Even by stw standards this thread is special.
Ha ha and, yeah, some soap can be sludgy but can't remember whether it's due to SLS, SLES, clean palm oil, dirty palm oil, certified organic, non-certified organic, goats milk, donkey milk blah blah. Hard water here but smelling sweetly I think.
Here's my second attempt at a soap tray. It's significantly smaller than my first attempt, and fairly specifically designed to fit onto the shelf rack thing in our shower (taller than the front lip and slightly curved to match the curve of the shelf)
FFS - I used to be able to post images before it all go improved...
Try again...
Give up....
Wow! How did you manage that?! Witchcraft!
How can they claim this? Palm trees are planted where there was once virgin forest, end of.
No, palm oil trees are a crop like any other, so can be planted in place of a crop that isn’t a big money earner. The problem is the oil produced has such an incredibly wide range of uses, it’s caused a huge surge in demand which nations are only too keen to capitalise on, with scant regard for the local ecology, particularly in Asia.
There are ethical plantations in South America, apparently.
Why on earth would you use gels and shampoos when all you need to do is remove the dirt and dead skin?
Some serious debunking been done over the industry and what you actually need opposed to whey they tell you, you need!
Bog standard soap - Shield works bloody good (vegan friendly too), just rinse until you “squeak”.
And why is bog standard soap the answer? Nothing wrong with shower gel as a product, I don't think anyone is fooled that you must use it to remove dirt and that ordinary soap won't do?! Gel is just way more convenient for a lot of people and you can buy 5L refill packs for it so cut down significantly on the plastic use.
CG- I only wanted to make a few bars to try so I microwaved the stuff to melt it and added a bit of rapeseed oil to it. I tried the soap as it was first without any stuff added and it was too drying so I added the oil to try and counter that. It works ok.
There are plenty of small makers out there using traditional cold or hot process methods and ingredients to create wonderful soap.
https://oakwoodsoaperie.co.uk are just one (As a side note Durham Soap were inspired to start making and start their new business after using Oakwood's products for years)
Be wary of the cheap melt and pour type soap (It's the kind of translucent stuff) which is made from mass produce glycerin and is not organic or eco-friendly no matter what the makers tell you.
kayla - thanks. I've been looking at Youtube vids showing the cold process method, it now doesn't seem quite so scary!
Be wary of the cheap melt and pour type soap (It’s the kind of translucent stuff) which is made from mass produce glycerin and is not organic or eco-friendly no matter what the makers tell you.
mickyfinn interesting, where can I find out more?
I'm interested in having a go at cold process too, the chemical bit doesn't really phase me but I'm really impatient! Where's my stuff!?!?!?1?? 😆
I'm a big fan of Pears soap. Have been using it for years now. Usually works out at around 60p a bar; lasts an age, smells good and doesn't 'sludge' as much as most others.
Also struggling to find a decent travel soap dish…
The Boots one linked above is similar to most that I have found, and not really suitable. The overlap between the top and bottom half is only around 1mm, so if packed in a bag there is very little holding the two sides together if any sideways force goes through it. They are hugely oversized, so most normal bars rattle around and the plastic is also rather brittle and prone to cracking.
I used to have a travel dish where one side went fully inside the second side, the plastic was also slightly softer, because of this, and that the size could be adjusted slightly by reducing/increasing the overlap, it was also less rattley. It unfortunately got left in a hotel room.
I have scoured ebay/amazon and high street shops for something similar, and all I can find are ones similar to the Boots one.
we are currently cleaning out the sludge from the dish if needed............
soap wise, palm oil free, Lomondsoap.com get my vote.
Go Old Skool
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I’m interested in having a go at cold process too, the chemical bit doesn’t really phase me but I’m really impatient! Where’s my stuff!?!?!?1??
I hear you, 12 weeks curing time will seem like an eternity! I watched 3 Youtube vids, one featured a lady from TheSoapKitchen online retailer and the others featured a man who set up his own soap making business. Whilst the lady was shown struggling with this massive stockpot the man was only making an ice cream container sized quantity in his own kitchen. He used an electric whisk whilst she used a manual whisk for quite a while.
It's expensive to start with from what I can see, a heavy-bottomed stainless steel stockpot for minimum £40 then either a wooden mould with wire cutter or a cutter on its own plus safety glasses. I think I'll get tooth powder, mouthwash and deodorant out of the way first!
I do seem to buy a large amount and variety of soap. Probably have enough to last for years. I've started using birch tar soap, which you can get via EBay from Ukraine. Postage is surprisingly quick.
