If you like lard & canola, I say keep making it. Moisturizing and cheap sounds like my kind of soap.
The concern with canola is the possibility of rancidity over time. As long as you use the soap before it gets bad, then this wouldn't be an issue. Also, rancidity isn't really an issue. You can still use soap which is slightly rancid. It may not smell all that great but it will still get you clean. Now if the soap is badly rancid and stinks; then you wouldn't want to use it.
Thank you for he input. I will design another recipe in the morning and make a run for some OO (though I have a thought that soft oils generally will have the higher iodine counts). I know I would rather make soap more like:
CO-20%
Lard-30%
OO-35%
SO-15%
They do. That's why it's better to have a more balanced recipe to offset the softer oils. However, the iodine value is a little flexible. For example, olive is an 85 and lots of people make castile or batches with a high olive percentage and the soap is fine over a long period of time. I've used 100% olive and buttermilk with a 7% superfat and really didn't start using it until it was 18 months old. This is just personal preference. I know most people don't cure OO soap that long. The main reason olive is used is because it's hard after a long cure. The other conditioning oils don't cure as hard.
The first tenet of soapmaking - it's what
you like.
You're the only one who can decide what is a good soap for you. Everyone bases suggestions on preferences and experience. For example, I love sunflower oil. For some reason, it's better for my skin than olive. That's why I use a lower amount of olive or none at all in my recipes. BTW, I started with regular sunflower but switched to high oleic sunflower since it has a longer shelf life. But SO naturally has a high vitamin E content which helps to slow rancidity. Other people hate sunflower or had a bad experience with it. Perhaps someone used it and the batch became rancid in a couple of months. It could happen. People who don't like SO are going to advise against it. I've read a lot of comments where people state canola or soybean isn't good to use in soap. It's stated they have short shelf lives, will cause DOS, etc and so on. Yet, I constantly see both oils recommended by others and I see recipes posted with these oils in them. Personal preference and I'm sure some of it is availability and price.
I've been experimenting with using sunflower at a higher percentage than normally is recommended. It's too soon to say if it will work as well as olive or if I've made a really bad decision. Only time will tell.
Susie mentioned almond oil which is a lovely oil. However, I don't use it anymore because of paranoia. My youngest sister is allergic to nuts. I've read nut allergies are only caused by ingestion. But I'm not willing to take the chance especially since there are other oils with similar properties which will work as well as almond. Because of my sister's allergy, I don't even think to mention almond as an alternative oil. It's not because I consider it a "bad" oil. I just don't use it and discuss the oils I'm used to using.
The last recipe you posted is very close to one of my favorites. :grin: