when you're going through hell, keep going!
Meg Mitchell wrote:IMO the absolute best resource for a beginning soapmaker is Smart Soapmaking by Anne Watson. A lot of soapmaking resources are cargo-culting based on things other soapmakers have said in the past, but Anne bases her work on experience and dispels a lot of common myths in the book. To use a totally random analogy, I'd say she's the Sam Thayer of soap. She even has another book about how to make Castile soap that isn't gross (which I haven't tried yet, but she does explain why Castile soap tends to be so gross and yet such a classic of at-home soapmaking).
I'm not a huge fan of Soap Queen because they use a lot of unnecessary tools and artificial ingredients (they make their $ selling materials and tools, so their recipes tend to use way more than is needed to turn out a good result), and there's been more than one video from them where they insult the viewer's intelligence. I'm a STEM nerd and it annoys me beyond belief to have some woman assure me that it's okay that I'm too dumb to do basic math and chemistry.
Meg Mitchell wrote:IMO the absolute best resource for a beginning soapmaker is Smart Soapmaking by Anne Watson. A lot of soapmaking resources are cargo-culting based on things other soapmakers have said in the past, but Anne bases her work on experience and dispels a lot of common myths in the book. To use a totally random analogy, I'd say she's the Sam Thayer of soap. She even has another book about how to make Castile soap that isn't gross (which I haven't tried yet, but she does explain why Castile soap tends to be so gross and yet such a classic of at-home soapmaking).
Sometimes the answer is nothing
Deb Stephens wrote:I also don't consider using melt-and-pour products to be true soapmaking since they are already made into bars of soap that can be used as-is if desired. None of the processes of soapmaking are involved when doing melt-and-pour soaps--they are merely melted on the stove or in the microwave and poured into molds to re-set.
Deb Stephens wrote:By the way, what have you got against Castille soap? A well-made bar is really the best for making a quick version of homemade laundry soap. I grind my bars and remelt them as the base for my laundry soap (with borax and washing soda added). It works great and is a real timesaver when I don't feel like doing the whole hot-process liquid laundry soap. Personally, I find them too drying for regular use on skin, but they do make for a good cleansing bar.
when you're going through hell, keep going!
"Do the best you can in the place where you are, and be kind." - Scott Nearing
Do the next thing next. That's a pretty good rule. Read the tiny ad, that's a pretty good rule, too.
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https://permies.com/t/132540/HARDY-FRUIT-TREES-ORGANIC-PERMACULTURE
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