Rebecca_IA

I no longer use the SB after adding FO if I add it at trace, it's all hand stirring from that point on. Is this FO a problem FO? Was the FO cold when you added it? (I've seen problem FO's added cold to the soap do some funky things) Did you add the FO first and then stir in the salt? What kind of salt did you use?

Looks good. Make it as is, or change the OO to 35% and drop the lard to 30% and it would be better, IMVHO. Congrats on putting a recipe together yourself!!!

Thank you, but absolutely no need to apologize. This is a very classic case of how the media distorted the truth and reported lies and so many just believed them without question and the truth was out there. I would have believed the same as you, and I did for awhile, but this case was one we studied in a business law course I took in college. Thanks for taking the time to research this case and learn the truth.

E, I believe we actually are agreeing here. Key word is experienced. And I'll add knowledge of your oils. I didn't say it couldn't be done. At 65 degrees though, that's pretty low so you do have to know what you are doing or it can (and eventually will) go wrong.

It was correct for her to win the case, but not at the original dollar amount that she did win it for, but that had nothing to do with how much she was asking for, a jury awarded her that amount. She had to have skin grafts on her legs because the burn was so bad from that coffee. When someone hands you a cup of coffee, if it accidentally spills, would you expect it is so hot it burns your skin right off? Thought not. Regardless, McDonald's won on appeal and the $$ was brought down. All the lady wanted in the beginning was medical bills and time off covered, McDonald's didn't think they were responsible, so it went to court. So I guess after all these years, you can quit getting mad about this case.

I disagree with this (room temp where I live is 65 degrees and that's not a good temp to soap at unless you really know what you are doing and you know what to expect from your oils, some can not soap at that temp without issues so in that case, it doesn't matter if you are experienced or not). Cooling too low can cause a false trace and it sounds like this might be her problem. Soap with the temps at 90-100 degrees, no lower than 90 and see if that helps. You can add your EO's to your oils before you even add the lye mixture.

I would at least make that lady pay all of the related medical bills, all of them, not just the co-pays or percent owed after deductibles. If she doesn't willingly do that, then I would sue. If I sound harsh, just imagine the others out there with her lotion that has at least a 15% preservative load in it. That's dangerous for the average adult. She's been talked to about it, she sees nothing she's doing as wrong. What if this lotion were put on a baby? Imagine what would happen then? If this lady doesn't take it seriously, then hit her in her pocket book and hit her hard. Not to financially gain, but to prevent this from happening to another, God forbid the next time it'll be a baby or small child or elderly who can't heal/recover as quickly.

Even if it's 32 oz of ingredients and then add the 3 oz of each kind of preservative, that's still a motherload of preservative. (7.89% of each kind of preservative in the batch, total 15.79% preservative in the batch). I am sure you can contact the companies that make the preservative and ask them what the side effects/potential danger would be in using this much preservative. This ladies error caused your friend's reaction. She should pay the entire bill, no questions asked. There is a reason why there is a max on how much you use of each ingredient. I wish your friend the best of luck in recovery. Unless you get cosmetic grade emu, I wouldn't use it. No sense in risking her anymore problems. Use antibiotic salve until her skin is all healed or shea that's been at least filtered.

For a 32 oz batch, she's using 3 ounces of phenohip and germaben? Is it 32 oz of lotion and 6 oz of preservative added in? Or 26 oz of lotion and 6 oz of preservative? that's a range of 15-19% preservative, way too much. If I were you, I'd report her to the FDA. Not only call them, but also copy the testing on the lotion, diagnosis and everything and send a letter and follow up on this. I'd also send the woman a copy of all hospital expenses and let her know it's her responsiblity to pay them. It was her lotion that poisoned your friend and I can not believe more folks aren't reacting hobbibly to this lotion with that amount of preservative in it. It's asshats like this that's going to soon enough require everyone that makes this stuff at home and sell it go through a bunch of BS in order to do that.

Be careful if you do this. Make sure to stir very well before using a mixture like this. It's not uncommon for the oils to start seperating and depending upon the SAP values & fatty acids of each oil, it may or may not effect your soap. Meaning you could have a lye heavy bar or one with a higher cleansing factor and lower conditioning factor.

When adding EO's (essential oils) to soap, use all the precautions (venilation, gloves on hands, don't let it touch your hand full strength, etc). But, by the time they go through the saponification, I highl doubt there is much left for aromatheraputic purposes, they provide scent only. (peppermint is one that I do believe something is left other than scent). So if you don't have and do not want to spend the money on EO's, then go ahead and use FO's. For soap, both are used to scent the finished soap. Just make sure you are using the correct amount. The soap dish has picture tutorials also. Some in the soap forum and some in the gallery forum. Once you've got soaping down pat and are making a good bar, family, friends, swaps are different ways to get rid of your extra soap. For free or for gifts. If you get a lot of it, you can donate it to homeless shelters or abuse centers. Good luck.

