Top 2 Oils to Keep on Hand...

OK, well I think the title says it all, but I'll elaborate..LOL

What are the top 2 or 3 oils that you use in every recipe? These are the oils that you would buy in bulk and always have on hand and you would absolutely go nuts if you ran out.

Right now I am thinking for my top 2 oils that I must have in the house for formulations are olive oil and coconut oil, I am trying to add one more to the mix and I think it's either going to be palm oil or palm kernel oil. Leaning towards the palm oil since PKO can be used in place of coconut oil (so not thinking I need to oils that will give me the same property in soap).

As for butters, I think Shea and Cocoa. If anyone has any other suggestions that would be great.

I've already sat and created my list of EO's that are must haves for me. Here is the list and if anyone can give me some others I would be happy to try them out.

Here is my list of EO's:

Amyris, Bay Rum, Black Pepper, Cassia, Cedarwood (Virginia), Cinnamon (leaf), Citronella, Clary Sage, Clove Oil, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Geranium (bourbon), Grapefruit (pink), Lavandin (grosso), Lavender (french), Lavender 40/42, Lemon, Litsea citrata, Nutmeg, Orange (sweet 5x), Palmarosa, Patchouli, Peppermint, Peru Balsam, Pettigrain, Rosewood, Tea Tree, Ylang Ylang

Don't even ask how much they all cost...LOL Hubby wanted to shoot me! But, for me it's a investment that's well worth it since they can be used for so many other things then just making soap smell pretty.

STILL TWEAKING AND PLAYING WITH RECIPES AND RUNNING THEM THROUGH SOAPCALC.NET. oops sorry about the caps.

Thanks for your help.

Rose
Wyldwytch

I MUST have tallow and castor oil. I panic if either is low. I soap mostly tallow blend soaps because it makes an awesome soap and we raise beef, I render my own.

Must have scents are Sweetgrass, Almond and lemongrass. Have lots more but those are the most requested.

Must have adds are sheep milk and egg.

Definately OO, CO and castor.

Thanks so far for the replies, it seems there are a lot of people using castor oil in their formulations. Looks like that is another oil that I will keep on hand, perhaps not in large quantities like OO and CO, but definitely on hand...

Happy Soaping
Rose

Olive, coconut, lard, shea butter, more than two

Yvonne said:

Olive, coconut, lard, shea butter, more than two

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Yvonne, how do you like the lard? That is something I can buy locally very, very cheap. Soooo even if I ran out a trip around the corner would save me. I can get the olive and coconut oils around here as well, but I think buying it in bulk might actually save me some money (still) checking into it.

Happy Soaping

Rose

Relle9 said:

Definately OO, CO and castor.

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I agree with Relle. If I had to limit myself, I'd choose these three oils.

Castor is usually a small % of oils used, it adds lather/bubbles @ 5 to 8 %. Too much castor = soft bar.

I don't mind a soft bar since castor really boosts the conditioning property of the soap. Besides Wyldwytch didn't say we couldn't have sodium lactate. :wink:

Wyldwytch Studios said:

Yvonne said:

Olive, coconut, lard, shea butter, more than two

Click to expand...

Yvonne, how do you like the lard? That is something I can buy locally very, very cheap. Soooo even if I ran out a trip around the corner would save me. I can get the olive and coconut oils around here as well, but I think buying it in bulk might actually save me some money (still) checking into it.

Happy Soaping

Rose

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I like lard very much, half of my soaps are made with it, lard makes white nice soap. Try with small batch. It doesn't give any funny smell.

Palm and castor.

Because I can get reasonably priced OO and CO within a mile or two of my house.

My go to recipe these days is OO, CO, PO, cocoa butter, and castor.

You guys are great!!! This is really helping me to narrow things down.

So right now the oils I know I must keep on hand are:

olive, coconut, castor and I am thinking palm.

Yvonne I am going to try a lard bar batch as well..LOL

Also thinking I can get all of the oils locally until I can come up with a formula that I like, then I can order bulk.

