MarieJeanette

Thank you so much for the responses! Carrie - even though you advised me not to take your advise, I think I'm going to try what you did - rebatching with the stickblender. Sounds like it would definitely make for a smoother consistancy. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks! MarieJeanette

Warning, newbie question here! After weeks and weeks and weeks of reading, research, study and getting up the courage to take the plunge, I made a cp soap (my first) the other day for rebatching using a recipe from TLC Soaps and Sundries that took a 33% water discount. Bold and daring for a newbie, I know, I know. :rolleyes2 Fools rush in, as the saying goes.... don't I know it! Ouch! Anyway, I just unmolded it yesterday and it was brittle upon cutting, breaking into chunks (probably because of the water discount? It's pretty hard and solid and looks fine, otherwise). Lesson most certainly learned about doing a water discounted recipe for my first try, believe me, but I must say that I was at least careful enough to run the recipe through several lye calculators first and ended up using the weights that SoapCalc estimated for me and followed them to a T. Anyhoo, before I rebatch it, I'd like to ask if anyone here has ever run into the same dilemma and if so, would you be willing to take pity on a silly newbie and share how you figured out how to calculate how much liquid to add back into a dry, brittle, water discounted batch? I want to rebatch it this week, but am confused as to how much liquid to add back into it when I remelt. I know that many do not add any liquid at all if they are rebatching right away, but what about brittle, water discounted batches? I'd like to remelt a pound at a time. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. TIA, MarieJeanette P.S. Here is the recipe I used: Basic Soap Base for Rebatching: 48 oz. Lard 24 oz. Olive Oil 22 oz. Coconut Oil 13.50 oz. Lye Sodium Hydroxide (approx 2% superfatting) 31 oz. water (33% water for reduced liquid)

I'm so glad I saw this thread today! Wouldn't you know it, I had just decided over the past week after much research and study to finally take the plunge and make some CP soap, too. I didn't have to read the thread too far before I decided to drop everything and make a desparate run down to Ace Hardware and Lowe's. I bought 6 bottles of it. I could have bought more as there was still some more left on the shelf, but as this CP stuff is all new to me and I don't even know how l'll like doing it, I decided to leave the rest for any other desparate soaper who was in an even more desparate predicament over it than me. Bummer! MarieJeanette

I use one from Majestic Mountain Sage called, Chocolate Mousse. Smells great and it is lotion safe. I use it mixed with a little spearmint e/o in my homemade foot butter. Smells awesome. MarieJeanette

Here is what I usually do (and I make these a lot). I mix 25% fragrance oil to 75% Everclear in an amber glass spray bottle and that's it. No water, no colorant. Turns out great every time. Hope that helps. MarieJeanette

From what I understand from my naturopathic doctor, the difference between the two is that anti-perspirants have an aluminum derivative in them to prevent you from sweating, while deoderants do not. Deoderants just have perfumes and/or anti-bacterials in them to either mask and/or kill off odor causing bacteria that thrive in sweat while still allowing you to sweat. I hope that helps! MarieJeanette