Teach Soap

What do ya'll use to moisten your bath bombe citric acid/baking soda mixture? After hearing that water sets off the fizzing reaction early, I used witch hazel, as suggested on Soap Queen TV, I think is where I first saw it. But that seems to be setting the fizzing off too. I can hear sizzling sounds and see my just-packed bath bombes sloooowly mushrooming out of the mold! Any suggestions? Can you use oil? That seems like a lot of oil to me, but what do you guys use?

_________________
Olivia :)

Anyone?

_________________
Olivia :)

I use witch hazel and mix while spraying and I do use oils some times

_________________
Anna Rose @-}--
blog

Thanks rosie, I'm going to try that next time.

_________________
Olivia :)

Hey there Olivia!! I've learned a lot on here and just reading my bath bomb making BUTT off, and I have come up with a few different kinds of bombs....some sink and fizz, some float and foam/fizz, some have glitter or cake luster for some pretty shimmery water...I fond that any light oil will help give you that "wet sand" texture you're looking for, but as far as just using a lighter oil and not melting down butters, I really like Sweet Almond.....and LOVE mango butter...also, depending on how much bomb mixture you have, you could add some kaolin or another type of clay...works for me everytime!!!

Thanks, msj! I have Apricot Kernel oil on hand, so since it's similar to Sweet Almond, I will try it! So far, I have been using cocoa butter (smells soooo good). I'll have to try clay too, I didn't think about that. What do you do to your bombes to make them float well? Do you use witch hazel at all?

_________________
Olivia :)

Hey there Olivia!! Sorry it took me so long to respond, I've been covered in butters and powders and colorants...oh my!!! LOL...ok...I THINK I figured out the key to making them float, and it's really simple, actually....DRYING TIME!!!! That, AND the use of lighter oils...I LOVE my sinkers, don't get me wrong...they are pretty in the tub and super moisturizing with no ring of color and oil around the tub thanks to an emulsifier...but I wanted a few that were like some of the Lush bombs as well, and I knew I could do it. With my bedtime bomb, I made a blue core using 60 mm Christmas bulbs and a light oil, and very little kaolin in those. The first time I tried this, I used my "sinker" bomb recipe, with all the harder butters, and that defeated the purpose of what I was trying to do (duh lol). I also let them dry overnight, and tried to pack the purple/pink shell around it the next day. No dice. I also altered the recipe of the "shell" to be more like a bubble bar, adding less citric acid than the core and using slsa. Well, the end result was a floating bomb (I have to admit, had I let it dry longer, it would have floated the entire time) but it bobbed around the surface of the tub, and then blue shot out of the sides of the bomb!!! It felt so great to NOT want to get outta that water, with a bomb I made myself! OH!! One more thing, I DO use witch hazel to spritz, and I also didn't wait to pack the shell around the core of the bomb, I did it right away, and instead of using my stainless steel molds, I used the ones from Wholesale Supplies....worked like a charm!! I'm SUPER happy right now! P.S. I made 8 "cores", and was ready to start packing when my mother called, hence, I was hugely distracted and ended up with one bomb to test with so in my experience, time is of the essence...I waited and the mixture wouldn't stick to the cores, but the first and only one came out amazing!

Wow, great! You really know a lot about bombes! Thank you!

So how much drying time are we talking here? 12 hours? 24 hours? More time?

The last bombes I made a few days ago I used only Shea butter as the wet ingredient; I just kept adding Shea butter until I was happy with the consistency. I wanted to try some with no witch hazel as I have had some previous bad experience with it. They packed and molded beautifully, but did not dry very well. They give to or crumble with pressure from my finger. I am looking for those rock hard bombes. Could mine be soft from the Shea butter, maybe? What do you think?

I just tested one in a bowl of water and it floats perfectly! It is literally fizzing away right now as I type. Fizzing a little slowly, however.

It does appear to be making a bit of an oil slick, though. I guess that would be on account of me adding no emulsifier.

You're layered bombes sound so neat!

Again, thanks for your help!

_________________
Olivia :)

Hello, I love making my own bath bombs. None of mine float,maybe someday. I do use witch hazel. I have learned to mix everything together and add the citric last. No fizzing in the bowl this way. Good luck

Thanks for the advice and welcome to the forum! But how do you know how much witch hazel to add if you add the citric acid last? Since the amount of witch hazel added is based on adding a little at a time until the consistency is right? It seems this would be hard to do if you don't mix all the dry ingredients together first.

Or do you measure your witch hazel differently?

Any tips are most welcome... bath bombes are a difficult art and science to master!

_________________
Olivia :)

Thanks for the welcome! I had my first bath bomb FAIL last night. Maybe you shouldn't listen to me. Haha I had my grandkids helping. We were having a lot of fun and being silly. I wasn't paying attention to the mixture. They ended up WAY too wet. They came alive like the blob!!! I set the whole mess in the sun today to dry out. I am using my food chopper now to make bath salts out of the blob. I will be going back to my old recipe. Not a whole lot of difference anyway. The trick is all in how wet you get the mix. You want it to be just wet enough to stick together. Not too wet. LOL There really is no way to describe it. It is about the feel. I will also be going back to adding the witch hazel last. I know I didn't help you much sorry.

Lol, I'm still trying to figure out the "feel" of that correct consistency! Thanks for sharing your experiences! If you have any other suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.

_________________
Olivia :)

Hey Olivia...I pm'd you, and accidentally wrote right in the middle of your post LOL....any luck yet? Let me know how you're doing!!!

It's weird too....I REALLY think the temp has ALOT to do with it...I live in the smokies, and its a jungle out here, literally lol. Rainforest temperature outside, I'm drenched as SOON as I step out the door. And the thing with the witch hazel...I spray my mix at the end, just a little bit, so its like wet sand...sometimes I don't even need to do that.....hmmmmm.....

I just wanted to add that I tried using enough light oils to get that wet sand consistency without witch hazel and it ended up being way too much oil. It's really dry here. Humidity is a big factor in making bath bombs. I use apricot kernel oil most of the time and kaolin clay to help hold the shape plus witch hazel to spritz. It helps to lightly spritz on the witch hazel and mix. You can always repeat until you get the right texture. Getting the right feel just takes practice. On the bright side, you get to use all those practice bath bombs!

_________________
Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!