dixiedragon
Well-Known Member
re: water - I use tap water in my soap. never had a problem with it. I do use distilled water for my lotion.
Fats/butters supplementing have question
- Thread starter Desirae
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
Welcome to the forum, Desirae. How does your soap look and smell now?
I was away on vacation and missed your thread when you were posting, but just began reviewing some I have missed and found yours quite interesting.
Re: the odor of lard, I have a pretty sensitive nose myself, so I can empathize with your husband (and you, too of course) in regards to the odor in the house the day you made that soap. As a vegetarian, I don't normally keep lard in the house at all, even though I did used to use it for making tortillas and especially for making refried beans, but that was in my youth. I stopped using lard for cooking decades ago and had not purchased any until a three months ago to try out in some soap for my brother.
The first one I made for him is now 3 months old, and the odor is almost completely gone now. But when I first made it my nose was not happy with the odor at all. Then while in Texas at my son's house I made a pumice bar using lard and let me tell you, I was not the only one who hated the odor of the lard. My DIL said it made her feel nauseated, and my granddaughter also disliked the smell. This was after I had begun to cut the soap into bars. The soap is now 7 weeks old and the odor is not at all as offensive to me as it was when freshly made, but it surely does not smell as nice to my nose as an all vegetable oil soap. But that's just me and my nose, I am sure. I am confident the lard was not rancid. I can ID rancidity with this sensitive nose of mine quite easily. Anyway, I now have 2 soaps of different ages to compare against each other regarding the lard odor, made about a month apart and both without added fragrance.
I intend to try IrishLass' lard mimicking recipe and see how it compares against actual lard. I'll do it as a 100% lard versus the 100% lard 'dupe'. Seems like it will be a fun project. I'll make them both fragrance-free and without any other additives to skew the results.
IrishLass also mentioned Spectrum Brand Palm Oil, but I did not see mention of where to purchase that so I thought I'd tell you if you are interested. Target sells it in their food aisles. It looks like this:
It is 100% palm oil. Here is more information about it if you are interested in sustainability.
If you don't have a Target Store nearby, you can also order it on Amazon, and I have seen it in other grocery stores in my travels, but don't really recall if I saw it in your state or not.
I'm sorry for my late reply, I just got notification that there was a post for me. As for the product you mentioned, I've checked my target store and ther food area is pretty limited compared to other target stores which is odd since I love in a rather large city. Unfortunately my target doesn't carry lard of any kind at all . As for my 1 st batch, I followed the recipe and did all the measurement s as the lye calc told me and last time I checked on it, the bar almost feels as if it were rubber. It stI'll has a funny smell just can't describe what the smell is, but it's not a good smell, idk if it's the lye or the lard, but I sure wouldn't want to wash myself with it, even with the fragrance I put in it, you can't smell it at all. I may try one more time doing cp soap using palm oil add I have the squeeze bottle type that u bought from the soap queen which I forgot I ordered because getting it speed to me took a ridiculous amount of time (almost 2 weeks) which is absurd to take that long. So I'll try that out, if I so don't have success in my book, I'm going to chuck doing cp soap and stick with m&p only.
I did do the zap test and didn't get a zap so I'm assuming it's ready? But I thought it was suppose to take 4 weeks? It's only been about 2 and a half weeks since I make the batch. I used exact amount of distilled water and lye combo so I don't know what I did wrong if the zap test shouldn't work til the 4 weeks.
When you in m&p can I use powdered goats milk? Or is that for use in cp only?
Wish me luck my next round of cp goes better this time
Zapless means safe. It does not mean cured. Cure takes time. Stick to your 4-6 weeks time frame for cure.
Will do, thank you.
It's this strictly soap and candle forum? Or can I find recipes on body butter, lotions, lotion bars and how to make hand sanitizer on this forum?
Look down to the Bath and Body Forum.
The product I mentioned is not lard. It is Palm Oil. The brand name is Spectrum.
I did also discuss lard, so that's probably why the confusion.
Give it more time. As I said previously, at 7 weeks the lard odor is not totally gone from one of my soaps, but at 3 months it is almost gone from another one. (I have only made those 2 lard soaps so far.)
If you choose to give up after only 2 tries, that is your choice, of course. But perhaps you might want to come back to it at a later date, which is fine too. Since you bought so much oils, if it were me, I'd use them all up before making that decision, though. Sometimes it takes more practice to get the hang of things and show improvement.
Regarding MP, I don't do enough to answer your questions. If you post those questions in the MP forum the MP experts will more likely see and answer.
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2015
- Messages
- 3,685
- Reaction score
- 2,988
Check the recipe sub-forum or the bath and body section. I warn you- you will have to learn who Susan is and why her blog is the one of the most valuable assets for anything bath & body related. We will refer to her a lot when it comes to B&B crafting. She is also one of the few people we may suggest to you upfront to donate some money to. She uses it for really good causes and as extensive as her blog is, the little bit she asks more barely begins to pay for the information she has share. But, that in no way means that we won't try to to help you out.
Thank you for the input, I haven't completely decided, and I've got so many ideas in my head that I want to try but a little afraid I'll completely fail at it have wasted all the supplies/money used to make it for it to be a total flop and end up throwing it away.
