Rebecca_IA

I did one bottle at a time. I have a scale that measure very accurately to the .001 gram that I used. I think there are 28.53 grams in an ounce, so I divided that by 3 and that was the total number of grams for just one bottle. The max amount of FO you can add to the bottle depends upon where you bought it. Some companies list this on their website, some you have to email them and ask them. One company is 25% max FO to any application and another one told me 8% max FO to any application. You'll have to check the website and possilby call/email the company for this information. If the max amount I could add was 25% FO, I 2.3 grams per bottle of FO and the rest in cyclo. The first time I did this, I mixed up 6 different scents. Two never fully mixed with the FO, so it's very worth my time to test each one with just one bottle so I know the FO works before I make up a dozen of them.

http://hairloss.about.com/od/preventinghairloss/a/oils.htm http://www.startthehealing.com/Q_baldness.html http://www.stophairlossnow.co.uk/Aromatherapy.htm There are many more links out there that may be of interest to you. I googled " hair loss essential oils" and found these on the first page.

www.soapcalc.com and then pick the 9 oil version (as opposed to the 18)

I think you have to have the silver fillings for it to happen with alum foil. I could be wrong about this though.

Remember sticking your tongue on a 9 volt battery when you were a kid? Remember that zap? You're looking for something similar to that. Not just a bad taste (because is it soap and it does have FO in it so it's not going to taste the best).

One thing my DH is good for is using my soap. He'll use nothing else and it's been this whay since I started making it. He has one scent he prefers, but he'll use whatever I have available regardless of what scents I have made up.

I've used it as a full replacement of the water. It turns a color, but not sunburst orange soda orange, more of a tannish orangish color. That is if you mix the lye in as fast as you would to water. Mix it slower and mix it in a bowl that rests on top of an ice water bath. Go slowly and you'll be fine. With coconut milk, I do not remember a smell. Goat's milk, oh yeah, but not with CM.

Hey, thanks a lot for answering my question(s) about the glycerin. I think I need to add this to my list of things to do and try it out to see how it works.

Said all that and forgot to tell you the soap looks great Robin.

One of the things that I have come across in my research about teeth is that glycerin is in most toothpastes and it's sticky. It takes several rinses (I think 5 or 7) to completely get the glycerin off of your teeth. When damage happens to teeth (not major damage) they are designed to remineralize themselves, but they can't do that if they are coated. In the process of making soap, glycerin is a natural by product so wouldn't tooth soap have the same problem? I wonder though, if the glycerin from tooth soap is easier to rinse off or it's not as sticky as the glycerin added to commercial toothpaste. I have a son that is very susceptible to cavities. He's off of fluoride altogether and this has not created more cavities, fewer of them. July 2005 checkup he had 7 of them. By the time he got them fixed, there were 4. January 2006, he had one very small surface one. We've also stopped with the fluoride treatments at the dentist and the fluoride mouth washes and he's on bottled non-fluoridated water. And the only sweetener we use is Xylitol (sold in the health food stores, costs more per pound but you use way less of it so in the end, you are about even). (Yes, our dentist knows everything I am doing with/for him and he approves of it all and he also knows I'm making these changes for my entire family, not just one and he's okay with that too, so these are supervised changes approved of by the dentist). From my research, the teeth will benefit from fluoride on them, but not in your body, so it's senseless to add it to the water. Toothpaste and mouth rinses are enough. But in my son's case, he seems to have a sensitivity to fluoride, so for him, removing as much as we can from his diet and hygiene has been beneficial. I also wonder if adding clay wouldn't increase the benefit of using tooth salt, like adding scrubbies to the soap. Most toothpastes purchased at the health food store have clay in them, but they aren't gritty at all. The tooth shreds that I came across were made from 100% castor oil. I did some initial research on this, but set this project aside for the time period. I don't remember why 100% castor, but there was a reason.

Then don't give him any and let it go. If you've got friends that will use and provide feedback, you're set. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Crisco is primarily soybean oil (soy oil) that has been homoginized, and it's this process that makes it a solid oil. Although regular normal palm will solidify at a higher temp than regular soy will. It's this same processing to oils that make them hydrogenated and not good for the internal human body (external is fine). So looking at crisco versus soy oil, you will kinda see the difference between the no-stir homoginized palm and the regular palm (I say kinda because the palm will solidify at a higher temp than soy so there is a diff. in that). I'd go to the dollar store and look for some of those 2/$1.00 containers, buy a bunch, stir this up really good and then split it up. Or go to Walmart and buy some of the empty gallon jugs they have for the water dispenser (if your store has one), at mine they were 75 a piece. The stearic seperates out of the the rest of the fatty acids in palm so if you don't stir it up really good, you won't have consistant results. Stir it up really good before use and you'll be okay.

Check at this board under sweetcakes to see if someone else has posted a review on it. http://scentreviewboard.obisoap.ca/ this board lists all the FO companies and the results of their FO's in soapmaking (by soapers across the globe, not the companies). I have this FO from SW and it's a very light scent. It completely dissappeared on me only to start reemerging about 3-4 weeks after. Not sure if SC will do the same or not, but I would not expect this one to be a strong one at all. I bought it for the same reason too.

