No lard or palm standard recipe?

HelloI like lard but there's a stigma against it for some reason, even with people who aren't vegetarian. Then I don't like palm either because of the environmental problems with it. Ecological kind is so expensive, too.

Here's what I do have on hand:

coconut oil
castor oil
shea butter, unrefined
olive oil

I only have 2 oz of cocoa butter and 1lb of pko so they won't go very far. Is it possible to make soap without lard or palm in a standard, go-to recipe?

Thanks so much. Missed you all and making soap. Lost my confidence or some darn thing!

Yes, it is possible. A blend of 30% coconut, 5% Castor oil, 8% cocoa butter and 57% olive will give you a pretty good bar of soap. You can substitute shea butter for the cocoa butter if you wish. You might dissolve 1 tsp. salt ppo in the water before adding lye. This will give you a little harder bar. I think lard is a wonderful addition to soap.

Do you think they would notice a bit of tallow in there? If not, I would use that in place of the lard/palm.

Isg's recipe sounds good. You can play around with it a bit if you want to. Say, 20-25% coconut, 2-4% castor, 5-10% shea, remainder olive oil. Or keep it simple - 80% olive, 20% coconut - for a very creamy bar. Add the castor oil if you want it a bit more bubbly. Add some essential oil and you'll have a beautiful bar of soap.

Don't think too much about it, just take the plunge and get back into it. You'll be so glad you did! Good luck.

Thank you for the recipe and ideas about what to do with these ingredients! I never tried salt in soap except a failed salt bar. Sounds good!

I'm going to ease back into it with a unscented soap. I have scents that set up kinda fast and I think I'll wait til I'm back in the saddle for those.:wink:

One year I sold only soaps made with lard. I had a basic recipe that used 25% lard in it and thats the one I made and sold for the entire year. After all that time I only had one customer comment about the lard. Just one. The truth is most people just want a well made soap so don't be afraid of using lard. If you are clever you can tote the benefits of a lard soap. Skin loves lard and it feels good on your skin. It makes a rich, creamy bar of soap. Its gentle, conditioning, and makes a lovely bar of soap.

If you are worried about your vegan customers make both vegan soaps and animal fat (lard, tallow, lanolin, etc.) soaps so you can offer both. I make both and point out the benefits of both and let my customers choose. I refuse to not make lard soaps just because someone may object to it. There are plenty of people out there who like them myself included.

If you want to make a soap without palm or lard then olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and castor oil combined will make a lovely soap. Play around with the soapcalc to work out the conditioning properties you are looking for. If I were going to make it I would probably start out with:
60% olive oil
25% coconut oil
10% shea butter
5 % castor

I like a high olive oil soap. This will make a nice gentle, creamy, conditioning bar. Or, you can lower the OO and up the shea and castor by 5% each. Either way let it cure for a minimum of 6-8 weeks. High olive oil soaps just get better the longer they cure.

I used to have lard listed as the first ingredient. It was more noticeable that way, of course. I like to add goats' milk, too, so I rarely do completely vegan. I like lard perfectly fine myself. Thanks for the input and recipe Candybee! Definitely agree about letting high-olive oil soaps cure longer.

I like to add raw silk fibers so can't claim to have all vegan soap. I do make a few recipes without silk, though. You can now buy cruelty free raw silk fibers.