Does Handmade Soap Go Bad?
A bar does not expire the way milk does. What ages is the oil in it. Orange spots, glycerin dew, faded scent — which of...
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Is There Lye in Handmade Soap?
Not in my process. My bars start from a glycerin base that is already soap, so I never handle lye. Here is what the label...
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Why I Make My Soap With a Clear Glycerin Base
Every bar I make starts from a clear, natural glycerin base. What that means for what's in the bar, why there's no weeks-long wait, and...
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Does Hard Water Change How Your Soap and Your Skin Feel?
Hard water changes the lather before it changes anything else. What the grey film is, how to look up your own water in ten minutes,...
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Is Alkaline Soap Bad for Your Skin?
Skin feeling tight after you wash is the question underneath this one. All true soap is alkaline — here is what that does, who it...
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Can You Use a Body Soap on Your Face?
Usually yes, with two conditions and one exception. The short version of a question that gets a lot of very confident, very long answers.
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How to Choose a Bar of Soap for Your Skin
Type first, scent last. How to read your own skin in an hour, which of the four bars goes with which skin, how to patch...
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How to Make a Bar Last Twice as Long
Cut it in half before the first use. Six habits that make a bar go further, the soap dish that kills most of them, and...
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Why No Two Batches Look Exactly the Same
Same recipe, different yellow. Why turmeric color moves between harvests, why petals go brown, what never changes, and how to tell variation from a faulty...
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Why Handmade Soap Costs More Than a Drugstore Bar
Is a drugstore bar even soap? Where the glycerin goes, what you're really paying for in a handmade bar, and when you should honestly just...
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What Plants Actually Do in a Bar of Soap
What turmeric, chamomile and calendula actually do in a bar of soap, why fresh flowers rot, whether turmeric stains towels, and the claims I stopped...
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