thanx meridith, I usually use aloe and it never caused stickiness before, so its probably one of the other you mentions. I was thinking about going 5 percent of castor myself. i also forgot to add that i put in titanium dioxide too, for the first time, and may have added a bit too much. but it not sure how much i should use for 2 pound soap batch. I do hope it hardens a bit more, cuz someone at work wants to buy most of it (but i told her she would have to use it within 6 mths [me being on the safe side]) many not want to buy too much. also i want to make a batch that will be my basic soap batch. so that once i come up with that and am consistent with making it, i'll feel free to start experimenting with coloring. I do leave it in its rough state since its "homemade" and no one has a problem with that thank goodness.