Steps on the road to recovery

June One pot wonder soap challenge

Amy, there are no words to express what I would like to say to you in person. Maybe one day I will find you (not in a menacing-stalker type of way) and let you know just how appreciated you are from miles away.

This is my first ever challenge in anything where I was not certain that I would win. I have never entered into a competition/challenge in anything where I was not absolutely certain that I would be the best. Remember I am a recovering perfectionist with all manner of quirks that surprise even me. I am just glad to have taken the step to enter with no expectation on myself to win or lose. I realize that I really do not care either way and it is just fun.

I made my own recipe for this challenge as I do not have access to palm oil or at least I have not found any readily accessible where I live. The recipe I used is a blend of sunflower, coconut, castor, shea and cocoa butter with some stearic acid. For the first attempt I thought of using indigo in an ombre sort of way for the one pot wonder. Unfortunately I poured the soap batter at a slightly too thin trace so I think the feathering did not show up as well as it could have. I think I will try it again another time with thicker trace and see how that turns out. I loved the look I got with the indigo and think I will be playing with that idea.

My second attempt was a beautiful disaster, same recipe, slight temperature variation and the soap batter thickened so fast I could not feather it for anything in the world LOL. The soap still turned out pretty beautiful and the scent is just fantastic! It is a blend of Patchouli, Blood Orange and Black pepper essential oils.

For the third try I figured I would recreate the conditions of the first attempt and pay attention to the temperature of the batter so that the stearic acid did not thicken up too fast. While I will always think that I can do better (I am my own worst critic), I think it turned out ok and will attempt it again in a tall skinny mold.

I am so glad to have been brave enough to enter this challenge and hope to learn and share knowledge with all.

With love,

Tendo