Having trouble with vegan palm free recipe

[penelopejane]

I'm going to give this a try, looks interesting. What would you say is a cut off for using hemp oil?

Honestly I won't use it in soap. But that is just me. It has a really, really short shelf life (and I can't guarantee the supplier hasn't stored it for longer and stored it properly) and a bad reputation for DOS and it is really, really expensive here. I just think there are better alternatives. Good OO is fabulous in soap and that is what I'd use as an alternative.

All of my soaps are high in OO so I cure them for a long time. It is just not worth it to me to wait for a soap to show DOS. I recently used jojoba oil (brand new bottle) and every soap I used it in has DOS. So upsetting and wasteful. Just not worth it to me.

I know Dr Bronner's says they use hemp seed oil but it could be as much as a teaspoon per gallon just for label appeal. Who knows?

 

[szaza]

. I probably wouldn’t go below 110F as a starting batter temp (when oils and lye are first mixed) because with that much butter in the recipe I would probably end up with stearic spots.

Interesting! I never thought about stearic spots.. Do you only experience them only with butters or also with other high stearic (/palmitic) fats?

What would you say is a cut off for using hemp oil?

This is a guideline I use to prevent DOS: keep linoleic+linolenic acids below 15%. I think I read this on the modernsoapmaking website when I first started and it has helped me steer clear of DOS for the most part. Hemp is high in those fatty acids, but so are some other oils, so it's hard to give a cutoff for just one oil. Just play around with it on soapcalc

 

[penelopejane]

Wow, good call on the stearic spots, I saw a couple in there when I cut it. I thought it was titanium dioxide, didn’t realize this could happen from high butter percentage.

If you soap fairly warm (might be a different temp depending on your ingredients) you should be able to get rid of stearic spots no matter what percentage of hard oils you use in your soap. I soap at 110*F and don't get stearic spots or swirls. It is important to me to avoid them. Not everyone worries about them in soap.

 

[Kiwi2:)]

That soap is gorgeous!!! Good to know I can do it. Think I need some refined Shea butter and will try your recipe to see how it works for me, thanks for sharing. That said do you find it at all drying with that much coconut and castor oil, I usually don’t go above 20 & 5 percent.

Awww thank you - those are my latest For sure please try my recipe - I've had really good feedback on my soaps and find that they are really nourishing and not at all drying despite the high coconut /castor - just trying to get them a little harder (that never ending search for the perfect soap recipe!!). And ricebran oil is great to use because it is naturally high in VitE.

J

 

[MarnieSoapien]

Have you considered lowering or omitting one of the hard butters and increasing your olive oil amount?

All of the soaps I make are vegan and palm free. My basic recipe has OO at 35-40% with Coconut, Shea, SA and Castor.

I do have another recipe that has hemp oil in it at 10% and I haven't noticed any DOS.

 

[Ladka]

I know Dr Bronner's says they use hemp seed oil but it could be as much as a teaspoon per gallon just for label appeal. Who knows?

You are right, here is their label:

• Sodium Cocoate [1]
• Sodium Palmate (Palm Soap) [1]
• Aqua (Water)
• Glycerin
• Sodium Olivate [1]
• Cannabis Sativa (Hemp) Seed Oil [2]
• Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil [2]
• Sodium Chloride
• Citric Acid
• Tocopherol

Hemp is the last but one oil in the ingredients list so it is probably used in a very small amount.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@szaza I would have to go back to remind myself exactly when I’ve had the most problems with stearic or palmitic spots, but I think palm was the worst. I’ve gotten rid of them by making sure my oils are totally clear and soaping at a higher temperature, using approach I described here.

I made a couple of batches of soap with hemp oil and I also use grapeseed and RBO. They’re all fairly high in linoleic and linolenic, which I think add special qualities to soap (gentle, silky, bubbly). I use the 15% guideline mentioned above. I had a little bit of DOS in one batch of soap made with hemp oil, but was able to link it to a bad batch of olive oil when DOS showed up in other batches made without hemp, but with the same OO.