Replacing Palm Oil with Lard

[Soulboy1973]

Hi all,
I am new on here, I have posted a thread on frag oils and recieved some helpful answers for which I am greateful.
Another quick question if I may. I made my last batch of CP soap with Olive, Palm, Coconut and Caster oils. It turned out well but when I shared my experiance on my wet shaving forum I was berated for my use of Palm oil. Basically Palm oil is viewed by some as the death of the planet and the worst thing to happen to the planet ever. Now I understand how Palm is produced and what it has entailed so I am proposing to substitiute palm with Lard in my recipe. I have run the recipe through Soap Calc but I don't understand it so I have no idea what I am looking at. Lol. Anyway, will a 100% replacement palm for Lard produce a similar soap? That was a lot of words for a quick question, sorry Guy's.

 

[amd]

You might find this article helpful:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/palm-oil-alternatives/

You can also see this post here:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...substitute-for-beef-tallow.75463/#post-775073

ETA: to answer your question though... no, lard/tallow and palm have different fatty acid profiles so replacing one with the other will have an affect to the soap. Now whether the general public will notice is a different question.

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, it will be a similiar soap. Is this bar or shaving soap? I use lard in my bar soaps and the lather is thicker and a creamier then palm but the bubbles aren't as big.
The soap will still be hard, long lasting and mild.

For shaving soap, I prefer beef tallow with a good helping of stearic

 

[IrishLass]

Hi Soulboy. For what it's worth, you will not get berated/vilified here on SMF for using palm. We moderate such beratings, because it's not as black & white or as good/evil of an issue as people have made it out to be. There are two sides to every story, afterall, and not everyone online tells the whole story or gives the complete picture. We have had several threads regarding palm here on the forum that have brought up points on both sides that have helped to present a more complete picture, and although some may take a different view, the stance that the Admin/mod team has taken is that using palm as a personal choice that people need to weigh out for themselves and choose accordingly....for themselves..... without berating others for their choice not to.

Having said all that, you can mimic palm by using a combination of these fats:

Shea butter 45.5% / Cocoa Butter 43% / Sunflower Oil 10% / Coconut Oil 1.5%

I haven't tried it out myself yet, but the fatty acid profile of the above combination is nearly identical to that of palm.


IrishLass

 

[amd]

Just to give you the visual...
Fatty acid profile of Palm

Tallow

Lard

You'll particularly want to note how the palmitic and stearic acid changes between each.

Also, I'm going to expand a bit on my answer above as I was rather short and snarky. From a use standpoint, yes you can sub palm/lard/tallow and get almost the same creamy stable lather. From a soapmakers standpoint, you will want to run it through a soapcalc when subbing. The SAP values are similar, but I don't like to mess around with lye so I always recalculate. You will also notice bar hardness differences - more so between tallow (harder) and lard, to me lard and palm feel the same. I feel that lard and palm have around the same cleansing, although I think that palm rinses off better. Tallow is a bit more cleansing. These are really minor differences that my customers haven't noticed, but I have noticed in my study of "what does this recipe change do". Soapmakers more likely to notice, general public not so much.

 

[cedarstar]

I use lard for the majority of my soaps but I also use palm oil. I did some research on palm oil. Yes it's absolutely horrible for animals to lose their homes and there are sustainable sources of palm. That being said, it's also known that most palm oil is used for bio-fuel. Also since palm creates more oil per harvest than other oils, if palm was stopped ten more land would be needed to produce other oils needed to equal the amount of oil produced by palm. Also, if you look up how coconuts are harvested you will find that in Thailand the majority of coconuts are picked by monkeys; a male monkey can pick 1600/day, a female 600 and a human 80/day. There are so many different views and I believe everyone should follow what they believe in.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Have you considered Hydrogenated Soybean ( soy wax) as a palm alternative? It's high in stearic which is a bonus for shave soap.

 

[shunt2011]

I'm another fan of Lard. It's inexpensive and makes awesome soap. The majority of my soaps are made with lard. I do make some with palm for those that don't like animal fat.

 

[Soulboy1973]

You might find this article helpful:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/palm-oil-alternatives/

You can also see this post here:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...substitute-for-beef-tallow.75463/#post-775073

ETA: to answer your question though... no, lard/tallow and palm have different fatty acid profiles so replacing one with the other will have an affect to the soap. Now whether the general public will notice is a different question.

Thanks

Yes, it will be a similiar soap. Is this bar or shaving soap? I use lard in my bar soaps and the lather is thicker and a creamier then palm but the bubbles aren't as big.
The soap will still be hard, long lasting and mild.

For shaving soap, I prefer beef tallow with a good helping of stearic

Hi, Sorry it is bar soap.

Thank you everyone for your answers, really helpful and most welcome.