Jadryga

Fractionated coconut oil is different from just coconut oil. Coconut oil is semi-solid at room temperature (so sort of a butter... it's hot and humid here all year round, so CO's nearly always liquid anyway for us), while fractionated coconut oil is physically separated so it's only the liquid fraction of coconut oil. Coconut oil can be unrefined (virgin), which will have the typical coconut oil aroma, or refined, which will be just about odorless. FCO is clear, liquid and odorless. FCO also cannot clog pores, and is very stable (no worries about shelf life there). Coconut oil has a very long shelf life, but it can still go rancid over time (about 2 years, I think). FCO is a very light oil, it absorbs quickly without greasiness, and gives "slip" to oil blends. Coconut oil is somewhat heavier, but still not too bad. I find it kinda greasy though. Hope this helps!

Lip balms/(non-emulsified) body butters/lotion bars all use basically the same principles and ingredients, so you could start with that "category" I'd start with anhydrous (water-free) things so you don't have to worry about preservatives. Those are usually simpler too. For me it's harder to decide what goodies I want to order than what to make from them... a good place to try smaller amounts of things is Garden of Tempta... I mean, Wisdom. But well, from a basic list of oils - olive, coconut, shea butter, maybe some rice bran oil or avocado - and some beeswax you can already make everything mentioned above, and even whipped shea! Then for scrubs, add sugar/salt/other yummy scrubbies! For things like shower gels, you can start with a base, and slowly move up to making your own surfactant blends/liquid soap. As for soap, you could start with MP to just get your feet wet, or jump straight into CP. If you're on the east coast (my geog of US is still hazy, I have a pinup of the US map on my board just for supplier references), Brambleberry, Lotioncrafter, Oils By Nature, and A Garden Eastward, are all near you.

When people want handmade soaps at the price of a Dove bar.

I haven't made soaps yet, but I want to! I love Ida's (Chagrin Valley) and Brenda's (Briar Lane) too... then there's Biggs and Featherbelle... I love their soaps, and their packaging. Other than that, there's Purusha, this Jap lady living in NY, who makes really pretty soaps on Etsy. She's sold out of soaps at the moment, but I love her use of natural colorants. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5022810

I've got Lindsay's (Soaper's Workshop) shea butter lotion base... no grains in it and I can testify that Lindsay ships fast (lol). She offers a choice of preservative for her bases - parabens or germall plus. Her lotions absorb quickly with no greasy feeling, though I think the 1:1 ratio of base to water I've been using is feeling a tad light. Going to go with less water for my next batch so it's slightly heavier on the goodies

Vio, I wouldn't really trust GSE as a sole preservative, but otherwise that seems like a fairly easy recipe to make I don't really like the feel of glycerin on my hair though, it feels.. weird. Rachel, you're welcome! I've got some broccoli seed oil, watermelon seed oil and other goodies coming in from GoW (yay, Markey!) and I can't wait to play Those things have been on my wishlist for AGES. Watermelon seed oil especially. My idea was... some broccoli seed oil with rosemary, cedarwood and a little lavender eo in a spray bottle (my hair's so thick I always find it hard to distribute oils/serums effectively). I found these blends on the Rainbow Meadow Blend Recipe Calculator (that thing is addictive): Hairglow Blend http://www.rainbowmeadow.com/infocenter/calc_eoblend/viewblends.php?BID=445 Silken Strands Blend http://www.rainbowmeadow.com/infocenter/calc_eoblend/viewblends.php?BID=66 Just in case you wanted to play with the calculator http://www.rainbowmeadow.com/infocenter/calc_eoblend/blendselect.php The Herbarie has an oil-soluble botanical complex for hair: http://www.theherbarie.com/Botanical-Complex-LHC-pr-34.html as well as some awesome oil-soluble extracts: http://www.theherbarie.com/Botanical-Extracts---Oil-Soluble-c-19.html

You can get broccoli seed oil at Garden of Wisdom, FNWL and Essential Wholesale. Here's a discussion on bso on the Long Hair Forums: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=21805&page=1 Here are the 3 suppliers I mentioned: http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/soap/product.asp?product_id=oilbroccoli http://www.essentialwholesale.com/product_p/379.htm http://www.gardenofwisdom.com/page/page/3987807.htm

What exactly is your definition of "glycerin soap"? They're all technically "glycerin soaps", since glycerin's a byproduct of saponification. Do you mean glycerin soap as in MP, or glycerin soap as in soap with added glycerin? If I remember right, Peak's carries SFIC bases.

Kinda hard to name a cream we know absolutely nothing about... maybe if you told us a little more about the cream, we might be able to come up with something suitable?

I don't see why cutting hydrogenated fat in your diet should lead to cutting hydrogenated fat in your soaps. The first makes sense to me, the second doesn't. Smearing butter on your skin is not going to clog your arteries. It may leave your skin softer and smoother, but it definitely will not give you heart problems.

Ok, thank you very much everyone! DH said the leaves behind the flowers looked "ethnic", which made him think "tribal", which made him think of not bathing much which made him think "unclean", which goes against the whole soap thang. It was a bit far-fetched to me... DH usually has good insight, though the flipside is that he sometimes overanalyzes, and I wasn't sure if this was one of those times. It was definitely interesting hearing everyone's opinion!

