want to try it and see if it works. I wouldn't spray the whole house though just incase it does the opposite and attract them! HTH.

I am glad that you are okay. I got a lye burn in my eye once. I never even touch the stuff without safety glasses on now. Thanks for the reminder for those of us that forget how bad it can burn!

I have had much success with using vegetable juices in my soaps. I make a tomato mint soap as well as a carrot soap. Both I use the pureed juice instead of water. From everything that I have read, and in testing the products before I starting selling them, that the vegetable juices provide some natural benefits... carrots are great for moisturizing and tomatoes are a natural astringent. I have some customers with oily skin prone to break outs that only use the tomato soap and it works for them. Burt's Bees makes a wide variety of vegetable soaps with using the natural pureed juices. I have also used purred cucumbers and have not had issues with any of them. I think like Robin said, the key to adding things is trial and error and not using too much. I have tried strawberries and various other fruits and they have turned brown and nasty. HTH.

In CP soap you can add cocoa powder after trace. It will make the bars a dark brown (looks like chocolate). In my experience, the scent of chocolate may be there for a couple of days but not for long unless you use a chocolate FO. There is no "froth" on the soap.... You must be talking M&P. I have no experience with cocoa powder in M&P soap.

Beautiful job and welcome!

I had a friend in another state send me a newspaper article about a soap company that will be opening its doors in her area.... (in WA). I was reading along and she was asked what makes her soap so special and different... she stated (and I quote), "I use retained glycern extensively". So my question is, isn't that the same thing that the rest of us do? I know that commercial soap makers remove the glycerin which is a natural by-product that occurs during the soap sapification process. Homemade soap makers cannot do that. I guess that is a fancy way of putting it... being a soap-maker, it sounded almost silly to me... Any thoughts?

Ditto for me....

Awww thanks! It really does work though. I was crammed up in a corner once with being new to the particular show. I did that with the soap in the bathroom.... I would say that 70% of the people at my table started the conversation by saying... I used your soap in the bathroom..... It is a great way to sell without being pushy. I do not do pushy.

Have you done any Christmas shows before? Do you know how much that you bring in? Christmas shows are good for most. I just signed up for a 2 day show and the table fee was also $150.00. I did a total of $1200.00 that weekend last year. If nothing else, you can think of it as advertising. If you are upstairs one thing that you might do is place a bar of soap in the downstairs bathroom on the sink with your business card taped above it... state that they can find more of these pampering products upstairs.... that seems to work well too. HTH.

I have done a lot of craft shows and do a market every weekend. I have a total of 30 regular scents (soap, not candles). I take all of them with me. I take 18 bars of each scent. I have never had a customer state that they were overwhelmed by all of it. I love it when they pick up bar after bar and say, "I cannot choose!". I charge $6.00 ea or 3 for $15.00 (6 oz.) bars. If you have a good selection then people will buy more... especially if you give an incentive. I say, the more is better!!

I also use a canning jar.... but I place my herbs, flowers, etc. in a muslin bag so I do not have to strain it. I place my oil in my sunny window in my kitchen for about a week. It works great! I just infused calendula last night. All that fresh calendula from my flower garden....

Best of luck to you. You will have so much fun.