Butter in soap?

[ResolvableOwl]

I acknowledge that people with a strong OPINION (nothing more, nothing less!) towards dairy butter soap don't enjoy it to be faced with the accusation of incomplete research and ignorance. But alas, that's what they chose to do. I will not challenge this decision (tough I personally find it very unprofessional). I will only remind everyone that prejudices have always been a bad advisor for finding and pushing the boundaries of the knowledgeable. What else than a prejudice is it to not even attempt to extend the theory behind butter soap smell to include all (and not just selected) anecdotal evidence?

Everyone is free to deliberately withhold experimental evidence that doesn't fit into one's mindset. But don't act as if this had anything to do with science. Don't claim predictive power. I cannot understand why some people here are so fond of damaging their reputation of rigor, by being prejudicial, and dismissing contradictory evidence by lame ad hominem arguing.

Like said, I don't want to restart the dispute. I just want to tell you that you not only insulted me, but also the scientific method as such. To my knowledge, nobody has bothered yet to explain to the world what makes my own findings fundamentally flawed and worthless.
I want that a few more people dare to not confuse anecdotal reports with natural laws. Maybe one or another do their own research (reading and/or experiment), and realise that there is an important difference between reality, and the incomplete picture we're making up of it from the limited number of our observations.

 

[user 49910]

Perhaps it is time to close this thread and let it go away... quietly.

 

[Misschief]

@Jennfromoz when I first started making soap I thought I was incredibly clever to make a batch with heavy cream. OMG it smelled like baby vomit

I've made a batch with heavy cream that needed to be used up or tossed; it was lovely! No vomit smell at all. I haven't recreated it but it was one of my favourite soaps at the time.

 

[Cat&Oak]

I've made a batch with heavy cream that needed to be used up or tossed; it was lovely! No vomit smell at all. I haven't recreated it but it was one of my favourite soaps at the time.

I'm sure I used too much

 

[Rick Jarvis]

Why isn't Mobil 1 listed on soap calc?

 

[user 49910]

Why isn't Mobil 1 listed on soap calc?

They're still trying to calculate the saponification factor for AMSOIL, then MOBIL 1 will be next.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I've used " Heavy Cream" about an ounce in 32oz of soap recipe give or take a few ounces & didn't detect the adverse effect that some report & it was a nice bar of soap. I'm not saying it wont happen I'm thinking if I used more the chances of stinking to "High Heaven" is greater.

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm already on the record as saying I don't find the smell of milkfat soap to be offensive, but it is certainly odd. Beery, bready, or cheesy is closer to the smell I get.

It's not my preference of how I want my soap to smell, but not horrid. But then I don't find the smell of pine tar soap or well-cured neem oil soap to be offensive either.

I didn't think butter made my soap perform as well as I want my soap to perform, regardless of the smell. Dairy butter was worth a try just to say I tried it, but it was not useful or interesting enough for me to continue using it.

***

The percentage of milkfat in the soap also makes a difference in the odor level, so keep this in perspective.

When people use dairy butter to make soap, I'd say most are using it as one of the main fats in the recipe, not as a trace ingredient. For example, the milkfat in my recipe was a bit over 16% of the total fat.

Peachy Clean's example of using 1 ounce of heavy cream in a batch with 32 oz fats is a different story. Assuming the cream is 30% milkfat, that amounts to 0.3 oz milk fat added to the batch. That's under 1% of the total fat -- not enough to matter.

As another example, commercial whole milk in the US is 3.5% milkfat. Using full-fat milk as a 100% replacement for water is about the same amount of milk fat as was in Peachy Clean's batch. I don't recall anyone complaining of an off odor in their milk soaps.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I'm already on the record as saying I don't find the smell of milkfat soap to be offensive, but it is certainly odd. Beery, bready, or cheesy is closer to the smell I get.

It's not my preference of how I want my soap to smell, but not horrid. But then I don't find the smell of pine tar soap or well-cured neem oil soap to be offensive either.

I didn't think butter made my soap perform as well as I want my soap to perform, regardless of the smell. Dairy butter was worth a try just to say I tried it, but it was not useful or interesting enough for me to continue using it.

***

The percentage of milkfat in the soap also makes a difference in the odor level, so keep this in perspective.

When people use dairy butter to make soap, I'd say most are using it as one of the main fats in the recipe, not as a trace ingredient. For example, the milkfat in my recipe was a bit over 16%.

Peachy Clean's example of using 1 ounce of heavy cream in a batch with 32 oz fats is a different story. Assuming the cream is 30% milkfat, that amounts to 0.3 oz milk fat added to the batch. That's under 1% of the total fat -- not enough to matter.

As another example, commercial whole milk in the US is 3.5% milkfat. Using full-fat milk as a 100% replacement for water is about the same amount of milk fat as was in Peachy Clean's batch. I don't recall anyone complaining of an off odor in their milk soaps.

Love that you share your knowledge freely & clarification. Much appreciation Dear

 

[paradisi]

Plus, some folks don't have as acute a sense of smell as others and may not be bothered by smells others find unacceptable.

Neem for example is one of the worst smells I've ever smelled, there's no way I'd soap it. Trying to use it in the garden made me nauseous. Yet a friend of mine uses it without a problem. I find lard and tallow soaps smelly, others don't.

Butter in soap might not bother the soaper, but their family or others might disagree.

Luckily there are endless ingredients to try so everyone can find ones they like.

 

[DeeAnna]

I will say I don't care for plain neem straight out of the bottle. And the brand of horticultural neem I use is more objectionable yet than the neem I use for soap making. But neem in well-cured soap not only gets milder, but it also morphs closer to the smell of strong brewed black tea -- much more tolerable.

To make this post drift back to the OPs original topic -- The odor of the soap I made with dairy butter didn't seem to morph as it cured. What I smelled at first is what I smelled later.

 

[cmzaha]

When I made soap with Butte, remember using 20%, butter, sadly I no longer have the notes since I quit experimenting with it. At that time I was in another soaping group where several of us tried different brands of butter and I think some used homemade butter, and I know of at least one trying Ghee with the same results of all the soaps having an off smell. Some, like me, smelled it on their hands after washing with their soaps, some smelled it before even using their soaps, but no one did not smell an off odor. I am sorry I no longer have my notes showing how long we all let our soaps cure before finally tossing them.