Fancy oils, what to avoid?

[Chickenpoopshoes]

Hello my helpful people! I am about to embark upon a bit of soap formula creation and I could do with dredging through your collected wisdom first. I have already searched the site but haven’t found exactly what I was curious about, so here goes!
I want to make soaps cheaply and sustainably but with a good feel (obviously...) so I have a great Local source of tallow(free) suet (cheap) and lard (cheap) but I have also found a potential source of British plant oils, which would be great if I could usefully incorporate them.
So how have you decided over the years which oils to use and which to not bother with?
it seems to me that most soapers can’t depart from a splash of coconut oil for cleansing or castor oil for silkyness. Are there any good reasons NOT to use them?
What about oils like oat and wheat germ? They are both high in linoleic acid and oleic acid so presumably increase the ‘conditioning’ aspect of a bar but put it at higher risk of DOS. Are they a waste of money?
which soft oils do you stick with and why?
which oils have you given up on?
Thanks! Xxx

 

[Obsidian]

Any oil that has a short shelf life I stay away from. Hemp and grapeseed come to mind. Your oat and wheat germ are likely to fall in that catagory.
I use high oleic safflower or sunflower, many people also use olive or rice bran.

I'm not a fan of olive so I switched to safflower, its not only incredibly cheap here but it makes nice soap, doesn't irritate my skin and makes a nice white bar.
I'd use sunflower if it was affordable but its on tje pricey side and hard to source.

 

[AliOop]

How great that you have a good source of lard and tallow! Those are my two favorite hard oils, in that order. Shea and cocoa butter are nice, too, but haven't been as popular with the family and friends who use my soaps.

Most people use coconut oil for bubbles, not for cleansing -- unless they are making laundry soap or stain sticks, that is. There is always a tension between using enough coconut oil to get good bubbles, but not so much that you raise the cleansing number very high. With dry skin, I like my cleansing number to be below 10, but usually end up around 15 due to needing enough CO for the amount of bubbles that I like. I plan to try sorbitol for a bubble boost and see if I can cut down on the CO even further.

For soft oils, I like avocado oil, and olive oil in small amounts. I also use castor at 5% or so (for the bubble boost). I'm planning to try HO safflower as well as rice bran, but don't find either of them locally.

 

[Chickenpoopshoes]

Hmmm, that’s a real shame about the oat and wheat. I kind of liked the idea of incorporating those but definitely not worth it if they reduce the shelf life. After all, they all get saponified AND it’s a wash off product so there is really no point in going fancy and having a manky sporty soap.
Olive oil is definitely NOT British and I’m assuming Rice bran is also not British...
Safflower? I shall have to look it...

 

[brandnew]

would sunflower be British???? just curious now! They're a big crop in France.....
Product Range of Natural Plant Oils | Northstar Lipids. apparently so!! LOVE lard bars! lucky you!!