Palm oil substitute

[Mango5]

I am new to cold process bar soap making. I have read and read on the subject. Still a little confused about the oils. I know the rule is substitute hard oil for hard soft for soft. I have read the article off the soap queen website (how to substitute oil in cold pressed recipes). I don't want to use palm oil in my soap recipes and it mentions tallow or palm kernel for subs. I don't want to use those either. If a receipe calls for 30% palm but i want to replace that with something else. What could i use? Since palm is a hard oil i would have to use hard ones. I could use shea or cocoa butter but your only suppose to use 15% for butters that's what i have read. What else could i use to make up that other 15% to make the 30% to replace the palm oil. Also i have read people use soft oils to replace palm oil how do i figure that if i go by the rule hard oil for hard soft for soft? I know this is probably a stupid question for those of you who are professional soap makers. Also will the soap calculaters tell you how much water to use as well as how much lye to use?

Thanks Everyone!

 

[lenarenee]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Yes, soap calculator will tell you how much water and lye to use based on the amount of oils used. Try playing around with one to get a feel, and come back and ask questions if you need to. I like soapcalc.net because it was the one that was easiest for me to learn.

Instead of palm or palm kernel oil, consider lard or tallow. They can be used in equal amount as palm. I use up to 80% lard. And lard and tallow add more to a soap than palm oil does, in my opinion.

 

[shunt2011]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Lard or tallow are the closest sub for palm oil. PKO would be a sub or used along with coconut.

You can make an all vegetable soap by using butters but used in too high of a percentage can really cut your lather.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Lard is a great soaping oil and is much better than palm in many respects.

Do be careful, though - the properties of palm/lard/tallow/shea are similar, but palm kernel oil is totally different - PKO (to use the abbreviation) is more similar to coconut oil and these two bring totally different properties to a soap than the other 4. Swapping hard for hard and soft for soft is in reality a far too simplified rule of thumb. For example, I made a soap this weekend with 80% lard at a 5% lye discount - I would never even consider an 80% Coconut (or PKO) soap with a 5% lye discount as it would be far too drying for me.

 

[Seawolfe]

I have had success making a non-lard/tallow/palm soap using cocoa butter and beeswax. There was also some clay in it to keep it from being too waxy. The superfat was 7% and I remember it being a nice gentle bar.

Percents:
1 Castor Oil 5.000
2 Beeswax 2.000
3 Cocoa Butter 10.000
4 Coconut Oil, 76 deg 20.000
5 Olive Oil 35.000
6 Almond Oil, sweet 28.000

 

[KristaMarie]

Keep in mind that those limits are just guidelines. If you want to fully swap 30% palm for a butter, go for it, making sure to run the new recipe though soapcalc, because the SAP values will not be the same. I don't use palm or animal fats and 30% butter is the max I'll use. Prepare to have less bubblage though!

You also really don't NEED any "hard" oil. Olive oil isn't considered a hard oil, but after a long cure, it's hard as a rock

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I think of this so often when it comes to soaping............

 

[spenny92]

I don't use Palm or animal fats in my standard recipe, but use a combination of cocoa and Shea butter instead - 10% cocoa and 5% Shea. It's plenty hard enough.