Carrie

I'll be running a co-op for Agbanga Karite in June. It is unrefined shea. I think I usually get it for about $3.75/lb.

They are much much safer, at least for me. I'm allergic to latex so the nitrile and vinyl are way safer, LOL. Actually, I use the nitrile gloves and have never had a problem with them. I don't get blisters from lye or soap like CareBear does. They seem to work just fine.

I don't think that would ever cross my mind.

If you're a member at the whisk or the Dish there are some very detailed instructions that can be found with a search.

Lard is at the grocery store, usually in the same aisle as the oils. It should be on the bottom shelf. You could also look in the meat dept as sometimes it's refridgerated. You can find it in blocks and buckets.

I thought it was just animal products in general, not animals that were killed or injured for product. Beeswax is made by bees, milk from cows or goats, etc. It's my understanding that it isn't vegan if it's in the same box as non vegan soaps, etc. They can co-mingle. A vegan will drop a bar of soap made with lard like it's on fire. They don't even want to touch anything tainted with animal.

There are many ways to rebatch soap. Eugenia uses boiling bags, that seems to be a great way to do it. Some people shred then microwave with spritzes of water. Others soak the shreds overnight then heat up. It would be easiest to search for a specific person's post so try this. Go to search, advanced search. Then type rebatch for the key word and Eugenia for the User Name. Then go to the bottom of the form and change the default to posts instead of threads. That should take you right to her method and teach you how to search on this forum also. You could also go to brambleberry.com and read up on rebatching. They also sell soap for rebatching. HTH

For the salt bar swap I ran mine under water then semi dried them with a papertowel then dried them the rest of the way on a cooling rack. I thought they were shiny.

Wellington Fragrance Company Here's another one.

I prefer swirls with no texture so I pour at very thin trace into a slab mold. For textured tops I pour at a thicker trace and use a log mold.

Once you formulate or perfect a recipe using ewax, stick to just that supplier. Not all ewax are equal. I use the ewax from thesage.com.

Do a search. There was a post a few weeks ago that I searched and found several threads regarding both. Go to advanced search then use SLS for the keyword and my name for the poster.

Thanks all. I've been itching to order from OT and just needed that extra push. I don't normally order from BC but next time I'll remember the crushed ginger. Thanks again.

Looking for a strong ginger FO. Just a straight ginger. I tried Solas and was disappointed, it didn't even resemble ginger. I want a ginger FO that smells just like fresh grated ginger.

What was your total oil weight for your recipe?

You wench!! I wanted those!!! I had to throw away 3 of the ELEVEN Tony's molds I have. (They were scratched and made ugly soap.)

Actually, I use the lye calc at MMS to re-size. I would enter all the ingrediens, click the calculate button then resize at the bottom of the page. If you want 4lbs, just tell it to re-calculate to 4lbs. Very easy.

Like you need another mold.

I just ran it thru the soapcalc and it comes to only 99%. What size recipe did you make. Can you list the amounts of each oil?

There is a soaper not far from me that has a cutter that looks like a tank. I don't wanna be pushy when I visit her shop so I haven't asked to look at it. At the top of a very high shelf it looks beautiful. Hey Dragonflyer, if you see this, next time I'm there, can you show me your tank?...LOL

Out West it's called a Slushy but I get the idea.

OK, but for ease of explanation, next time you are talking about using NaOH SAP's can you use the NaOH SAP? My brain doesn't automatically divide by 1422.9803. When I see a KOH SAP, I can only assume you are talking about a KOH SAP.

For me, until I make AND SELL soap in large quantities, there really is no justification to buy a tank. I hope you find the reason to need one. I haven't found it yet.

I'm confused. Are you making liquid soap. I just checked the SAP value of Palm Kernal at Sooz and it says KOH NaOH 0.247 - 0.176 Palm Kernel The KOH is the potasium hydroxide and the NaOH is the Sodium Hydroxide. If you are using the .254 SAP for regular CP you should start all over and re-check all of your numbers. You may want to re-email them and check again. I personally won't use OBN but many swear by them.

AKO is apricot kernal oil. Shea is greasy. There is no way around that. There are ways to make it less greasy but it'll still be greasy. If you are used to lotion, remember that lotion is at least 75% water. Take away the water and you have mostly oils left. You should use 1/4 of the amount of whipped shea butter for the same results. Also, when you are whipping it, try whipping it longer, until it doubles in size. Then it should be lighter to the touch.