Experimenting in your workshop

I know this can be a demanding hobby/craft/art/calling/obsession and I know it can be an expensive one sometimes, but making mistakes and "wasting" supplies is part of the process. I know this is a hard thing to accept - I can't count how many times I've kept a product around thinking I'll try to fix it rather than throwing it away - and it's one of the reasons making small batches for a first time or dubious product is a good idea.

The reality is that the best way to learn how to make products it to make them. Make it and use it. You'll get an idea of how it feels, what it looks like, and all those other important things like the process involved, the viscosity of the product, how easy it is to pour into a container, which container is best, and so on.

The trying out new things process is expensive. I can't count how many bottles of cocamidopropyl betaine and bags of SCI I used trying to come up with new recipes that failed, but they weren't wasted. I learned something new from every mistake. I learned that SCI is essential in making a shampoo bar hard enough to withstand the rigours of the shower but soft enough to glide over my hair. I learned that SCI with stearic makes my hair oilier than the SCI without, and I learned that SCI without stearic can go clear in a liquid product. I learned that products without cocamidopropyl betaine aren't as thick or as mild as those with it. In short, although my mistakes were destined for the dumpster, I learned a lot about surfactants from each "failure".

If you've got a recipe you love, start out by substituting one ingredient. I remember sitting at the coffee shop near my office trying to figure out if I could substitute avocado oil for sunflower oil in a foot lotion recipe I found on the Dish. Instead of getting into the workshop the next morning, I spent a ton of time debating it, writing down all the merits of each oil and what they brought to the party. When I finally used it, it felt really nice and made the cream thicker and more tenacious! So I use avocado in my foot lotions all the time now!

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Learn the rules of the game, then break them. Make the lotion exactly as described the first time, then try your own ideas the second time so you get an idea of the skin feel, the  viscosity, the emulsification, and so on. This is really the best way to learn!