Formulating deer tallow soap

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Anyone have good tips on formulating a well balanced soap with deer tallow? It’s REALLY dense and waxy feeling. I’d like the soap to be primarily tallow, so I can experience it. Should I add citric acid even if I don’t have hard water? Tia!
 

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My gut feeling (and experiences with high-stearic soaps) suggests to not use more than, say, two thirds of deer tallow, and paired with soft oils.

A pointer:
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Not the highest tallow usage rate, but I would probably like it just as it is, with appreciable but not excessive hardness, abundant lather, and probably some batter working time as well.

Deer tallow is, according to FA profile databases, quite rich in PUFA (15% linoleic + significant linolenic) = sounds like a good idea not leave out easy rancidity countermeasures (only use fresh tallow, add citrate/gluconate and/or EDTA, as well as ROE). RBO makes this worse – see it as a personal preference of me – olive or HO sunflower/safflower would work just as well.
 
What would be a good sub for rbo? I use it in my regular formula, but I’m considering switching to something more stable. Also, when do you ad CA? I have a ton of it now that I’m making bath bombs.
Also, thanks for such a great response! A perfect example of why I love this group! 💗
 
I made a really nice beef tallow soap a while back. 55% tallow, 20% olive oil,18% coconut and 7% castor oil with 2% ppo citric acid.
 
What would be a good sub for rbo?
If you aim for stability (shelf life), HO sunflower, HO safflower or olive would be obvious choices; if you find the bars not hardening up satisfactory, you can shift a few % of these liquid oils towards hard oils (deer tallow or whatever you're using).
 
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