Playing around with lard

[Arthur Dent]

I'm pretty new at this, have been soaping a little over a year. All the recent threads about lard soap got me interested in high lard soaps, so I scoured the archives for suitable recipes to try.
I must give a big "Thank You" to everyone who posts recipes on here for us new folks to try out, it really is a big help.
(yes, I do run everything through SoapCalc)

So about a month ago I made a 2lb batch of this:
(found in the archives, not my own creation)

Lard 75%
Olive oil 10%
Coconut oil 10%
Castor oil 5%

Superfat at 7% and water at 33% as I usually do.

After a month cure this is now pretty good. Nice creamy lather and nice feel, but low on bubbles. I will of course give it another couple of weeks to see how much difference that makes.

On the same day I also made a 2lb test batch of this:
(found in the archives, not my own creation)

Lard 75%
Coconut oil 20%
Castor oil 5%

Superfat at 8% and water at 33% as usual.

I should have superfatted at 7% for a more honest comparison to the first batch. My bad.

After a month cure this is really good! Nice creamy lather, and great bubbles. This is my new favorite.
It's interesting how the extra 10% of coconut oil made such a big difference in the bubbles. I assume that it was the extra coconut oil and not the exclusion of the olive oil that made the difference, yes?

So far I am making plain unscented and uncolored soaps, still getting the hang of things.

 

[DeeAnna]

High lard soaps don't necessarily lather well at first, but they can be absolutely lovely after some time. The soap that taught me this lesson is one like your first recipe -- 10% CO and 90% lard. I remember about a year later when I was down to a bar or two from this batch, I debated tossing them out, since my recollection was they didn't lather well. I'm glad I tested them first, because the bars lathered freely with a nice mix of fluffy and dense bubbles. I also like that the bars are longlasting and hard -- great at the sink for handwashing (in a well drained soap dish). From my notes about this batch:

3/23/2013: Bar is hard, smooth, glossy, white (plain batter portions), slightly translucent. Handsome.
4/14/2013: Lather is 1 out of 3 (3=very good, 2= acceptable, 1=minimal). Creamy, minimal. Seems good in the shower.
5/3/2013: Lather is much better after 4 wk cure – it is now about a 2 out of 3. Nice, long lasting in the shower and for hand washing. Much happier with this soap now.
Late 2014: Lather is lovely!

Yes, I'd guess the extra lather in your second recipe was from the extra 10% CO, not that you removed the OO. You could have left the olive in and subbed 10% CO in place of lard ... probably would have lathered about the same.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Thanks DeeAnna, I appreciate your comments. The first batch I do have to "work at it" for a while to get the lather up. I'm hoping that, as you say, with age it will get better.
The second batch lathers and bubbles well right away. I'll be playing with these recipes as time goes on. Lots of fun!

 

[nebetmiw]

I personally am not a fan of olive oil. I prefer safflower or almond. I used to make 3 oil soap but have a 4 oil I prefer now. Since you want bubbles lower the lard by 5 and up the castor by 5. That will help you out.

 

[Susie]

Don't forget that you can add some sugar to boost the bubbles. Just watch it for potential overheating. And welcome to the lard club!

 

[Arthur Dent]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I have been using lard all along, just not in these high percentages, I have to say that I like it. And this is farm country, we put lard in everything anyway.
I have thought about a little sugar, haven't gotten that brave yet.

 

[dixiedragon]

My only complaint about lard is that the soap batter doesn't smell as good as an all-veggie batter. It doesn't affect the final product, especially if you are adding scent, but I LOVE that smell when you mix the lye and the oils and it's faintly sweet and creamy.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I like what the extra coconut oil brings to the party, but really anything over 10% makes me itchy after a while. It's ok as a hand soap, but for a shower bar I have to keep it low.

