[Margaret]

Thanks for the suggestion Pattsi.  I guess I should have written that I can only get ingredients from re-sellers of cosmetic ingredients, so ingredient options are severely limited for me. 

[Margaret]

This is for hard surface cleaning, like my kitchen sink. When I use it to clean stuff off my hands (Douglas Fir resin for example), it’s used like a soap, as in: wash my hands, rinse, dry with a towel. 

I need the borax to make this form a gel.  I’m IGNORANT of other things I might use instead to make this 4% soap solution form a gel. 

[Margaret]

Thanks for the article link. 

[Margaret]

The plastic bottle re-use is so for MY own evil purposes, no one else’s. I know that’s a stupid excuse, but I am not afraid to say I often do stupid things ????.  I am not immune-compromised in any way, and there are no plant extracts or other microbe-enhancing ingredients in my lotions, plus I am using liquid Germall + at 0.5% (I think that’s the max. safe level).  Thank you for the warning. I might re-think the re-use after all. We’re so screwed anyhow, environmentally,
my re-using a plastic bottle will do nothing, in the big picture. 

[Margaret]

I agree with plastic bottles theoretically being a source of contamination, but, I thought with the soapy washing, hydrogen peroxide, then alcohol spritz (before refilling) it would be reusable instead of just ending up in the landfill  :'(.

[Margaret]

Thanks for your comments.  I have found that the citrus ESSENTIAL oils completely dissipated from my dish bars, so I have switched to FRAGRANCE oils instead. I’ll keep searching. 

[Margaret]

My preservative system consists of Liquid Germall + at 0.5%, and for creams, I add phenoxyethanol at 0.5% as well. 

I get my containers from retailers (re-packers?), NOT directly from the makers of the jar and bottles because I sure don’t need/want 100s at one time. So I figure it might be a good idea to sanitize, just in case. 

I think Perry had commented, during his recent webinar with Phil Geis, that when he was working at P & G, they had a shipment of pumps from China that were all contaminated. Well, unfortunately, ALL of the glass jars & bottles I get are from China. I assume the pumps are as well (sigh).

[Margaret]

Thanks for the comment, Benz3ne!  I was 93% confident it would be fine, but there is SO much I don’t know, so I figured it best to see what others think. 

What do you mean “shouldn’t be eating the lotion anyway…”. Don’t you know that GOOP stuff is all edible(?!), AND, you shouldn’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t ALSO eat (or some shit like that?)?!.   ????

[Margaret]

This is how I AVOID evaporative loss. I use canning jars with a hole drilled into the lids so I can put my thermometers into the phases to monitor their temperature during the heating phase. I do NOT lose any appreciable water through evaporation this way. Of course, this only works if you’re small-scale, like I am. The jars, lids, thermometers and the pincers (orange handles) are all of course cleaned & well-spritzed with 70% alcohol before I weigh my ingredients into them &/or before I start the heating ceremony. 

[Margaret]

I”m sure the real chemists here might suggest you DECREASE the SLS, because it is a very  excellent cleaner, i.e. binds to, and washes away oils, like those on your scalp.

[Margaret]

   I use sodium lactate when I make my soap, to harden it further and to help keep it from cracking on the surface. 
    I only make smallish batches, around 4 kgs.  in a slow cooker, on my deck, outside in the non-winter months. 
  I guess I can experiment by using a small % of NaCl added to the NaOH solution to see if that makes my soap as hard as the sodium lactate does.
  Thanks SO much for the explanations!!

   

[Margaret]

Obviously, I left out VITAL information!  ? . I am sorry. 

This is a BAR of surfactants that I made. I made a 1.2% solution out of my various bars by cutting the appropriate mass of each bar.

 I want to use the BEST bar for washing dishes. 

#3 has 40% sodium cocosulfate (SCS) in its make-up. I thought that since this is used in a highly diluted fashion (the BAR is put into the kitchen sink as it gets filled with hot water), it is not over the recommended safe level to use once it’s so diluted in the sink. 
 PLUS I do not intend to wash my eyes with this bar. Ha ha ha ha!

[Margaret]

 ?Belassi said:

I would normally advise flushing it down the toilet, but you may wish to consider that you may end up with giant preserved rats emerging at night and creeping up on you. 

Holy crap!!!! ?

[Margaret]

I have abandoned LIQUID shampoo because I love shampoo bars.

 No need for plastic bottles with a bar.

 My bars get soft after maybe 20 uses. I suppose you can use ONE bar for X amount of time, then use ANOTHER  bar for Y amount of time.Then go back to the 1st bar etc. That way, you are allowing your bars to have that water they absorbed during use, to evaporate, while you are using ANOTHER bar.

 I hope this is clear? 

When the 2 bars you’re using are irritatingly small, put both of them into a net bag to continue to use it all up. 

Yes, get net bags for the bars. The bags also allow you to hang the bars between uses, to allow for maximal drying between uses. 

I do NOT mean organza bags, that fabric feels like it’s scraping the hair…hard to explain.

[Margaret]

@dtank   I too had the whiting effect and adding 1% dimethicone to my oils phase  fixed that. It was MAGICAL!!!!

[Margaret]

What’s the matter with a farty sound? Adds some humor/humour  to using the product. ?

[Margaret]

@”Dr Catherine Pratt” :   Magnasweet, by Mafco. It’s Glycyrrhizic acid (from licorice root). “Google” it.