Welcome to September 2023!

Welcome to September, the month I still consider the beginning of the new year thanks to all those years of school. This time of year, I always feel this urge to run down to the stationery store and pick up all kinds of binders, pens, fancy paper, and far many Post-it notes while committing to be tidier and more organized for the next ten months. (That last bit never really happened…) No, wait, that’s how I feel every day – all the hoarding of stationery all the time!

What are your resolutions for this last third of the year? Are there things you want to make for gifting or selling for the holiday season? Good news! We’ll be working on some quick and easy formulas during September and October you can make yourself, friends, family – even kids – you can share with those you love!

I’m so sorry there wasn’t an e-book last month. As I shared in this post, Hey $10 subscribers! In lieu of this month’s e-book, we have a $20 coupon for you!, I’m having some serious trouble with my hands and arms again. I switched doctors and she tried something new. Sadly, it didn’t work, so it’s been hard to do basic stuff, including type, trackpad, or use my iPad much this month. The good news is that I had a small treatment this past Sunday, so things are better, and should be back to normal shortly after my appointment on September 12th.

Because of the ongoing annoyance with my arms, I’ve been trying more dictation, but it’s such a giant pain. It gets half the words wrong – not even the chemical names, just things it should know, like Sasja’s name or the word “emulsion”, which it always spells as “emotion” no matter how much I enunciate it – which means I have to go into the writing and make loads of changes, which means lots of pointing or using the trackpad, some of the most painful activities with my hands. It’s so much easier and less frustrating to type as much as I can for now.

If you have any suggestions for dictation programs, please let me know. I’m a Mac user, and we’re looking at Dragon Dictate, but I have to get Windows going and all kinds for that to work, so I’d love something you can program with specific words – like cocamidopropyl betaine or emulsion – so I can get doing more writing!

What can you expect this month on the site? 

I’m working on the cold process emulsifier series, which I’ll share each week in October like I did the Newbie Tuesday and Formulating Friday series. I hope to have the shopping list soon to share with you here, but that is one of the last things to do in a series, so I’m not sure when I’ll have it out. I’ll start the series four weeks after I share that list.

Thank you to the American and Australian readers who shared links for where we can buy these ingredients in those countries. I have Canada covered, so if you live in these countries you’ll be able to get ingredients near you so you can follow along. If you’re outside those countries, I can’t guarantee these emulsifiers will be easily available to you.

I have more Q&A coming this month. I’ve been working on quite a few, although the amazing question Anca posed about using pH meters to measure water has been a serious work in progress for a few months. You have no idea how amazing your questions are, Anca! You send me down awesome rabbit holes!

I have more Lumorol shower oil fun to share with you and some advice: You have to mix it with a mechanical mixer for 10 minutes or it will fail. There’s a DIYer using what I can suppose are affiliate branded spatulas to mix these shower oils a few times, and these will separate. Please just use mechanical mixers and throw the spatulas away. I’m serious – I know they’re great for scraping and cleaning out containers, but apparently they’re so alluring, people can’t help but use them in the place of proper mixers, leading to fails and separation and sadness.

Related posts:

#alltheingredients: Lumorol K 5229 (INCI: MIPA-Laureth Sulfate, Laureth-4, Propylene Glycol)

#alltheingredients: LUMOROL K 5229 – let’s look at the ingredients!

Experiments in the workshop: Making foaming shower oils with Lumorol K 5229 (INCI: MIPA-Laureth Sulfate, Laureth-4, Propylene Glycol)

And I have some fun new ingredients that might interest you, like AQUAXYL™ and jojoba esters 15 we’ll be using in a few formulas. Woo hoo!

As we do every month on the site…

If you’re in need of supplies, $10 subscribers to the month have three discount coupons this month for Lotioncrafter, Windy Point Soap Making Supplies, and  Voyageur Soap & Candle. Thank you for this lovely gift out of the goodness of your hearts, lovely suppliers!

They’ll be updated as we receive them. If you don’t see them today, please check back tomorrow or the next day, they will be there eventually. It’s August and people are on holiday. 

If you’re a $3 subscriber or higher, click here to see the duplication request post!

Please note that requests for duplication are only considered if they’re posted in the duplication section as this is part of the $3 and up subscribers benefits and not if they’re emailed, direct messaged, or suggested in comments on social media. I cannot possibly re-create every single formula suggested as this blog would be nothing but duplicated products — and how boring would that be? – so I can only choose a few a year to create. I go into detail about my process for choosing formulas in both the duplication request post and in this post. Thank you for continuing to share them in that post. I have been getting loads of ideas from it the last few months, and there will be more to come soon, I hope. 

And don’t forget that you have access to the formula directory! The formula directory is constantly being updated to include even more formulas from around the blog, so if you’re looking for a formula, you’ll find it in the formula directory! (That word has lost all meaning now…)

Also check out the latest addition to the monthly posts – Ingredient substitution ideas post ($3 and up)! Id you have an ingredient you’re trying to find or need help substituting for in a formula, please share your thoughts over there!

If you’re a $5 subscriber or higher, click here to see the month’s Q&A post! I check this post every day, and it’s my priority to answer your questions or help with your formulas – it’s the best way to get in touch with me and guarantee an answer!

Right now, this is the only way I can answer questions or analyze formulas because I have such limited time, so please make that your first stop if you have something you simply have to know! 😁

I’m sorry I’m a bit behind with the Q&A. As you can see, there’s been a lot going on. It’s my first priority again this month! 

And don’t forget about the monthly Super happy fun member-to-member post for September 2023!, which is available to all levels of subscriptions, so please feel free to share your thoughts on this post or others on the blog!

You can always find the links to these monthly posts in the pinned post section, which is found to the right of just about every page on the blog on desktop and most mobile, or the bottom of every page for the odd mobile device. Or do a search for “Q&A” or “duplication” to find them. I’m afraid I don’t have time to do searches for you if you write to me as I’m swamped and my arms and hands are still in minor spasm, so doing one of those two things will find you those posts very quickly. 

Thanks for joining us for the month of September! What are your plans this month? What products intrigue you? Which new ingredients are you eager to try? Did you get any wonderful packages with loads of supplies lately? Share your thoughts in the comments!