cmzaha

If any of you have an impulse sealer you can seal your chip bags with it. I quit using my foodsaver sealer about 5 yrs ago, because the bags just became to expensive. I have had my sealer for over 15 years and now I find I like wrapping with the new sticky paper

I filet the leaves and remove the gel from the inside, then puree it in a food processor or blender. I found the actual leaf will not puree up small enough and it just leave ugly splats in the soap surrounded by the actual gel. Will actually look like wet spots. The soap is okay just not real pretty. You will get a lot of aloe gel out of a leaf that is around 12 inches long. There is different aloe and the one I use is a large leaf aloe plant. After I clean the also and puree it I put it in a large jar, add in some citric acid and store in the fridge. Also cut of the dark end of the aloe and do not use since it will discolor your aloe. I have dried the out part of the leaf in my dehydrator and pulverized it in a coffee grinder to add scrubby, but prefer oats. Your aloe will turn a bit yellow in the lye and you will see little pieces of it. It makes great soap

Don't give up on your Sweet orange yuzu bars. Someone will eventually come by and love them. They sound delish

It is really a waste to use FCO in soap. Save it for lotions and balms

[i believe someone else mentioned they make their own coconut milk out of the coconut shreds you buy at the market. Not sure how you make coconut milk out of the packaged shreds but the plus side of doing it that way is not having to strain all the brown skin off the coconut meat. You can make it using unsweetened shredded coconut by soaking 1:1 in hot water for 20-30 min, put in a blender to puree then strain

LOL, I bet it is cheaper to buy coconut oil instead of buying all the coconuts! Of course, unless you live where you can just gather them

The gel from inside the Aloe is wonderful for soaping, but I find the pureed leaf is not. It will not grind up fine and really looks ugly in the soap. Ask me how I know... Just cleaned 1 gallon of fresh aloe gel yesterday which I add a bit citric acid to keep it from turning pinkish and store in fridge. Yuck I hate that job.

You can also get soap ball molds. I believe Bramble Berry carries them. I am not sure if they can go in the oven. I am assuming you like to force gel which is why you only cpop?

Coconut Water works fine in soap, but remember it is also sweet. Like anything with sugar it will help a bit with bubbles. I add sugar to all my soaps even when using coconut milk, I do soap at room temp Carolyn Z

Their IFRA info shows 0.7% safe in lotions, 0.9% safe for wash off or soak-in products

Their Dragon's Blood is the best I have found, and I sell a lot of Dragon's blood soap

I personally do not fine a huge difference between the two, but I realize some people do. I use pko alone in some soaps because I have customers allergic to coconut and I just do not find a big difference between the two and pko does make a nice hard bar. I also use pko and coconut oil together if I am using soft oils such as grapeseed, sunflower, sesame etc to help the hardness of the bar. I actually would use more than I do but I get coconut oil so in-expensive $40 35 lbs with no shipping, and the pko runs me $15 more. I am going to make a 100% pko ls and compare the cleaning power of the paste to my 100% coconut paste.

Baking soda will neutralize an Acid not LYE with is a very strong alkaline base. acid (citric, vinegar)will neutralize lye, but not recommended for using on skin. CmZaha

Dead sea salts absolutely will not work in salt bars, nor will epson salts. I would also shy away from mineral water. You will simply waste money and good supplies on trying to make a dead sea salt bar. Many have tried (including me) and all have failed, even mixing in a little dead sea salt. Fine sea salt is the best to use so you do not get cut with the sharp salt. Himalayan sea salt (fine) makes a great salt bar, but will be pinkish. Following is a pic of a couple of my salt bars

Oatmeal soaps are my best sellers, followed by goat's milk. Top fragrances for me are Dragon's Blood, Cool Water, Plumeria, Lavender, Egyptian Dragon, Lemongrass, peppermint. Do remember to try to make a variety of combinations. Many people have allergies and I like to have a great variety so one can find what they can use

Proud Marine Mom is very correct do not use vinegar of citric acid to neutralize the lye on your skin. If you read the msds sheets it will tell you to flush with copious amounts of cold water. Adding vinegar is just adding another chemical to your skin cmzaha

Pure soap stings the eyes. ouchie ouchie... cmzaha

Soapcalc.net is a great soap calculator. For new soapers I would recommend using the default setting for the water 38% and superfat 5%. Also keep the iodine under 71 so your soap will not be to soft, or turn rancid quickly. When you tried your failed soap did you fragrance it? Many fragrances can be real trouble makers and that is why I recommend the full water recommended until you acquire more experience working with fragrances. Several factors can cause the seperating you experienced but fragrance is usually the main culprit. Back to the iodine, your recipe had an iodine of 89 which is very high. Even with the high iodine your soap should have hardened so I would say you had an overheating problem or back to the fragrance if used, or it did not trace. I have played with many single oil soaps and even the softest oils with saponify (make soap) There are a wealth of links on the soap calc page. Miller soap has a lot of tried and true recipes available, the link is on the soap calc page. Good luck in the future with your soaping!! cmzaha

If you have a crockpot you can shred your soap, put it in the crockpot with some added liquid, milk, sugar water etc and set the crock on low. You an also take your failed olive oil batch and cook it in a crock pot. I would wonder if you mis-measured your lye