Could you have ordered regular palm this time and not the hydrogenated palm? If so, be glad that it's all liquid right now, because if it's the regular palm, you have to stir it up to mix it up really well before you use it. I'd stir it up really well and split it up now, or at least before the temp goes back down and it solidifies again. Otherwise, can you imagine melting a 50# bucket to use 8 oz of it? I'd call them to check on it.

it's always worth experimenting with to see where your idea takes you. Use mineral oil, very light coat, because it won't saponify with the soap like the spray vegetable oils do. If that's not enough, maybe toss them in the freezer too and see if between the two you can get it out.

If it traps air in the blade area when you put it in the soap to use it, put the SB into your soap at an angle so the air can be released almost as soon as you put it in the soap. Mine is like this and that's all I do to release the trapped air, just put it into the soap at an angle and a big air bubble (sometimes a few smaller ones) pop up right away, rather than incorporating into the batch of soap. Make sure not to use your SB constantly or you will burn the motors out a whole lot faster. I do about 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off (and stir with the SB when it's off).

Walmart does carry an electronic scale that would be efficient. Kinda pricey IMO for what you get. I think it's $29.99. Just make sure you do not put anything that is hot on the scale or it will quit working. Like a hot pot of soap to weigh out the FO directly into it, don't do that. Put heating pads between it and the pan. Also, this one, I'd advise you to put inside a gallon zip lock bag because even a droplet of FO does noticable damage right away (all the other scales I've used, you either barely notice the damage from the FO or it does none at all if you wash it off asap). But, you can get it today and you don't have to pay shipping. Staples or another office supply store might have something better. Or maybe a local kitchen specialty store if you don't want to buy online and wait for the arrival.

I recently started using tallow in my soaps. I've used lard since I started soaping almost 6 years ago. There's nothing wrong with using it in your soap recipe or not using it. It's a preference/choice, just like what color to paint your kitchen. I once had a co-worker tell me that there's no way she'd ever bath with a bar of soap made from pig fat. I asked her why and she said she didn't want that pig fat smeared all over her body. We had this discussion while she was eating a BLT. I got a big kick out of this (and always do). It's okay to eat it but not wash with it?

I used to buy some shampoo that came in a jar and you took about a dime size and emulsified it in your hands and then massaged it in your hair (wet hair that is). It was very thick, think Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula thick, but it was the best stuff I've ever used. Unfortunately, it didn't sell very long, I think maybe only a year after I started buying it, so that in itself states something. This was back in 1986-1987. I would use it if it was good regardless of how thick it was. But would the general public?

Michi, I am so very happy for you!!!!! Seriously, I'm sitting here rejoicing with you!!!!! I look forward to seeing pictures and hearing about future batches of yours.

Michi, take AJ's recipe, the one she PM'd you and whip it up. Rather than focusing on all aspects of soap making at once, focus on just a few. Don't worry about what oils to use or how much lye or water to use. I am sure AJ gave you a very reliable and workable recipe. And you still are doing it on your own. You're getting the measuring down, the melting, the mixing the lye into water. Then blending the lye mixture into the oils and learning what trace it. Hell the first batch or two, you don't even have to add FO to it. Just learn the process. Worry about the rest of it after you learn the process. We have ALL gotten lots of extra support and assistance in our journey of learning this craft. And IMO, this is the best part, passing the art on. No matter how you learn, many out there will be more than happy to help you find a way that works for you. We all learn differently, we all teach differently.

I'm guessing here, because I don't know all the facts (and if I don't answer now, I'm going to forget). I've never seen too much stearic alone cause a problem like this. You only added 1% of the stearic acid and overall you have 11% stearic fatty acid in this batch. I've used much higher SA and had much higher overall SFA %'s in my recipe and not gotten this effect. #1 - Did you discount your water at all? Too steep of a discount and your lye might not all dissolve. If it zaps after a week, and you are sure you used the correct numbers, rebatch it and it'll be fine. #2 - This is what I think happened. The temps of your melted oils/butters were too low and some of the solid oils started to solidify. If your oils/butters are on the cooler side and your lye solution is still hot enough, you are usually okay. But if both are too cool, sometimes you don't get a good enough blending of the oils/butters and lye solution and end up with spots exactly like this (because there isn't enough heat produced when mixing the two together to "remelt" the butters that started to solidify). For the butters in this batch, I would soap it around 105 and definitely no lower than 95 degrees with my lye being within 5-10 degrees. Plus, if this batch didn't gel, the problem will be more apparent. Test it in a week and make sure there is not bite to it and it should be fine.

Bunny, sometimes I wish your DH would ban you from new projects (j/k). Now you've got me wanting to start making liquid soap NOW and I'm in the middle of tweaking cream soap & starting on shampoo. I love how you share the entire process with us all.

Michi, don't worry. You'll get it. Sent you a PM. In the beginning, I liked MMS's lye calculator because there was less information. Even after soaping for a few years, www.soapcalc.com seemed very overwhelming to me, and I knew and understood all of what is on the form, it's just a lot and for my brain, it's difficult for me to absorb and get used to so much info at the same time. Now it's nothing and I actually perfer it.

The recipe I have says if soap scum is an issue to add 2% EDTA. I will never stop rinsing with white vinager, even if/when I add the 2% EDTA. Since doing so, no more skin issues in my house. It's been months since my daughter had to take benydryl for hives.