 

[lenarenee]

High lard soaps don't necessarily lather well at first, but they can be absolutely lovely after some time. The soap that taught me this lesson is one like your first recipe -- 10% CO and 90% lard. I remember about a year later when I was down to a bar or two from this batch, I debated tossing them out, since my recollection was they didn't lather well. I'm glad I tested them first, because the bars lathered freely with a nice mix of fluffy and dense bubbles. I also like that the bars are longlasting and hard -- great at the sink for handwashing (in a well drained soap dish). From my notes about this batch:

That's odd. I fell in love with a high lard soap because at 2 weeks of age it lathered up quickly with a nice mix of large and creamy bubbles. (15% coconut, 5 castor, 10 ho safflower, 70 lard). The majority of my soap recipes are 15% coconut - not a big bubbler, but the high lard recipe compared with my old standard of palm/olive/co was lathering better at 2 weeks than the standard recipe at 3 months! Plus, I found the lard soap was gentler/less drying than the standard. I start using the lard soap at 3 weeks.

Could that be because we have a water softener?

 

[DeeAnna]

Well I have softened water too. Probably the biggest thing is the extra five percent CO and the castor in your recipe. That will make a significant difference in the lather ... it's really apples and oranges comparison to 90% lard and 10% CO.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD

 

[lenarenee]

Except I left out one important fact; your 90/10 got better with cure. My
recipe's lather doesn't, but mildness improved. In fact, I have one bar of soap I've been using off and on for 2 months, and I think the lather is deteriorating....thinner and less stable. Curious.

 

[Arthur Dent]

So now these soaps are about 6 months old (see first post this thread for recipes). Oh my, they are both really good! Both produce great lather, of course the one with the higher %CO still makes better bubbles, but the other one is a little richer in lather. I think I actually prefer the lower %CO one from the lather standpoint, and I think they are prettier bars overall. Neither has any "lardy" smell at all (yes, I have a very sensitive nose), and both are nice creamy white and good and hard.
I have been reading up on adding sugar for bubbles, am thinking about giving that a try very soon.
Now with all that said, I also dug out a bar from an 80% OO batch I made about a year and a half ago. Oh my heavens that is wonderful!

 

[navigator9]

Arthur, I love the way you're going about learning to soap.....try one recipe, see how it works, vary it a little, see what happens, try a new ingredient, see what that does. By not using fragrance or color, you can really concentrate on the qualities of the soap itself. I think it's a very good way to really get the basics of soapmaking under your belt. When you get ready for your next variable, may I suggest oatmeal, or some form of a milk soap? Those are my favorites. I like to add oatmeal that I've ground to a very fine powder, and also some that's ground not quite so fine, for some scrubbiness. Goat's milk, coconut milk, yogurt....they're all nice too. Have fun with your experiments!

 

[Arthur Dent]

Funny you should mention milk, as reading the recent threads about milk soaps has given me the itch to try that. I think I'll try the better of these two recipes mentioned earlier and see what some milk brings to the party.
Wife has been bugging me to start adding scents to my soaps. I don't really know why, since she doesn't even use them, she uses body wash and liquid hand soap. :crazy:

 

[Susie]

You know you can make liquid body wash and hand soap from scratch using KOH, right?

 

[Arthur Dent]

Thanks for the nudge Susie! I found your excellent LS tutorial, along with some great instructions from IL and others. I might just have to take the plunge.

Along the milk subject, I just happened to find myself in the powdered milk isle while shopping last night :mrgreen:. Is all powdered milk non-fat? I did find some powdered goat milk, $10 for a small can :shock:.

 

[gigisiguenza]

You know you can make liquid body wash and hand soap from scratch using KOH, right?

I very much want to make liquid soap, it's on my list

 

[Arthur Dent]

So I have been using the following for a while and really like it after a 6 month cure:

Lard 75%
Olive oil 10%
Coconut oil 10%
Castor oil 5%
Superfat at 7%

But, I find that I can't tolerate even 10% CO long term. I'm fine for a few days, but after a week or so I start to get itchy again, especially if I have to take an extra shower one or two days (yeah, it happens). :sad:
So I'm thinking about dropping the CO out all together, something like:

80% Lard
15%OO
5% Castor

Is it even worth adding the Castor without any CO for it to work with? I might try adding a Tblsp of sugar PPO just for giggles.
Thoughts?

 

[snappyllama]

Have you tried PKO? I think it's works nicely with CO to boost bubbles and feel more mild. Right now I'm digging 8% CO and 8% PKO though I might drop those further come winter.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I have never tried PKO, don't have a local source for that. I might order some someday just to give it a try.