Newbie here! I think I might have a problem...

MunbynSMF
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Dahila said:
Lard, lard, and lard:p I have very senstive skin and soap with addition of lard gives me this smooth skin feeling and is not drying. I know that soap is not moisturizing, but it feels like that with lard. I use mix of tallow and lard (tallow on market $5 for ten pounds :) ) I use castor and some coconut oil not to much, not to agreviate my dry and sensitive skin......Lard!!!
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Hahaha. And I thought Susie was the queen of lard. I think we might have to pass the baton. ....:)

I love all you lard addicts, you know i do. Just have to give you a little ribbing.
 
But animal fats can be hard to find in Brazil. Beef there tends to be much more lean than what we find in the US and in 3 trips there, I don't really remember seeing pigs.

Where are you located? North? South?
 
I used 100% lard on my 1st batch of soap and hated it because I didn't have a SB and stirred it to trace with my face in the pot for 4 hours and the smell was too much. I stopped using lard, but could not get a nice soap. I started using lard again, the same time started using sustainable palm, and the soap is great. Feels great on my skin.
 
Extreme_Soaping said:
Guys, check this out...
Hahahah
Look the color on that thing. That is so old.
I'll try to rebatch my last soap, tomorrow I shall use this relic and my red palm oil
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You won't be able to rebatch using the stick blender. That is going to be a job for a spoon and a spatula.

On the lard/palm issue. If lard "seems wrong" to you, you need to go with what works for your conscience. Use palm, or tallow.

However, if you eat meat, then realize that no animals are being raised for their fats. You are making use of a by product when you use animal fats to soap. This makes more sense to me than throwing the fat away and using only vegetable oils. If you don't have access to lard, then use beef fat. Or save the oils that come off of meats when you cook them. I would keep the different kinds of fats separate, but I may be a bit OCD about stuff like that.
 
hahaha
you guys are great.

I'm a carnivore meat lover, it really doesn't bother me, I was just kidding. It does feels a little weird to think you're smudging the insides of a dead animal on your body hahahahahah but I honestly don't care, since I eat them anyway.

I have access to lard, and I shall buy some ASAP.

Susie, I didn't use the SB for the rebatch, I used just a silicone spatula. That didn't work out as well, because the soap hadn't trace in the first place... It became just an oily mixture. I just threw it away a couple of minutes ago.

Houseofwool, I'm located near Sao Paulo, I've seen lard being sold in supermarkets, it won't be a problem.


Thank you guys, from the heart, if wasn't you I'd probably given up already.
Cheers!
 
Aww yeah, BANHA!
I'll soap this baby right now!
I think I'm going for 70 lard, 20 CO and 10 red palm

DSC_0537.jpg
 
Guys, I know what's up. :(
I just ruined another batch, but at least I know.
The damned Fragrances.
I saw it right before my eyes. I had an ok trace already when I poured it, and it was ruined in 2 seconds. I went with 20 CO, 10 palm, 20 olive oil and 50 lard.

In my first batch, the green soap I used a fragrance specific for soap making, but the other ones I used a fragrance that's used for perfume making, I guess

Look what happened after I poured in the pics. I'm so tired, but I'm going to do it again right now.

DSC_0540.jpg


DSC_0541.jpg
 
JustBeachy said:
I'm seeing at the first you said you are using " some knock-off essence oils ". Are these carrier oils with fragrance by chance? Have you tried a batch, with no fragrance yet?
Click to expand...

Well there she blows!!! You found your white whale. :)

I figured it had to be something simple that was throwing you a curve ball. The beauty of it is, now that you've nailed down the problem, it's an easy fix.

Glad you got to the bottom of it. Now I'm ready to see some "Extreme Soaping". haha
 
Yoooo guys! Extreme is back!

Hey guys!
I won't lie, I almost gave up the soap making life. After my last post, I made other 2 horrific batches.
My problem was not only the essences, but I think the Lye as well.

Anyway, after a long research, I found an online store wich had all the top notch stuff for soap making! It's 200 miles away, but it arrived, and it is really awesome stuff. They had even Palm oil! And it was cheap!
I bought new lye, and even deionized water heheh
Bought some cocoa butter, shea butter, PROPER pigments.

I've made 2 beautiful batches already, using basically:

30% palm
20% lard
10% canola
20% olive
15% coconut
3% cocoa butter
2% shea butter

Also, I added the cocoa and shea butter on solid form, after mixing the lye solution to the oils, so they would be "forced" to be the superfat. makes sense?

ok, let's see some pictures!

Any thoughts, suggestions are welcome!

Cheers guys!

Edit: high res., for science: http://i.imgur.com/LSGE4XF.jpg

DSC_0586.jpg


DSC_0584.jpg


DSC_0585.jpg
 
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Those turned out lovely love the wispy swirl.

However if doing CP you are not guaranteed that Shea and Cocoa will be your superfat as the lye is still active.

So therefore you should just add them in with the rest of your oils.

However, if you hot process you can add your superfat oils after the cook and they will then be your superfat.
 
I really like the little wispy swirls in the green soap. What did you use to color?


In CP soap, saponification takes many hours to finish after your pour. Adding the solid fats will not affect what gets sap'd; it melts into the batter. Unless it doesn't melt, then that's another problem.
 
Hey look at those! Those are great - especially for a newbie. Glad you didn't give up.

But, where's the cut pics for the red soap? :wink:

Forgot to add: Shea butter has the highest amount of unsaponifiables, or parts that aren't altered by the lye. I like shea in my soap - but now that I usually use a high percentage of lard, I don't need it. With my palm based recipe....shea is a bonus.
 
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Thanks, people!
I am, indeed, very proud of my creations! heheheee

I used chromium oxide for the green one.

marilyn, I added the butters before pouring into the mold. I basically added them with the other oils, but since they were solid, I thought they wouldn't react with the lye at first. I mixed by hand for a good 5 minutes because I thought the liquid oils would "neutralize" the lye, and then when I blended, I would crush the butters, and they wouldn't be "consumed" by the lye.
But I think this doesn't make much sense heheh

Aren't the butters "destroyed" by the lye? Like, don't they lose their properties if they react with the lye?

sorry if it's confusing, this is really hard to explain hehe



oh, and I haven't cut the red one yet... I just made it yesterday night :D
 
Last edited:
Yes. The butters (and fats and oils) are destroyed by the lye. The molecules of fat are torn apart into glycerin and fatty acids. The soap then has the properties of the fatty acids, not the fat itself.

100% Coconut oil is great applied directly to my skin. Soap made from 100% coconut oil dries my skin out pretty bad. Different oils contain different fatty acids, so give different properties to the soap. Lye calculator gives some info on this.

P.S. Be proud of those, they are very nice! Pretty, of course; the texture also looks great and that's no small achievement.
 
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So, are you guys implying that the hot process is better?

Since you can add stuff that won't react with the lye?


Sigh... now I need a crockpot.
 
Your swirls look lovely!

Cold and hot process have their advantages and disadvantages. Cold process you can add more complex decorations of swirl, embeds, etc. Downside is the curing which takes 4-6 weeks. Hot process on the other hand, cook it and within the hour its done and ready to use. It would benefit for 1-3 week cure to harden up, but you are more limited to designs I think. Also its a good investment to have a crock pot just in case. I was doing cold process and when I added the fragrance oil my batch turned into a monster and crock pot helped me save it. It's now family soap but at least it wasn't wasted.

And even in hot process lye is still reacting. You are just forcing gel phase making it safer to use immediately after
 

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