It's wonderful soap. What most people are using now are not so much soap as detergent bars. I don't use them, and only use a hand made soap made by a friend. My husband panics when I run short on them and makes me order them in advance. Actually lots of suds are not necessary for cleansing. It's a concept we have bought into. Stuff to make our cleaning soaps and shampoos suds are added for that benefit because we think they must, and equate high sudsing with clean. I buy a "green" product to mop my floors with, and my only complaint is that it suds up to high heaven compared to using Murphy's, another fav.

Hubbie here... I'm picking up about 25 gallons per week from two restaurants, two skating rinks, and one cafe. So, about ten weeks for 250 gallons. It's enough to meet our heating needs and run the International Harvester (diesel tractor). Yes, it really does smell like french fries when it runs (Heatheron40 says it's like a carnival.) So... do I now have to stop at all the Starbucks and grocery stores for UCG and rotten vegetables? Or are all the pine tags and chicken poop enough?? **Fun biodiesel fact: Burning biodiesel adds no net CO2 to the air...unlike fossil fuels. With bio, the carbon released by burning it was absorbed by the oilseed crops last year to make it. A one-year carbon cycle!

My research has revealed another laundry detergent product which contains natural soap and is formulated for soft water. I have not tried this particular product, so I can't really endorse it, however those of you with soft water having similar issues may want to give it a try and report back: Seafoam Laundry Soap LanoSoft and Seafoam both contain natural soap, not detergent. The difference is that natural soap contains all the glycerin it was originally born with, whereas detergents have removed all the glycerin (which fetches a higher price when sold on its own) and substituted less expensive chemicals. The big caveat here is that natural soap IS NOT good to use if you have hard water, as the glycerin will bind with the calcium carbonate to create a fatty precipitate that will stick to your tub. However, in very soft water conditions this is not an issue as there is no calcium or magnesium to bond with. The presence of glycerin also explains why the laundry is soft without need for fabric softener. The glycerin acts as an emollient for the fabric, conditioning it and allowing it to retain just enough moisture to have a natural softness. I was hesitant to use a product that contains "natural soap", and advised against it previously because it can cause problems in hard water. But for those who have close to zero hardness or have whole house ion exchange softeners, the natural soap thoroughly cleans and allows the fabrics to retain a high degree of softness. My kitchen towels are so fluffy that I can barely fit them all into the drawer! I find that Vaska suds a lot unless you use very little. Unfortunately, then it doesn't clean very well. So again we have the suds vs. clean tradeoff that is often a thorn in many people's sides.

Hi there, I tried a great quality castile melt and pour recipe based on this one below (from an above comment) here with my substitutes in parentheses and what I had on hand. I want to sell these but my concern is this little oil is not enough to carry a scent in the soap. I did a lavender mint mix, a lavender only and a mint only and plain but could hardly smell a thing. The one without scent was teh same as teh ones with the drops. Usually for a human soap bar you woudl add about 2ml of lavender for example in 4 oz M & P soap, but assuming that is way to much for a dog so I do not want to increase that and have it be unsafe for the dogs as I know they process it differently then humans. Any advice? If I am labeling these with a scent customers will say I don't smell anything...thanks for any tips or what to say or label? Dog Soap Recipe #2 4 oz. melt and pour base 1 tablespoon herbal infused Apricot Kernal or Grapeseed oil (left out) 400 IU vitamin E (vets say it is great for the dogs coat) 1/2 tsp EMU oil (optional) I prefer the EMU to the vitamin E (left out) 1/4 teaspoon liquid glycerin (left out) 1/4 tsp essential oil of tea tree (left out) 5 - 7 drops of essential oil of citronella (lavender instead) 3 - 5 drops (each) pennyroyal peppermint or lavender (peppermint)