Do you "hate" any oil in particular?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
yep, corn is bad because of GMO, but I think you can find gmo free versions out there.

So since it seems that what ruined my design last time was the shea butter. How about cocoa butter? Will it behave like shea?


Thank you Earlene. I don't like using it in my cooking too due to gmo.


In UK I try to look in supermarket they never put if gmo free.

About shea butter and cocoa butter all behave the same to me because I don't really put intricate designs or colours. I don't colour my soap often because it's just for personal use and some for friends. I always spend money in scent like essential oil or fragrance oil. As well as I do more hot process than cold process.
 
Here's a link to Qualities of Soap Making Oils on David Fisher's site , The Spruce:

https://www.thespruce.com/qualities-of-soap-making-oils-517120

It's one of the more complete lists I've been able to find that speaks specifically about what to expect from various oils. I've found it helpful when determining whether or not I want to use a certain oil in soap. Some are better in lotions and potions where they truly shine.
 
I love the spruce website. Their recipes are amazing too.

I posted that link a while back Zany. But butters are not listed there. Or I did not see them?
 
I love the spruce website. Their recipes are amazing too. I posted that link a while back Zany. But butters are not listed there. Or I did not see them?
Well, how about that? I didn't see butters listed either, so it's not just you. Hmmmm.
icon_confused.gif


Amanda at Lovin' Soap has butters on her chart:

http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/

BTW, an interesting thing about shea butter is that it is almost identical in properties & qualities as lard - you can sub one for the other in a recipe, i.e., so if you run out of lard while soaping, sub shea; if you run out of shea, sub lard. :wink:
 
Last edited:
I am allergic to CO, it makes me itch like mad when used in soap! So I started using PKO for a sub, then recently starting using babassu oil for a sub for CO. My favorite bar is lard, tallow, rice bran or avocado, maybe some interchangeable light oils like apricot kernal, sunflower, or the like, babassu or PKO, and canola. I love the big bubbles that canola oil gives soap. I have never had problems with DOS. I find the simpler soap recipes work just as well for me as the complex ones, but I do see a difference if I use lard, avocado, rice bran, or babassu. I am a "mature" woman with dry skin.

For cooking, currently I use EVOO, and cold pressed Spectrum canola oil if I need a high smoke point oil. I have studied the nutrition research on lipids extensively, and I can tell you there is some evidence for and against any cooking oils. This is a very trendy subject. MUFA, PUFA, and saturated fat claims can all be supported or refuted, so don't be too sure about your stance on oils. Mine has changed many times. I will say that there is no definitive study showing that any particular type of fat contributes to disease or mortality. If you think you have one, please share it with me, because all the studies I have read that are definitive are BAD studies. I also use CO to fry fish, yes fry. My husband is a fisherman, and we love crappie fried in CO. We all need to be worrying about sugars much more than fats. And I hate saying that because I love sweets! In a more perfect world, I would be allowed to eat all the sweets I want without any weight gain or tooth decay!:)
 
Wonderful thread! Thank you

This is probably going to get me thrown off this site, but I hate olive oil.
I've made plenty, because everyone is so excited about it, and many have turned out just horrible. Mostly really crumbly. Some I seem to remember had something of a dry sponge quality.
Of the ones that made it through "quality control" and drying time, I was also not overjoyed with the soaping behaviour. Not slimy, but just meh ...

I think this is because its really hard to get real good olive oil nowadays. I have just read a book about olive oil and it makes you wanna puke ...

And also I think much of what we read about and learn comes from some ago. Then you just had a very limited amount of oils and fats, you didn't want to use the really good ones for something like soap. And you didn't have a lot of money to spend.

Now you can buy macadamia nut oil. Who would have thought that? And its the most lovely oil I have ever had in soaps.
Besides Babassu. Nothing beats Babassu :)
 
I read here that many hates canola oil for different reasons. And I jumped over that GMO stuff, not because I don't care, but because we don't have GMO oils here (and I believe in the whole Europe). I knew that canola is a special type of rapeseed. But what is the difference? I googled and found that canola is a rapeseed oil where glucosinates and eruic acid are removed by cross breeding. Believed to be toxic and have a bitter taste. Rapeseed oil is THE cooking oil in many countries in Europe, like Norway. And it is used in high doses. I've never heard anything about rapeseed being toxic or have a bitter taste. I can't taste anything from refined rapeseed, but cold pressed have a delicious nutty flavor. So I guess it is not toxic, otherwise it would not be sold here (Europe have more strict rules than America). I googled in norwegian, and found zero articles about rapeseed oil being toxic. I checked both the norwegian and swedish FDA, found nothing. So I don't know about the toxicity.... But I would for sure not use any GMO, regardless of being toxic or not.

Back to soaping. I also read that many like canola in their soaps, makes a mild bar and no DOS. I wonder, what difference does an oil with glucosinates and eruic acid (rapeseed) do compared to one without (canola)? I mean, can canola be good for soaping but rapeseed bad?

(Refined rapeseed oil is available here almost for free. That's why I wonder, maybe I can use it? Canola does not exist here)
 
Hi Rune,
just wanted to tell you that in German canola and rapeseed oil are the same. Not sure if its gmo in Austria, might be. But its a wonderful oil in soap. I do think there are some differences in those things between the US and Europe.
Do try it!
 
Interesting topic! :thumbup: Peanut oil is a no-no for me. I have this fear of sending someone into anaphylactic shock. Seriously. Great for stir-fry tho! Also canola oil -- genetically modified -- so many other, better, choices. Oh, I just remembered, deer tallow -- stinks to high heaven! Ugh.

I've always wondered about Peanut Oil being used to make soap. I'm highly allergic to PO and it will send me to the hospital if I come into contact with it. I was wondering if the saponification process 'removed' the allergic properties or not. I'm not about to ever try it but I've always what would happen and if I would be allergic to it.
 
I use some olive oil... but I don't care for a soap that has a lot of olive oil.

I'm also not a fan of lots of olive oil because a bar that gets used daily - even when properly drained and stored, still swells, absorbs moisture and can get gooey. Of lesser importance is that I prefer my batter to be as white as possible so I don't have to us td. A yellow batter means your colors can be greatly mutated, using td means that your color is now a "tint" of the original.

However, I do make a batch of bastille every year with oo, co, castor, unscented and uncolored because there's always someone I know who's either pregnant, ill, or struggling with skin conditions so I like to have a very simple bar on hand for them.
 
Back to soaping. I also read that many like canola in their soaps, makes a mild bar and no DOS. I wonder, what difference does an oil with glucosinates and eruic acid (rapeseed) do compared to one without (canola)? I mean, can canola be good for soaping but rapeseed bad?

(Refined rapeseed oil is available here almost for free. That's why I wonder, maybe I can use it? Canola does not exist here)

I love Canola/Rapeseed in soap. I have a basic recipe with PKO, Palmolein and Rapeseed at 30% that is ridiculously great for such a simple recipe. Not really a fan of Olive oil. Olive oil costs the same as Rapeseed oil here so for me it's not a filler oil like some people call it. I use mid Oleic Rapeseed oil, I have bars that are 9 months old that is still fine (Have gotten incredibly ridiculously better). Check DeeAnna's write up on how to tell https://classicbells.com/soap/highOleic.html

I will use Rapeseed oil at 5times the cost of Olive. ***ducking soap bars***:mrgreen:
 
Don't worry, olive oil dislikers, there are literally dozens of us.

Probably.
 
Back
Top