She lists it in her first post. Before you go and purchase more FO's, start with the advice Lightning Bug gives about melt pool.

It would have been my first year. I'm not too heartbroken over it, because this group of men go each and every year, so if not this year, next (I guess it will be this year, just towards the end).

Natural colorants sometimes cause the soap to appear to have tiny spots of "dirt" in it, so don't be alarmed by this. I can't see the picture from this PC well enough to comment on. But I will say, anytime you want soap, PM me and I'll set you up.

I'll never use tap water again and do not recommend anyone using it, not straight out of the tap. Distilled is too cheap to risk an expensive batch of soap on.

I had 7 different deer hunters lined up last fall to give me all of the tallow from their deer for me to process and use all up on my own. However, I had surgery and couldn't do anything with it during the time they had it for me, so it all was garbaged. I can't wait until next year, I'm all up for rendering it myself and very much look forward to it.

Powder, I add to my oils before I add the lye solution. Canned milk, I use half water to mix my lye in and then add the can of goat's milk to the soap at very thin trace (and warm the milk up too). This would be 100% goatsmilk soap either way if you add enough.

Both, if I had to pick one, I'd go with tallow now that I'm using it. I love what it has made my bar become. Do some research at Walmart the next time you are there and write down some soaps (commercial ones) that have lard in it. Once it's soap, it's not lard anymore (well a bit does hangout but for the average customer, that's too difficult to explain), it's soap. A chemical reaction takes place. Plus, the lard is out there. What's more gross? Wasting all that lard or using it up.

That is how my skin reacts to products from BBW and stores like those. Between that and excema, it's what led me to and hooked me on CP.

If you're sure your measurements were correct, then yes, rebatch it. If it comes out too ugly, you can always shred it up for a confetti batch in the future. Lye pockets occur from the soap not being mixed well enough, seperation due to overheating and other reasons. The only reason you'd want to pitch if is if you are not sure of your measurements and it's lye heavy. Even then, I wouldn't pitch it, I'd make laundry soap.

You want the orange part of the peel, not the white stuff between the peel and the fruit. It needs dried 100% and then ground to a fine powder. Or you could just buy the orange peel powder. I think I used it at 1 T. per pound of oils when I added it. Honestly, I've only added it a few times and haven't for awhile, so please research the proper amount to add. It didn't provide any exfoliating effect to my finished bar. I would not add whole oats excepting on the very top of the bar. If you want to add oats, grind them up fine or buy the baby oatment. I personally use oat milk in my base and sprinkle whole oats on top.

Meridith, do you mean you still can get ash? Are you leaving it on until the soap is completely cooled off, as in back to room temp? If not, try that. If ash is something you want to avoid, have you tried Iben from the Dish's alcohol method of preventing ash?

If you are into this as a hobby and don't see that changing in the near future (less than 18 months), I'd buy some martha molds from Kmart, a plastic miter box from Lowe's/menards and a high quality dry wall spackling knife. The MM molds for your soap and the miter box (get the wider one to accommadate your soap slabs) and dry wall knife for cutting bars (you'll get nice even cuts this way). Several molds and the box and cutter can all be purchased for less than $50. This way, you can make decent bars and not break the bank. When you're ready to take your business to the next level, invest in more expensive equipment (that does work better and saves you time). Don't feel like you need to purchase a mold from every company that makes soap molds just to try them out. I'd focus more on your recipe and technique and less on what mold your soap is poured into. You can have a kick ass mold from 20 different companies, but if your soap is shit, what good is that mold (off my soap box now, sorry, I see what too many new soapers buying this mold and that mold and this mold and that mold). FO's, my 2 favorites for CP are Brambleberry and Scentworks. I've got some FO's from Sweetcakes that I bought off the classifieds, and they are good too. Mica's, I buy mine from www.theconservatorie.com She has a wide selection and most are good in all b&b applications. I've picked up mica's from co-ops also. Clays, I buy them at camdengrey and kangarooblue. EO's, I buy at camdengrey. Oils, columbus. 7 gal if you don't have the capacity to store them, the larger sizes if you can store them (freezer). Cuts down on your cost a lot. Shea/VCO and sometimes CB, abanga karite (that's misspelled but it's in the list of vendors).

Ditto what jcandleattic said. I've never noticed oils making a difference, I'll have to notate that one, in case I ever start using it alot. (thank you). I got ash very bad when I used water straight from the tap. I've got ash very bad from some FO's. I now try to leave saran wrap on the soap until it's cooled off and ash is a very rare occurance, but when it does happen, I go with it. I've never covered salt bars with saran and those have never formed ash before.

Both can form ash.