Rebecca_IA

I think that it's the protein in soy that most are allergic to, not sure though. The oil should be okay, since that doesn't contain any of the protein, but still, if I had an allergic reaction to something, I'd stay away from all forms of it just to be safe, the more you are exposed, the stronger your reaction can be (with some allergies). Soy oil is used in almost all breads, crackers, cookies, etc made today. Not just in regular stores, but in healthfood stores also, there is a lot of soy listed on the labels.

Maybe you could market it as a foot scrubbing soap, limited edition.

Did you buy chance leave your container that holds your lye open? If you did and the humidity is up in your area, it's possible that the lye absorbed moisture from the air, which would have caused the lye amount to be off and could result in a softer bar (because it's way superfatted then and does produce a much softer bar).

Karen B, you're right. Evaporation will and does happen, so that accounts for some of the water loss (if not all). Depending on how you strained it, that too could account for some of the water loss (for example, if you used a coffee filter to strain it, some of the liquid will be left in the filter). I think you'll be okay. You might have lost a little lye, but not so much that your batch will be way discounted. You most likely will not notice it at all. I had this issue with metal bowls that I use to mix my lye in. These same bowls are also used when I break a bigger batch up, so they've had soap in them before. When this happened a few times in a row, I scrubbed my metal bowls out and then filled them with white vinager for an hour and scrubbed again, then hand dried. I think my issue was a combo of not getting 100% of the previous batch of soap out and my hard water (calcium, lime deposits building up).

I got up as much of the oil as I could with paper towels and then scrubbed with straight dawn dishsoap, it's awesome at getting grease & grease stains up and out. Afte scrubbing, I dumped lots of water on it and used the wetvac to suck the excess water up. I've done this twice, but fortunately for me, it was only about a litre each time.

I know at one company that sells the cosmetic grade, the difference is the cosmetic grade is 60% of the named oil and 40% proprietary ingredients. The other 40% is not disclosed because it's a company secret type thing. It still has the exact same SAP and fatty acids as the 100% of the oil, so it should soap the same, but what that 40% is made of, who knows? That's why I recommended calling and finding out exactly what you are getting so you know for sure.

This really gets me when people point out the preservative & carcinogin connected. Some of those same people will use shampoos, conditioners, hair sprays, hair coloring, makeup, and the list could go on and on and on that also contain carcinogins and they think nothing of those, simply because they do not know. What's more dangerous, a product, for example like Miracle II, that does not disclose all of it's ingredients and claims it does not use a "cancer-causing" preservative (yet has been found to contain bacterial growth in the product) or a properly preserved product? I'll take my chances on the properly preserved product, thank you. Smile pretty at them and tell them you are aware of those studies and even more, then direct them to the preservative free body butter at $15 per 2 ounces, they will be thrilled with it.

This is correct. Sorry that in my first post in this thread says "solid salt scrub bars", I didn't mean to lead anyone astray. The high content of the salt makes causes them to be very softening on the skin, and they do clean the hands better than a regular bar of soap when you use it to rub on the dirty spots, but it's not scrubby like it would be if you added pumice to the batch.

No extra lye or water is needed for this type of soap, this kind of bar is made exactly like a regular bar of CP with the exception of adding salt and using a high percentage of CO. The salt doesn't need to go anywhere in the lye calculator. Formulate a recipe using at least 50% coconut oils. I add my salt at very thin trace, probably couldn't even consider it trace, stir the oil/lye by hand for a minute or two and then start stirring in the salt. HTH. Rebecca

Yep, solid salt scrub bars, not other scrubbies. With the high percentage of salt added, you need to up the coconut to at least 50%.

I moved last summer and when doing so, lost my filtered water, which I had been using for years to soap with. The first few batches I made at my new house had ash terribly, esspecially the batches made with FO's, the EO's weren't too bad. The others were horrid. After realizing that regular tap water just might be the problem I started using distilled water for soaping and no more ash since then. I honestly didn't even think about NOT using tap water when I soaped my first few batches at the new house because I'd been using tap water (but it was filtered at the other house) for years without any problems. A little ash though, I'd let it slide.

I'm not sure if there is an industry standard for the term "cosmetic" grade versus refined. I would check with the supplier you are interested in purchasing from and see what they tell you just to make sure you are getting what you want if you are looking for 100% of a specific oil.

Yep, that's all rebatching is, taking CP and melting it down and repouring it (after adding FO and stirring it in, maybe other additives too). Working with lye is not hard or something to be fearful of. It is a caustic chemical, so it deserves respect and definitely needs treated in a specific manner. Gloves, goggles (if you can afford the full face mask even better) and working near water. Covering work surface before using it and thoroughly cleaning up after using it. The entire CP process is not that hard either. It sounds overwhelming at first, but it is just one more new avenue to travel down, nothing more, nothing less. If you love creating, getting artistic and enjoy chemistry, you'll love CP, IMO. Have you read all the FAQ threads here? And read www.millersoap.com ? I would suggest reading both of those all the way through. Take notes, ask questions about what you don't fully understand. There are some sites out there that have picture tutorials also, maybe seeing the pictures will make you feel more comfortable. I don't have those links anymore, but perhaps someone else does and they can post them.

E, you are correct. She did it HP and used this additive and I would say that it's not any darker than a tan, would you agree with me? (on the color). Regarding swirls in some of those FO's that turn dark brown. SW's Pink Sugar will eat up a swirl, I tried it a few different ways, over time, nothing worked. I've tried another Pink Sugar that smells just as good (if not better) and it's been over 6 weeks now and no hint of the swirl being swallowed up. (I think the vendor is indiana candle supplies, not sure, 1st time ordering). So if you swirl and it disappears also, don't fret. Another thing I did different with my PS batch this time, I sprinkled some pink mica on the bottom of the mold and it really makes the front of the soap look great, between the swirl (that is holding this time) and the mica, I don't think anyone would have qualms of buying and/or using.

