Jadryga

Those are so cute! Are they for sale? I'm Chinese, and my parents collect little Oriental figurines... they'd love those!

That's what I remember too.

Do you mean this lotion? http://www.essentialwholesale.com/product_p/345.htm

Never tried Lotioncrafter's kits, but Lindsay at Soaper's Workshop can whip up something custom for you at reasonable prices, if it's something unique you'd like. She ships them condensed, so you can control the dilution, and save on shipping too. She's got excellent customer service as well

Chagrin Valley Craft has a Honey Beer and Egg shampoo bar, but I'm not too fond of that one...

Try Lotioncrafter.com. I think I've seen those there.

Where did you get your broccoli seed oil, LaVida? Doris, thankfully my broccoli seed oil doesn't smell as bad as your broccoli water sounds... but it really does smell like pungent fermented soy sauce... and sadly my eo didn't improve it. I tried it again today, and I still smelt like cat pee. I thought it might improve once the eos had time to settle, but I guess not... I have amla powder, but it smells rather fruity... ETA: OK! I think I might have the answer, though I'll need to run more experiments... I remembered that vanilla powder added to my vinegar rinse helped a LOT with the sharp odor, so I did a rough experiment... rubbed a little vanilla powder into my broccoli seed coated hair. It worked! Sweetened the scent up tons. Now I just need to figure out how to get some vanilla eo/fo to do more testing... Has anyone tried MMS' "Natural Vanilla Oil" eo?

Sent an e-mail to Markey, she said it's normal. "Very pungent", to be exact. Phooey. She recommended trying it at a 10% dilution first. There goes my idea of a pure broccoli seed oil hair serum Pity, cos it really does work like silicone.

Woohoo! Congratulations! Looks nice and creamy! I still can't get myself to make lotions from scratch yet though I have some Polawax and Fusion Magic and all...

I'm having trouble too.

I just got my package from Garden of Wisdom (yay Markey!)... I'm loving everything but my broccoli seed oil. It smells like a spice packet from an instant noodle brand we have here! I tried covering it up with (quite a lot of) eos... but I ended up blending something that smells like cat pee! I'm really sad, because this stuff really makes my hair shine... but the SMELL! I really don't want to go around smelling like instant noodle spices (DH isn't home yet, so I'm going to nip into the shower to get this stuff off before he gets here!) Is this strong smell normal? I've checked out a long discussion on the long hair forum, but they say it's "light" to "odorless", so I'm wondering if what I have is rancid or something I'll just have to work around. If it's the latter, anyone have any ideas as to what eos would help with the smell? TIA.

Darn, I was thinking of subscribing. It looked interesting. Then again Grumpy, you've probably forgotten more about soapmaking than they'll be able to fit in a year's worth of issues...

I think there were quite a few discussions on this, and if I remember right, there are some complications about it. If you run a quick search, it should crop up.

I've seen a few of those on Lotioncrafter, at WAY lower prices. Example: http://samplecontainerstore.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=1684516 versus http://www.lotioncrafter.com/store/Mini-Treatment-Pump-pr-16134.html $45.99 versus $25.00 for 100 pcs. They only have a select few types though.

Elements B&B! I've bought mainly 1oz bottles, but they definitely do have 2oz bottles. Their prices are good and they ship lightning fast!

Maybe use a stick blender while you're warming it to speed things up a bit?

Careful, might screw up the preservative when you heat it. I'd go with carebear's advice and contact the vendor.

Some preservatives can go at much lower, so best to check. I think if you're going anhydrous, your choices are limited to liquipar and optiphen. Liquid germall plus and others are usually for o/w or w/o (oil in water and water in oil emulsions), if I remember right, and may not incorporate properly in anhydrous recipes.

Nope, no special cosmetic grade as far as I know for baking soda and cornstarch, though I prefer tapioca starch to cornstarch... I use just plain old food grade baking soda. Welcome to the addictive world of B&B!

You have to register separately for the archives, if I remember right.

Gorgeous! Love the color!

No, propylene glycol is generally used as a solvent with humectant properties. It's useful in small amounts (recommended 1-20%, max 50%), but can irritate skin in large amounts. Mineral oil on the other hand can be used up to 100%.

I've only tried EW, but so far I like their stuff. I've tried the Aloe & Shea Shampoo, Herbal Wheat & Oat Conditioner, Breakout Buster Astringent Toner, and the Cranberry Cucumber Gelee. The shampoo doesn't lather very well, you need quite a bit to lather, but the shampoo and conditioner leave my hair nice and silky... volume without frizz. Definitely will reorder. I don't like the Breakout Buster Astringent much, it stings my skin, and dries it out a little. It smells nice though. I've got an order of Lavender Chamomile Toner coming instead. I may just double the Lav-Cham Toner as a "calming facial spritz". I like the Cranberry Cucumber Gelee, it's very calming for facial skin. I use it as a daily moisturizer. Sadly for me, they don't seem to ship USPS anymore, but I think that's alright for you anyway, if I remember right. I want to try Rainshadow Labs one day... I think they're the ones with the Organic "Romance Products"

Try checking the Soap Dish forum for it. I think they call it the Apres Glow scrub bar, the original recipe is by a Disher.

A little side-tracking, but... Wow, it's PiP! Waves for you! Haven't seen you in a while!