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Melanie-- Hi , I am Karen and live in Ind. I read your post--how fascinating
to live in Japan! Well, I have never made soap, but I looked it up on the
web, and came up with some possible help for you. There is a lye calculator
on this web site: http://www.the-sage.com/services/calculator.html If you
have trouble getting this info, I would be happy to try and get it and send
it to you. Basically, be ready to submit which kind of lye you will use-
solid or liquid. The calculator will tell you the amt of lye required to
convert the specified amts of fats and oils to soap. You will need to know
what amts of each oil or fat you will use in your recipe. The list of
various oils and fats is pretty long to select from on the web page,
otherwise I would list them here for you. Well, good luck, and please let me
know if I can help you. Karen

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Melanie, If I remember right, you said it was illegal to use lye in Japan.
Here is another site to check into: Soapmaking.ChatBoard.Org. Hopefully
someone can help you figure out what to do. Good Luck.
Karen