Technically not soap...

Soap dumped in Portland's Keller FountainPORTLAND -- Merrymakers dumped soap in downtown Portland's Keller Fountain overnight Tuesday

I'm guessing that what was dumped in the fountain wasn't technically soap, but detergent.

Pocket Washcloths Now Available

100% cotton washcloths contain a small opening to slip your favorite bar of Lora's Beauty soap in or the bits and pieces of bars not yet used up. Washcloths are a great way to exfoliate the skin, particularly the face. They remove dead skin cells and excess oil and are great in clearing up even the most stubborn acne. These washcloths are specially handmade for Lora's Beauty using a light weight cotton with a small loop to hang the washcloth to dry between uses. Machine washable.

September Special: Purchase 4 or more bars of Lora's Beauty soap and receive a free Pocket Washcloth! Order from the online store.

Another endorsement for washcloths!How to Exfoliate: Best Exfoliating Tips for the Face & BodyGet the scoop on how to exfoliate your skin properly using a dry brush, bath scrubs and facial scrubs. Plus, get homemade scrub recipes for both the face and body.

How to Exfoliate: Best Exfoliating Tips for the Face & BodyGet the scoop on how to exfoliate your skin properly using a dry brush, bath scrubs and facial scrubs. Plus, get homemade scrub recipes for both the face and body.

Coming Soon To Lora's Beauty: Washcloths!

Photo by flydime

I've heard from a few people (ironically, all men) who find some of the herbs added to soaps too scratchy. Naturally my first reaction is to say "Man up. Get used to it, beauty hurts". I've never actually said this to them but I admit, I've thought it. Well, my mom has come up with a great idea and we are trying it out right now. Are you ready for it...it's washcloths!

She came up with the idea of creating a washcloth that had a pocket in it to slip a bar of soap in, or the multiple pieces of soap that you're always left with when you've used the majority of the bar. Now, I realize this probably isn't a new idea, however I'm envisioning the cloths I'll have her make will be of natural, organic cotton and have a string so one can hang them up to allow the bar to fully dry between uses. These will be machine washable as well.

Using washcloths are great for a person's skin and complexion. They are a great way to exfoliate the skin and remove excess oils.

Look for these pocket washcloths in the online store soon!

New and Improved Product Photos

Lora's updating the photos on the online store. Pictured below are the Beer Bar Shampoo, Lotion Bar Roll On, Soothing Face Balm, and Body Butter photos. Check out Lora's website for all the new product photos!

The Water

I bought a new book a few weeks ago on soap making. I'm always interested in reading up on the craft and, well, who doesn't need a new book every now and then anyway?

This book had a page devoted to the water used in making soap. This is the water that's mixed with the lye. In some parts of the world the water is extremely hard containing too much magnesium and calcium ion. These additional minerals will consume part of your lye solution. As a work around to this problem, the authors suggested using rain water from a collection system.

I have rain barrels at my house and have collected rain water for years. I use the rain water to water plants in the summer. After the rain water runs off the roof and down the gutters to the barrel it can be quite dirty, containing particles of anything it came on contact with on the roof. I wouldn't want to use this water in my soap. I have always used tap water to mix my lye solution and have never had a problem. I decided to dig a little deeper into our tap water in Portland, Oregon.

I have a friend who insists he doesn't like water. I always thought that weird. Who wouldn't like water and why? Well, he grew up in North Carolina and, according to him, the water there tasted awful. Portland's water has always been excellent and drinking it straight from the tap is common. In fact, most of the tap water in Portland is collected rain water in what's called the Bull Run Watershed on Mt Hood.

"Water runs off in the watershed through streams and rivers into the Bull Run River or Bull Run's reservoirs. From there it goes into the treatment facility in Bull Run where the "raw" water is treated with chlorine to produce drinking water.

Closer to Portland, ammonia is added to the water. Combined with the chlorine, adding ammonia completes a process called chloramination. This simple treatment process ensures that water throughout the water system meets the disinfection requirements of federal and state drinking water regulations." -- http://www.portlandonline.com/water/index.cfm?c=48904

Portland's water consequently is very soft, naturally. In this case, I guess I've been lucky since I never gave the water much thought in my soap making process.

Large batch of soap

I received a fairly large order for some soap over the weekend. I've been trying to figure out a better, more efficient method of making my soap. Not changing it in anyway, but increasing production and decreasing labor costs. Last night I had the first opportunity to try out one of many ideas I've toyed with. I tripled my soap recipe. I have read in numerous books and blogs that as long as you can do the math, you can increase or decrease the size of your soap batches. I put that to the test last night and it looks like my math was good! This soap will now cure for a day then I'll need to grate it for hand milling. My normal method of hand grating the soap worked a lot better before I tripled the recipe! I'm now trying to think of a more efficient way to grate it without dumping a lot of money into a machine--which I may do eventually. For now, I think my best bet is to enlist the labor of my teen-age son!