Flaxseed and ROE

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Johnez

What if I....
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2021
Messages
574
Reaction score
1,123
Location
Omaha, NE
I have a bottle of flaxseed oil in the fridge, I've yet to mix in ROE. I'm curious if flaxseed's DOSsy tendencies can be tamed with ROE, or anything really as I don't want to waste the oil or the ROE if it's not meant to be. If it's ok to use, is there some sort of guideline? Stick with the 15% PUFA guideline, or is this a more finicky thing to work with? This is an experiment in shave soap if you're curious. :)
 
Insubordination-guilty me only used flaxseed once in bar soap, but then at 38% (recipe total of 26% PUFA). I've added plenty of ROE (generous 270 ppm TOW carnosic acid), along 2%TOW citric acid and 1%TOW vitamin C. It hasn't caught DOS, going strong 115 days after making.

Flaxseed was the only soft oil in that recipe; the bars are lovely, yet a tad too hard for my taste, and the cheese wedge shape is weird to use. Sounds like I'll have a few of them left for quite some time to watch for any rancidity tendency.

The other time I've used it was at 100% in a liquid soap, and it has become a secret favourite of mine 🤩. As a matter of fact, it was used it up within a few weeks, so I can't comment on shelf life.

From my experiences, extrapolated to shave soaps, I guess that flaxseed might be a lovely addition to shave soap. But remember to clean the tools (brush etc.) really well. Everyone who ever was into oil painting knows why.
It also competes with RBO for the tight PUFA budget; you better combine flaxseed with another, lower-IV soft oil.

I have no doubts that you'll report back, regardless if you use it for shave soap, or you're saving it for woodworking or the kitchen.:swinging:

ETA: How could I forget the Very Balanced™ Soap with 24% flaxseed oil?
 
Last edited:
I like your style RO, go big or go home! 38%?! I had a good giggle at that "cheese," hole-y cow. 🤣

Yep, I plan to have a sort of "shave soap showdown" with the liquid oils in my arsenal, including the much loved olive oil, and was wondering if flaxseed should be given a chance in the wild card slot. 41% RBO with the bare minimum SA/PA number has shown to me what you pointed out-its not necessarily a lather killer. Regarding the brush, I've never even considered worrying about that, thanks for bringing that to mind. I guess the test is more than soap performance, I'll break out my less loved brush specifically for Flax and use it as a normal shaver to see what if anything happens. All results are useful, even the "bad" ones in pursuit of knowledge.
 
One caveat with (unrefined) flaxseed: It's very yellow just by itself. That might visually mask early DOS stages. Judge yourself if that's an advantage or not. 🙄
 
Back
Top