Sociopath Community

Honey,

I tested the shampoo bar (using the recipe I posted earlier) and it works great! I skipped the conditioner to see how my hair felt. The bar has just enough oil in it to provide some conditioning without feeling greasy.  

Next I am going to give samples to my friends to get feedback. (I'm fortunate that they will be honest). 

If you are considering a business with soaps and lotions, you should give this shampoo bar recipe a try! (I didn't use sodium lactate as I am not sure if it has any effect on say, color treated hair).

My other soap creations turned out well except for an indigo powder blue (all natural) which became a dull gray once it cured.  It looks like concrete bricks... I am considering a rebatch. I've used indigo powder before with beautiful results but this time I was in a rush and didn't measure enough. 

Hope you keep soaping! :)

Bat said: 

Honey,

I tested the shampoo bar (using the recipe I posted earlier) and it works great! I skipped the conditioner to see how my hair felt. The bar has just enough oil in it to provide some conditioning without feeling greasy.  

Next I am going to give samples to my friends to get feedback. (I'm fortunate that they will be honest). 

If you are considering a business with soaps and lotions, you should give this shampoo bar recipe a try! (I didn't use sodium lactate as I am not sure if it has any effect on say, color treated hair).

My other soap creations turned out well except for an indigo powder blue (all natural) which became a dull gray once it cured.  It looks like concrete bricks... I am considering a rebatch. I've used indigo powder before with beautiful results but this time I was in a rush and didn't measure enough. 

Hope you keep soaping! :)

 Thanks for the warning on indigo blue! I made a batch of pumpkin spice bath bombs last week and I have 3 sold already. C: I've been looking at that lotion bar on soap queen all week, I'm debating if I want to keep the exact recipe or go for a more winter scent. I think a sweet baked goods fragrance could be popular for this time of year, then a floral near Valentine's day

Bat,

I'm planning to make a true castille soap this week. Have you ever done it? I bought a small 4 inch soap loaf mold so I can make just a tiny test batch with it. 100% olive oil, with only a 1% super fat and a 15% water discount to help it harden faster. I'm not going to add any fragrance or color to it, once it is done I'll cut it into four 1" bars. I've heard the recommended curing time for true castille is a full year, but I'm going to try each bar at a different period of time- probably starting at either 3 or 6 months- and compare how they perform.

Honey,

I have not made castille soap.  But it's on my horizon as well. 

A water discount is one way to harden the bar faster. Brambleberry has a recipe with a 20% water discount. They also recommend using sodium lactate (which you already know about).

Another is forcing the gel phase by insulating the mold since it speeds the saponification process.  Have you thought about trying this as a hot process soap? The drying time might be less. 

As you've no doubt read,  the lather will increase the longer you let the bar cure.

Castille soap is very nice for the skin. 

My next project is to make glycerin soap from scratch.  I'm going to use the same shampoo bar recipe I listed earlier and make it into a glycerin shampoo bar.  It'll require a solid afternoon of baby sitting the crock pot..

I made a (supposedly) lovely two tone soap which was partially wrecked by a fragrance oil reacting badly.  They were supposed to be presents.  Still a good quality home made soap but it looks weird.  Highly dissatisfying.  

Good luck making castille bars. Any particular reason why you want to make them? Just curious. 

Castile has just caught my attention as a novelty. A lot of Castile and bastile advertised soaps still have a 15% or so content of hard oils. I would like to make an old fashioned,  absolutely pure olive oil soap. Just the olive oil and lye water like the original, just for the experience. After I may try a 100% coconut soap and several other oils. This could help me get an idea of the exact properties of each oil for formulating my own recipes. 

Unrelated to that goal, I also want to make a pure tallow soap. I've been told they are luxurious and I would like to try it