So really all I need to order right now are my eo's, any butters I want on hand and my lye and colorants.

Thank you and I am still open to suggestions...

Happy Soaping
Rose

I always have Olive oil, Coconut oil and Rice bran oil.

ditto on Olive oil, Coconut oil and Rice Bran oil

Regarding the EOs, if you want to keep costs reasonable I'd suggest the following - some from your list and some added:

Amyris, Anise, Bergamot, Cassia, Cedarwood (Virginia), Clary Sage, Clove, Eucalyptus, Rose Geranium, Lavandin (grosso), Lavender 40/42, 5x Lemon, Lemongrass, Litsea cubeba, Orange (sweet 5x), Palmarosa, Patchouli, Peppermint, Pettigrain, Spearmint, Tea Tree, Ylang Ylang Rosemary

Cinnamon leaf seizes on me every time

Ho Wood is an economical and more sustainable alternative to rosewood

Grapefruit and lime tend to fade in CP but if you don't gel and anchor with other EOs, it might be worth a try. They're relatively cheap.

Balsam Peru is a known sensitizer.

Cypress is a bit pricy. Fir needle is cheaper if you are open to trying a different conifer.

I have citronella. I've used it once. Your mileage may vary. Ditto for basil.

I find palm, castor oil, and cocoa and shea butters so breathtakingly expensive locally that I think it's worth it to buy a pound or two of each on line through Camden Grey, Brambleberry, or Wholesale Supplies Plus (shipping if "free"at WSP, meaning it's bundled into the base price).

My must haves are OO, CO and Castor. I have some great recipes that have 10% castor and the bars aren't soft at all. You have to get that balance in there. If I had to choose one butter for soap it would have to be cocoa butter. I love cocoa butter in soap and would leave the shea for other products.

another vote for olive and coconut

Like you, I quit making soap for a long time. I didn't make near as much as you made though (300 batches, huh? Wow! That is amazing!).

But when I got back into it in 2008, I was surprised to see a significant number of soapers were looking for ways to avoid using Palm. To me, that was a staple. But, upon further investigation, I found out there is now some controversy about the effects of harvesting Palm. I'll let you do your digging and come to your own conclusion about whether or not you want to use it. Some people are very passionate about the issue, some are not. I've seen some heated discussions and I don't really want to get it started again.

In the end, I've concluded there are people on both sides of the argument that I respect very much so it's a personal decision and 'to each his own' in what they choose.

But I just wanted to bring it up in case you weren't aware of it....since you are building your stock up now.

FOhoarder said:

If I had to choose one butter for soap it would have to be cocoa butter. I love cocoa butter in soap and would leave the shea for other products.

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Ditto that!! I love cocoa butter in soaps

zeoplum said:

Like you, I quit making soap for a long time. I didn't make near as much as you made though (300 batches, huh? Wow! That is amazing!).

But when I got back into it in 2008, I was surprised to see a significant number of soapers were looking for ways to avoid using Palm. To me, that was a staple. But, upon further investigation, I found out there is now some controversy about the effects of harvesting Palm. I'll let you do your digging and come to your own conclusion about whether or not you want to use it. Some people are very passionate about the issue, some are not. I've seen some heated discussions and I don't really want to get it started again.

In the end, I've concluded there are people on both sides of the argument that I respect very much so it's a personal decision and 'to each his own' in what they choose.

But I just wanted to bring it up in case you weren't aware of it....since you are building your stock up now.

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Thank you for bringing this topic up. I am still on the fence about palm, BUT if I did order it the place I would be ordering from is only bringing in sustainable palm from palm plantations. What I am going to do is order a small amount of palm. I will then take identical formulations and replace some coconut oil with palm oil in one of them. They will be made the same day with the same eo's so that they are identical other then for the replacement of palm. Then I will test each soap to see if I really think the palm oil is necessary. I'm not thinking it is...but my brain needs to have it proven that it doesn't really change much of anything...LOL

Rose