I'm not offended or anything, don't worry (lol), it was just very unexpected! But well, I appreciate the honesty. That's a german chamomile flower... I guess it's a probable opinion, considering flowers are technically the genitals of a plant... then again, so long as my customers don't scrutinize it too closely, I should be safe :whistle:

... Oh dear.

I've just done up something quick for my new blogspot, just need some opinions on the banner. http://chamomilelabs.blogspot.com What pops through your mind when you look at the graphic on the left? DH has his own opinion, but I'm not sure if he's over-analyzing. I don't really see what he's seeing. I'll say what he thinks later once I have some opinions so I don't influence anyone. Be honest! TIA, Wen

Now I want to try the Goat's Milk and Honey...

The previous soapmaker from the Philippines whom I purchased wholesale from before had a good glycerin soap actually, didn't dry the skin out. Some of my customers with really sensitive skin who had been using dermatologist-referred soaps actually preferred this soap. On the other hand, a long time ago I tried the Neutrogena glycerin soap, and that stuff is really drying! Neutrogena facial bar ingredients: TEA Stearate, Triethanolamine, Sodium Tallowate, Glycerin, Water (Purified), Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Ricinoleate, TEA Oleate, Cocamide DEA, Fragrance, Tocopherol

You're most welcome, Linette! Rhassoul's got a sweet, very spa-ish scent that I like, and I found my rhassoul too - someone stuffed my baggie into a drawer. Thinking of ordering in some bamboo powder to play with too.

Well, once you add anything to it, you're effectively diluting it, which will most probably affect the preservative. I'd top up just to be safe.

I mix honey and stuff into my balms with no problem. The trick is to wait til your balm is semi-solid, so the honey doesn't quite get emulsified as much as it gets dispersed and suspended. It's a little tricky to work with, since you have to pour in the short span in which your balms are solid enough to suspend the honey, but still liquid enough to pour. After that it'll set with no problems. If you use a stick blender, beware! It'll solidify really fast! During my first attempt, I just mixed "really well" as recommended by a recipe and poured while it was still fully liquid. The honey settled at the bottom and made liquid pockets. NOT good! Another option would probably be to try stevia powder rather than liquid.

From http://www.thebetterhealthstore.com/SteviaFAQ.html From http://www.life.ca/nl/83/stevia.html

Cyclo's a good detangler. If you want a silicone-free option, try broccoli seed oil. It functions like a silicone. It's got a faint fresh broccoli sort of smell (some say it smells a little like soy sauce), but it doesn't last, and a bit of eo or fo should cover it right up. There are discussions on broccoli oil on the hair forums, and they say it functions exactly like silicones/dry oils. Lots of shine and detangling. I was actually thinking of making a leave-in spray conditioner with broccoli seed oil before this Hope this helps!

Never tried WSP's bases, but I love Lindsay's (Soaper's Workshop) She makes them condensed, so you can customize the thickness up to 1:1 base to water. It goes on smooth, isn't greasy to me. My aunt says it "leaves a slight barrier, so you feel moisturized, but it isn't greasy at all".

So far they're my new fascination... I'm hoping to order in some witch hazel and chamomile, neroli, (a teeny bit of) cucumber, geranium, lavender, etc to play with. Gotta love GoW!! They can be used for lotions, to hydrate masques, toners, spritzes...

I've also been thinking about a hair refreshing spritz before you mentioned this (I sometimes get cornrows done, and while I get lots of compliments on them, they are SO SO ITCHY!), so I thought I'd share it too... these were what I thought would be good: witch hazel (the alcohol free version) peppermint hydrosol neroli or chamomile hydrosol a little honey or honeyquat maybe a little acv maybe a little white willow bark extract some spray-safe preservative, maybe phenoxyethanol Since it uses hydrosols rather than the eo, it's much, much milder. Theoretically, this will also help somewhat with the itchy scalp you sometimes get from greasies, the neroli or chamomile are slightly astringent and soothing. Peppermint is cooling, witch hazel is soothing and will also help somewhat with itchies. Honey for softening and humectant properties, acv for general hair care, and white willow bark for flakey scalps, also anti-inflammatory. This would probably be good in conjunction with the dry shampoo, as an after "shampoo" spritz which will theoretically counter dryness somewhat, and give them more of a "clean" feel. Well, hope this helps! Kept this a separate post so it's not so long-winded or confusing

Cornstarch works very well, but if it's pure cornstarch I find it a little drying. Here's a quick recipe off the top of my head that you could try: 1/4 cup corn starch/oat flour 1/4 cup arrowroot powder/orris root powder 1/4 cup kaolin 1 tbsp honey powder 1-2 tbsp powdered herbs Since you don't want to include EOs, you might want to include a bit of powdered herb for a subtle scent instead. A mix of lavender and chamomile powder with a little mint would be nice? Nice and soothing, but with a little mint for freshness I'd probably even add a little rosemary powder, for the refreshing scent as well as the hair benefits since the ground herb is much, much milder than the eo. If you have it in a little powder dispenser it shouldn't be too messy. I found a nice one on Mountain Rose Herbs: http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/supply/misc.html It has an adjustable dispensing lid, which will reduce mess considerably A little goes a long way anyhow with dry shampoos, doubly so since you have to work it into the scalp somewhat. Too much can be a tad drying. Dang, now I want to make this recipe too!