I've never tried one from there that didn't work in soy, might not have been one I personally liked, but it still worked. I really like their lemon pound cake and buttercream. I suggest getting a sampler of theirs.

Mine oozed a bit too after making them. Just let them sit out and dry out/reabsorb the liquid and they will be fine. You'll want to either cut these types of bars while still warm or do them in individual molds. Mine don't gel.

If you want to use your oven to force gel, it's going to take more than just 6 minutes at 170. Try an hour at that temp. If your normal procedure is to pour the soap in the mold and then pop in the oven without any heat from the oven, and you've gotten gel each time so far, IMO, you've been lucky (if you are seeking gel). Either leave the mold out of the oven and cover it up with layers of towels (or a blanket) or put in oven at 170 for an hour. Or, you can put a heating pad under the mold and a few towels on top. With milk and/or honey soaps, be careful though. Make sure you turn the heat off as soon as it's at full gel or really close to it.

It could just be air pockets if it was really thick when it was poured in the mold. Soap that zaps when just out of mold/cut, let it sit for a few more days and check again. Sometimes it takes a bit longer.

You haven't answered yet, so I'll tell you how rebatch works out best for me. 1) Shred the soap. The smaller the pieces, the faster it melts. Put it into a stainless steel pot with a lid. If you cook this without the lid, the soap will dry out on top and it gets all cruddy, even if you are stirring it often. 2) Liquid to add. This depends on the age of the soap and if there was a discount of liquids when you made the soap. If the soap is a few days old and you did not discount at all when you made it, do not add any liquid to the soap, it will take forever to harden then. If no discount and it's a month old before you shred/cube it, add 1/4 oz per pound of soap. What I'm trying to say, is if it's dry, add 1/4 pp MAX if it's really super rock hard dry, add up to 1/2 oz pp of soap and even then I'd try not to add that much liquid. Remember if you think you need more fluid, you can always add more later, but you can't take it away once you add it. 3) Your soap is shredded, you have decided how much liquid to add. Take your liquid and put it in a sprayer bottle and spray this all over your shreds/cubes to evenly saturate the shreds. Coconut Milk works best IMO for rebatch. After you've sprayed all your liquids, put the lid on and let it sit for 12-24 hours. 4) Put in oven set at 175 degrees with the lid on. If your doing a small amount, check it every 30 minutes. Don't bother stirring it at all until after it's all melted. The more soap you have, the longer it will take. Rebatching IMO is easier with smaller batches. I never do more than 3 lbs at a time. When it's all melted, add your slightly warmed FO (remember you will use less with a rebatch than CP because this is the hottest the FO will come into contact and the lye monster is gone). Stir gently to incorporate the FO trying not to incorporate air and then pour into molds. 5) As all other processes, take notes and improve upon your skill by these notes. Batch was 3 weeks old with a 20 water discount and you added 1/4 oz pp of coconut milk and it was really soft after it cooled off, next time you do it, cut back on the coconut milk for a soap this age with this much discount. This is the best way I've found to rebatch soap that needs it. Now, if the soap is fine, but say the color didn't come out how you wanted it to, then shred the soap up and mix it into another batch of soap, trying to use another color to compliment it or without any color at all.

Julie, we were posting at the same time, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to repeat what you had just posted. Great minds think alike, eh? Rebecca

What have you done so far? How are you doing this? If I know those two answers, it'd be easier to help you out. BTW, if this is really fresh soap and you did not discount your liquid when you made the soap, I'd be very cautious of how much liquid I'd add now, if any at all.

http://www.thesoapdish.com/oils.htm Shea Oil is listed as: SAP Value: NaOH .129 Shea Butter is listed as: SAP Value: NaOH .131 There is a slight difference. Would it effect your batch if you figured the oil in the butter column, most likely not, but that depends on how much you are using and the size of your batch. If you were only making a one pound batch of soap and using 8 oz of shea oil in it, I would say to figure it out by hand just to make sure. Most likely will not cause any issues though. Aloe Vera Oil is listed as: SAP Value: NaOH .135 If it's not on the list, find an oil or butter that is the same or very near the same SAP and use that one when figuring out your recipe. When you print your recipe out, cross the name of the oil out and write in Aloe Vera Oil so you remember that for future batches. I've never used this oil so I don't know what you would sub it for or not. I couldn't find any other info out there on this oil either, so all I can say is, test it out, if it were me, I would consider it a luxury oil due to it's cost. Maybe keep it at 5% of the recipe and see what you get. HTH.

You have to use an awful lot of most mica's to get your base colored with the same depth that you would with, say an FD&C colorant. A lot of it. I would suggest using the mica's for swirls only or sprinkling some on top of the bar or at the bottom of your mold or with stamping the bars. Otherwise, it's not really cost effective. And I doubt those colors will turn to blue after the gell. The chemical reaction that takes place while making soaps cause some micas to morph to a completely different and unexpected color. That's one of the reasons why not all mica's are CP safe, even if they are soap safe. They'd work in MP but not CP.

Are you thinking about cold process or hot process soap, or are you thinking about melt & pour soap? I would start by reading through the threads here: http://www.candletech.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=27 Another good source is www.millersoap.com there is a ton of information there. Take notes as you are reading, print out what you feel is something you need to study more. Come back and ask your questions. I think there is so much information out on the internet that buying a book is an unnecessary expenditure. Your local library might have some to check out if you prefer to read up in a book. But when you have specific questions and you can't find the answer, you can ask them here. Good luck.

E I've used tumeric and paprika before and I just added them the same as I would a powdered colorant, take a small amount of soap or oil out, smoosh it in and then add to the rest.