I am very new at this and still in the learning phase. It’s just my girls and I making things for ourselves, friends and family.

We have made lip balm-our favorite- cuticle jelly, lip scrub and whipped shea butter and would like to try lotion/body butters next.

The thing I struggle with the most is knowing why one oil/butter is used over another. Also, if I don’t have a particular ingredient is there an acceptable substitute or is there a reason that particular ingredient was used. I know that with more study this will become easier but maybe this could be added to the recipes in the posts when appropriate.

I don’t know how realistic this is but since I don’t do this as a business it would be nice to have recipes with smaller or sample amounts included.

As a theme I think Beauricua had a great idea in the items specifically for the face.

Thanks for doing this blog. It has helped me jump into things I might have been hesitant to try.
Kim

I came up with a quick idea that might help with your packaging/color theme challenge. White or frosted containers with white lids, orange labels, and silver ribbon or elastic around the product.

I will look into your projects of interest. They sound fun! I’ll see what I can find out and then post back.

I struggle the most with which ingredients are best for which products. For example – I formulated a very nice hair conditioner
a year ago. In my next 4 batches, I added different ingredients – like dl panthenol, IPM (don’t know why!), Dimethicone, Cyclomethicone,
vitamin E, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Silk Amino Acids, Liquid Silk, then some different extracts (ie White Lily
Extract, Orchid Extract). But it seems like the less extra ingredients I add – the better the hair conditioner is…!! Sometimes the ingredients
I read from vendors sound like it would be really nice in my hair conditioner…viscious cycle! So it would be nice to know exactly what
would work in different formulas and why! (lotions, creams, hair conditioners, etc.)

Your 2nd question ~ I would really LOVE to make a liquid soap from scratch. I’m already familiar with naoh, so I would have to pick
up some KOH to get started – but I’m just scared to death for some reason when it comes to liquid soap…it’s probably really easy, but when
you’re scared because you haven’t seen pictures and instructions, it’s hard to get up the nerve! I would really love to make my own
shampoo ~ so that it would go nicely with my hair conditioner. I’ve tried your shampoo base already – but it’s not the same as making
it yourself – do you know what I mean? It feels like I’m cheating or something ;o) And if I’m stuck using bases (I don’t have a problem
using bases BTW!), are there ingredients I can add to it to make it more conditioning?

My absolute favorite thing to make is soap ~ CP and/or hot process with a crock pot! This past Fall, I lost my confidence. I made the
mistake of using someone elses fragrance oils that were not compatible with soap making, even though they claimed they were CP safe…
I’m talking about 6 – 4# batches…One batch was sooo bad – it ate my wooden mold – how bad is THAT? LOL! (these were NOT FO’s from MMS)

The other thing I struggle with is labeling. With the new FDA labeling laws – it’s hard to know if I’m in compliance or not. I try really hard
to not make statements – because then you’re going into “is it a drug, or is it still a cosmetic?” But how do you let customers know the properties
of different oils, butters, EO’s, etc. without making claims?

Thank you Andee!
Kathy

Our new projects of interest are:

Lipsticks
Facial Cleansers
Facial Toners
Facial Moisturizers

Our challenge is finding the right packaging for these products since we like to stay within our
color theme which is silver, white and orange. The packaging choices have been black, white,
and clear or frosted containers. Please let us know what is appropriate to post. Thanks.