Jadryga

Brambleberry's on the West Coast as well, no? (I'm from Malaysia, so my knowledge of US geography's rather vague.)

I don't believe there's a difference, though I might be wrong. It's more in how you treat the shea butter than whether it's refined or not. From what I've seen, temperature affects it quite a bit.

Candle Man, I just took a look at your link... it's actually Vitamin E. The INCI name for naturally sourced vit E is d-alpha tocopherol, easy to mix up. Synthetic vit E is dl-alpha tocopherol. Ran a quick search for "liquid vitamin D" and got this: http://www.tjclarkinc.com/liquid_vitamin_d.htm They seem to be the only company that sells liquid vitamin D as far as I can tell, though I didn't really search too hard. The recommended dosage is in teaspoons, so definitely no softgels :DIt's about $10 for 235ml or so. EDIT: Oh, they've got liquid vit A too, though I'm not sure if it's a good price for you. About $12.50 for 235ml. http://www.tjclarkinc.com/liquid_vitamin_a.htm

Oops! If there's a water/oil mix, water stays at the bottom and oil on top, not vice versa. Got that a little mixed up, but same principle applies.

Just hazarding a guess, could it be simply an oil/water mix with no emulsifier, so the oil settles to the bottom and the water stays on top? I know it sounds fairly simple, but as far as I can tell, a lot of commercial bath products are, but with pretty packaging Could always experiment by putting some clear oil (grapeseed maybe) and milky water into a bottle and seeing what you get. Like I said though, just a guess! For the other one, MMS sells a liquid soap base, and a suspending liquid soap base that can suspend mica, jojoba beads and stuff. I presume there's some ingredient that differentiates them... I'll take a look and see. EDIT: Ahh, found it. Through a comparison of the suspending liquid bases MMS and Brambleberry both sell, I managed to isolate xanthan gum. It's a highly efficient viscosity modifier and suspending agent that's completely water soluble. Hope it helps!

Is it just me... or does this recipe come up to 91%?

No problem! Glad I could help. Guess it pays to be a research nut sometimes

Wow, those look really good! I like the brown swirled one on the right side of the second row (peppermint chocolate?), though the goatmilk and shea one looks delish too, rather like a huge piece of toffee I'd like to sink my teeth into. Yum! Never actually tried CP, but these are inspiring.

Looks awesomely creamy! Is the preservative really necessary though, since it's waterless, or did you put it in as a failsafe?

In lotion though?

If you're looking for the INCI name, it should be just "corn starch" or if you'd like a more fancy sounding name, "zea mays (corn) starch".

I don't know about caffeine causing death if applied topically... maybe if you used pure caffeine... but if it's in coffee or guarana extract, I doubt we absorb enough caffeine through our skin to rival the amount of caffeine we ingest from an espresso. There's a lot of hype so far about caffeine helping with fluid retention when applied topically though, so might want to consider guarana extract or even better, cocoa. Cocoa = antioxidants, caffeine, yummilicious smell. Biotherm uses that stuff in their Abdo-choc... Then there's the seaweed extract someone mentioned earlier. Here's a company with a pretty extensive botanical extract range, though they're NZ-based. http://www.aromaticsandmore.com/products/botanical_extracts1.html

Bit late, but... A lot of flavor oils sold out there are unsweetened though, and are essentially tasteless. I read somewhere that it's really the sweetener + fragrance that tricks us into thinking we're tasting a real flavor. So maybe without sweetener (stevia, agave, saccharin, etc) there won't be taste, so that might not encourage licking so much? There's so much fragrance in commercial products as is anyhow, like Laura said. Tea tree oils are toxic to cats though, and chocolate is supposedly bad for dogs (substitute with carob), so might want to stay away from those Lots of natural pet shampoo recipes recommend citronella, lavender, peppermint and pennyroyal (small amounts) though all eos can be toxic if ingested in large amounts. I don't think it should be that much of a problem if they're rinse-off, no? I'd worry more if it was a leave-on.

Vit E acetate can exist in both natural and synthetic forms. It's simply chemically more stable. Problem is, there's also research that shows it's not as effective for your skin, so if you're looking for skin vitamins, best to go with the original tocopherols. D-alpha is natural, dl-alpha is synthetic. For preventing rancidity, Carebear's right, mixed tocopherols are the most powerful, since gammas mixed with alphas are most effective as opposed to pure alphas, though acetates should work as well.

From what I know, the fresher it is, the easier it is to rebatch, since the existing moisture means less soaking time.

The tutorial for Whipped Shea Butter in Snowdrift Farm states that the glycerin works because it's in low amounts, and the natrasorb recommended in the recipe helps to stabilize it; high amounts would separate. Never tried it myself though.

It's a cooking fat in Africa

Ahhh... alright, got it. Sounds like an awesome concept, can't wait to be able to contribute

Quick newbie question... what's a co-op exactly? I know the word of course, but I don't really understand the context here. The Co-op [ Info - Guidelines - Form ] sticky in the co-op section won't let me access it for some reason or the other. (Actually, make that none of the threads.)

My last post has a few links to clear PET (a type of plastic) ones. Though I don't think they have the dark lid. I agree the dark lid makes it look really classy, but haven't seen any so far

Here's a couple of places to get them PET bail jars if anyone's interested. I live in Malaysia so conversion + shipping = way expensive for me But well, never hurt to share. US: http://www.naturesgift.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&itemid=1381 http://www.atrsupplies.com/bailjar.htm (has a 12-jar minimum) Australia: http://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/Cosmetic-Jars-Tubs-Bail-Jars-Wide-Neck-Body-Butter-Tubs-c-47.html

I read somewhere that heating it that high isn't good though... I think it was on the Shea Butter section in Fixed Oils in the MMS online catalog. Whipping makes it fluffier because you're whipping air into it so it becomes aerated (like whipped cream). Not too sure if that helps with graining. Some sites recommend quick cooling to reduce graininess.

Would using jojoba oil help somewhat though? I was contemplating using mac and jojoba oil to cut greasies somewhat.

I think I read somewhere that it improves spreadability, but I'd rather hear from someone who's tried it, heh.

What's the purpose of the veg glycerin though? To improve spreadability? I was contemplating adding the glycerin because I was thinking of experimenting... since the glycerin can dissolve some water-based extracts, I could maybe add some extracts in glycerin without needing to add water into my whipped butter recipe. Opinions? EDIT: Aha! Found it on Snowdrift. glycerin lends a smooth and creamy texture glycerin and Natrasorb together provide creaminess without greasiness Can anyone lend some credence to this?