I think I did get confused and will look at my target store for that product see if they carry it.
I did come across her site, and to be honest I was a bit overwhelmed as to where I could find the recipes but then again I was on my phone so really wasn't able to fully look through it, which I will for sure tonight as I'd like to get more ideas or better recipes then what I haveCheck the recipe sub-forum or the bath and body section. I warn you- you will have to learn who Susan is and why her blog is the one of the most valuable assets for anything bath & body related. We will refer to her a lot when it comes to B&B crafting. She is also one of the few people we may suggest to you upfront to donate some money to. She uses it for really good causes and as extensive as her blog is, the little bit she asks more barely begins to pay for the information she has share. But, that in no way means that we won't try to to help you out.
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2015
- Messages
- 3,685
- Reaction score
- 2,988
She has a beginner recipe. I could look through it and find it later if someone doesn't. It is overwhelming but it really is worth it in the end. I did forget about the Soap Queen though. She's also good to look at without being overly sciency to boot.
Can someone tell me where I can find rice bran oil? My walmart and food lion doesn't carry it and it seems like any recipe I look at has it in the recipe, better yet what can I use in place of it. V just a generalized question as I'm looking through lots of recipes on pintrist
BrewerGeorge
Well-Known Member
Rice bran is primarily used as a cheaper alternative to Olive oil. Since you can find olive almost anywhere and probably have to order Rice bran if you're in the USA, just replace with olive. (Running the new recipe through a calculator, of course!)
dixiedragon
Well-Known Member
You can order rice bran oil at Soaper's Choice. I think some Asian groceries carry it as well.
It's not critical the way that (IMO), lard, coconut, olive and castor are. You could replace it with some olive or sunflower (my preference) or canola or soy (not my preference).
If you are using it in a B&B product (such as lotion or lip balm), I would recommend something nicer like olive or avocado (you can get avocado for a decent price at Costco).
ETA: I like Swiftcraftymonkey a lot, but it is very dense reading! What worked for me was recipes from Majestic Mountain Sage and Brambleberry. I dipped my toe into lotions with them, then I rambled around SwiftCraftyMonkey to gather more info.
It's not critical the way that (IMO), lard, coconut, olive and castor are. You could replace it with some olive or sunflower (my preference) or canola or soy (not my preference).
If you are using it in a B&B product (such as lotion or lip balm), I would recommend something nicer like olive or avocado (you can get avocado for a decent price at Costco).
ETA: I like Swiftcraftymonkey a lot, but it is very dense reading! What worked for me was recipes from Majestic Mountain Sage and Brambleberry. I dipped my toe into lotions with them, then I rambled around SwiftCraftyMonkey to gather more info.
Many restaurant suppliers carry RBO. I can get it at Restaurant Depot, but do not because I really do not like it or the color of the oil.
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2015
- Messages
- 3,685
- Reaction score
- 2,988
I found rice bran oil in Whole Foods. Decided to buy that since I don't want to pay more to order it than what it cost me in the store.
chela1261
Well-Known Member
I buy my rice bran oil at Soapers Choice. I get the 7 lb jug because I use it in all my soaps. They have great prices and their shipping is reasonable
Another alternative to RBO is high oleic sunflower or HO safflower. Both of these are available at Soaper's Choice. You can also find both in grocery stores if you just want to buy a small amount to try. If you do, be sure the oil says "high oleic" or "good for frying/sauteeing" or something like that. There are low oleic versions of sunflower and safflower, and they aren't the same as the high oleic oils.
I have used all three oils, but I especially like HO sunflower. The linoleic acid content in HO sunflower is quite a bit lower than RBO. The oleic acid content is almost double that of RBO -- higher even than olive oil.
That said, HO safflower is probably the closest match to olive oil as far as the percentages of the different fatty acids, so if you want a very similar substitute for olive, HO safflower would fit the bill.
I have used all three oils, but I especially like HO sunflower. The linoleic acid content in HO sunflower is quite a bit lower than RBO. The oleic acid content is almost double that of RBO -- higher even than olive oil.
That said, HO safflower is probably the closest match to olive oil as far as the percentages of the different fatty acids, so if you want a very similar substitute for olive, HO safflower would fit the bill.
penelopejane
Well-Known Member
Just so it is clear you can make soap without lard!
^^^
DeeAnna
Does sunflower oil HO have any DOS problems?
I can't get safflower in the supermarkets here.
Other than the different acids in the three oils you mention how do they compare, to you, on the skin?
^^^
DeeAnna
Does sunflower oil HO have any DOS problems?
I can't get safflower in the supermarkets here.
Other than the different acids in the three oils you mention how do they compare, to you, on the skin?
Last edited:
Just so it is clear you can make soap without lard!
So who said you couldn't? We have lots of folks who make vegetable oil only soaps.
HO sunflower is a reasonably stable oil -- as or more stable as olive. I'm comfortable using it. I haven't made 100% HO sunflower soap to know how it feels, but I have made 100% HO safflower soap and 100% olive soap. They are about the same to me as far as lather quality and quantity and the feel of my skin after washing.
