New soaper - PKO recipes

[Subrenia]

Hi everybody ! I just started making soap and I’ve been trying out different recipes . I recently bought PKO thinking it had the same properties as palm oil and when I put it into soap calc the formulation seem odd. I recently made a soap using this recipe and wanted some feed back or suggestions . And any suggestions on how to use PKO specifically would be great. thank you

 

[Mobjack Bay]

PKO is high in lauric and myristic fatty acids, like coconut oil, but the fattry acid profile is a bit more complex. As a paper experiment, take a look at how the fatty acid profile and soap qualities change when you replace the PKO in your recipe with Palm (major change), then change the coconut oil in the new recipe to PKO (minor change). I stick with coconut oil unless I'm making soap for someone who has a specific allergy to coconut oil but knows they can tolerate PKO.

 

[AliOop]

^^^What she said. PKO is much more similar to CO than PO.

For me, raw PKO absorbs much better into my skin than raw CO, which tends to sit on top of my skin, leaving me with a greasy-but-still-dry feeling. Since I have a lot of PKO on hand, I'm experimenting with it in lotions that call for CO and a butter, since it is much firmer at room temp than CO.

PKO also feels slightly milder to me in soap than CO does, but only slightly. PKO does have to be soaped quite a bit warmer due to its high melting point. Otherwise, if you soap cool with it, be prepared for false trace (not the end of the world, as long as you are prepared).

PKO can also be a (literal) pain to get out of the bucket because it is SO.HARD. Before I want to use it, I'll put it over the heater vent or on my heating pad. Even when warmed up a bit, I still have to vary between digging, chipping, and carving it out of my big bucket into a smaller container, so that I have smaller amounts ready to go when I want to use it.

 

[Subrenia]

PKO is high in lauric and myristic fatty acids, like coconut oil, but the fattry acid profile is a bit more complex. As a paper experiment, take a look at how the fatty acid profile and soap qualities change when you replace the PKO in your recipe with Palm (major change), then change the coconut oil in the new recipe to PKO (minor change). I stick with coconut oil unless I'm making soap for someone who has a specific allergy to coconut oil but knows they can tolerate PKO.

 

[Subrenia]

Thank you !!

 

[Subrenia]

^^^What she said. PKO is much more similar to CO than PO.

For me, raw PKO absorbs much better into my skin than raw CO, which tends to sit on top of my skin, leaving me with a greasy-but-still-dry feeling. Since I have a lot of PKO on hand, I'm experimenting with it in lotions that call for CO and a butter, since it is much firmer at room temp than CO.

PKO also feels slightly milder to me in soap than CO does, but only slightly. PKO does have to be soaped quite a bit warmer due to its high melting point. Otherwise, if you soap cool with it, be prepared for false trace (not the end of the world, as long as you are prepared).

PKO can also be a (literal) pain to get out of the bucket because it is SO.HARD. Before I want to use it, I'll put it over the heater vent or on my heating pad. Even when warmed up a bit, I still have to vary between digging, chipping, and carving it out of my big bucket into a smaller container, so that I have smaller amounts ready to go when I want to use it.

Thank you ! That’s interesting, I have a lot of PKO flakes on hand as well. I will probably start to replace the coconut oil with it until I can finish it up. The flakes still have the same properties as PKO right because that’s actually the one I have .

 

[AliOop]

That's great that you have the flakes - they are sooooo much easier to measure out and use. And yes, same stuff.

 

[lucycat]

I like to use 1/3 PKO and 2/3 Coconut for my lathering oils in my soap formulations. I find my soap has a waxy feel I don't like if I sub PKO completely for coconut oil. PKO isn't quite as drying as coconut so I can use a bit more lathering oils and don't feel like my soap is drying.

I use PKO for my hardening oil instead of butter in my lip balms. I don't make many and wanted to avoid the graininess from butters. They aren't as hard as other recipes, but I like the creaminess.

Flakes are much easier getting out of the container but can be a mess in the kitchen if they get scattered. I don't mind the block in the summer when it is solid but not quite like a brick.

 

[Subrenia]

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I like to use 1/3 PKO and 2/3 Coconut for my lathering oils in my soap formulations. I find my soap has a waxy feel I don't like if I sub PKO completely for coconut oil. PKO isn't quite as drying as coconut so I can use a bit more lathering oils and don't feel like my soap is drying.

I use PKO for my hardening oil instead of butter in my lip balms. I don't make many and wanted to avoid the graininess from butters. They aren't as hard as other recipes, but I like the creaminess.

Flakes are much easier getting out of the container but can be a mess in the kitchen if they get scattered. I don't mind the block in the summer when it is solid but not quite like a brick.

I like to use 1/3 PKO and 2/3 Coconut for my lathering oils in my soap formulations. I find my soap has a waxy feel I don't like if I sub PKO completely for coconut oil. PKO isn't quite as drying as coconut so I can use a bit more lathering oils and don't feel like my soap is drying.

I use PKO for my hardening oil instead of butter in my lip balms. I don't make many and wanted to avoid the graininess from butters. They aren't as hard as other recipes, but I like the creaminess.

Flakes are much easier getting out of the container but can be a mess in the kitchen if they get scattered. I don't mind the block in the summer when it is solid but not quite li

I like to use 1/3 PKO and 2/3 Coconut for my lathering oils in my soap formulations. I find my soap has a waxy feel I don't like if I sub PKO completely for coconut oil. PKO isn't quite as drying as coconut so I can use a bit more lathering oils and don't feel like my soap is drying.

I use PKO for my hardening oil instead of butter in my lip balms. I don't make many and wanted to avoid the graininess from butters. They aren't as hard as other recipes, but I like the creaminess.

Flakes are much easier getting out of the container but can be a mess in the kitchen if they get scattered. I don't mind the block in the summer when it is solid but not quite like a brick.

Thank you! And oh niceeee that seems like a great replacement for butters in lip balms!

 

[johnnyusa]

Congratulations. I was making soap for ten years before I figured out why Dr B uses pko. Pko is like the only unsat fat w myristic fatty acid in it. And it makes bars hard for some reason despite i believe being classified an unsat fat altho it is solid at room temp.

 

[Shelley D]

Congratulations. I was making soap for ten years before I figured out why Dr B uses pko. Pko is like the only unsat fat w myristic fatty acid in it. And it makes bars hard for some reason despite i believe being classified an unsat fat altho it is solid at room temp.

2 years in and just learning the difference

Edit to add: I know that sounds weird but I hadn't really thought about the difference until I went to buy some and suddenly I had a choice to make that I wasn't prepared for I chose PKO and it was ok, but next time I want to try just PO to see the difference