Out Of OO!!!

[hmlove1218]

I'm out of olive oil (except for the more expensive stuff I use for cooking) and I'm itching to make some soap. I Googled for recipes that don't use OO and these two are the best ones I've found that I have all the ingredients for except lard which I want to swap for shortening. What do y'all think?

#1
9 oz vegetable shortening
4 oz coconut oil
3 oz lard
2.4 oz lye
3/4 cup water (6 fluid ounces)
Fat and lye/water temperature about 120F
Time in molds: 24 hours
Age: 3 weeks

#2
SUPPLIES NEEDED

Distilled water, 3 cups
Milk, 2 cups
Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) 1 ¼ cups (12 oz.)
Lard, 10 cups
Coconut Oil, 2 cups
Fragrance oil 4 oz.

Recipe #2 I'll need to shrink down because I don't have that much shortening.

 

[Lin]

whatever you do make sure you run them through a lye calculator first. Because of the changes, and also that second one makes me nervous in volume instead of weight.

 

[hmlove1218]

It makes me nervous as well. But the high amount of shortening in the first one worries me slightly too. Can it be used in that high of a percentage? I'm still looking to see if I find something I like a little better.

 

[Susie]

I know our grandmothers used cups to measure stuff, but we also don't drip water through ashes to get our lye. We know better, and can get better now.
Volume measured recipes for soap make me really nervous.

Instead of substituting a solid oil for a liquid oil, why not run a recipe through the lye calculator using another liquid oil such as straight corn or soybean oil for the OO? I use soybean oil in my liquid laundry and dish soaps with no problem whatsoever.

 

[hmlove1218]

I don't have soybean or corn oil. I have sunflower and sweet almond oil but I'd be afraid to use them in such high amounts. I've piddled around with SoapCalc though and formulated a recipe. What do you think?

Coconut Oil, 76 deg 25%
Almond Oil, sweet 15%
Castor Oil 5%
Sunflower Oil 15%
Crisco, new w/palm 30%
Olive Oil 10%