Vegetable oil for practice?

[Loran]

So I’ve made a lot of soap so far with a few recipes I liked, waiting to cure to try. I’m really wanting to make more soap to practice with swirls and color technique. So instead of using all of my good oils, I’m thinking of using veggie oil for a substitute since it’s dirt cheap for practice soaping. Which led me to wonder why no one uses vegetable oil. I’ve searched for it here and found only posts using crisco. Would it work for practice? And why is it not used in normal soaping? Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[Obsidian]

Vegatable oil is generally soybean oil and its not a very good oil, especially at higher percentages.
I used crisco when I first started and most those soaps developed rancidity within the first year.

Safflower is a better option and it's exceptionally cheap here. I use it now instead of olive. Lard is cheap too and traces really slow so its a good one for swirls.

 

[Loran]

Ok I was just wondering. I’m out of space for soap so was thinking of making a disposable soap just for the practice. Have PLENTY of lye to spare. Thank you.

 

[Obsidian]

If its just for practice and you aren't planning on using the soap, then vegetable oil is just fine

 

[Zing]

Dude! You're already out of space?! You are in trouble. Time to move....

 

[KiwiMoose]

Dude! You're already out of space?! You are in trouble. Time to move....

LOL - I had to move to accommodate my soap : ) (That's not really the reason, but it sounds good)

@Loran - if it's for practice but you still want to use your soap then how about going for a mid-price option? Find what you can that is relatively cheap locally and pop them into a soap calculator and see what you come up with. That's one of the reasons I started using RBO - because it's only $4 litre here. It's also why I started using soy wax ( along with the fact that my soap is vegan and palm free) because prior to that I was using cocoa butter which is very expensive here. With both those ingredients at 20% of my recipe each - I can then use my CO and OO which are a mid-range price ($10 per litre), and a little bit of castor (also mid range) plus a couple of 'luxury' oils such as shea butter, avocado in small quantities.

You could go for Saff, CO, OO, crisco, lard in a combo and see how that works? Just watch out for cheaper oils that can cause DOS - and don't use them in high quantities.

 

[earlene]

If you are really planning to make soap you would throw away (which I can't even imagine doing on purpose), then make it with ZERO superfat as well. It won't affect your swirls in the least, and you can save even more pennies.

Seriously, what happens when you have this absolutely gorgeous soap and you have to toss it in the bin?

So, read the label on the bottle to determine which oil(s) to choose in the lye calculator. As mentioned before, what I usually see listed on a container that is labeled 'Vegetable Oil' is soybean oil as the singular ingredient, but not always.

 

[Loran]

Well, ya I really need to get some sort of rack or shelf system, I don’t know what to get. I have so much soap as of now, ya it does sound dumb to just throw away soap but goodness I don’t even know enough people to give enough bars to to even start clearing space! I HAVE thought about making shelves for all over the house to put soap on as decoration though! I will start looking for this RBO everyone speaks of. I’m finding olive oil makes the base too yellow and affects the way the colors work

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Sorry, darling, but it makes no sense to me at all to be practicing soap making without using the oils that make the best soap. Perfecting your favorite formula is what it's all about. The ZNSC I make it white white -- no yellow. So I'm wondering why your soap is yellow? Are you using EVOO from your grocer's shelf? If so, it is highly likely that it is adulterated with other oils that could cause that result. I use Pomace olive oil ($16/7 lbs.). Pomace is the best choice for soap making because it is highest in acidity and therefore the cheapest. I buy it from Soapers Choice (Chicago area) -- an excellent company to do business and you can feel assured of top quality. They also carry Grade A and 50/50 Olive/RBO. In a pinch, I use Pure Olive Oil from Costco.

SOAP GIVE AWAY: There are all kinds of places where people would welcome homemade soap -- homeless shelters, centers for abused women and children, homes for unwed mothers, senior citizen facilities, possibly even Food Pantries these days for families unable to buy food for their families.

SOAP STORAGE: Think vertical. If you have a blank wall in a guest bedroom or basement, run shelves up it and use it for curing. Once cured, store it in boxes on the top shelf or on the floor below the bottom shelf.

 

[AliOop]

I second what @Zany_in_CO said about not making "bad" soap, or throwing away soap. I love soap-making, so I make a lot of extra beyond what family and friends will ever use. Since all of the excess goes to the local homeless shelter, I make those with less expensive oils, but still good recipes.

My husband says they practically start happy-dancing when they see his truck drive up with 100+ bars of soap each time. Each bar is in a small zip-lock bag with no labels. I do provide a single sheet of paper with a master ingredient list itemizing every possible ingredient that might be in the various bars.

As for storage, I often use the fruit-packing boxes from Costco, with baking paper on the bottom. They hold lots of soap, are easily stacked, and often have side handles (holes) for picking them up. This allows me to keep a lot of soap in my spare bedroom while I keep my eye out for an inexpensive used wire shelving system.

 

[Kateri]

Maybe canola oil? I was surprised to check the ingredients for the soaps one of my favorite bath stores sells, to find they’re made with canola and coconut oil.

 

[Loran]

Donating is a brilliant idea! I didn’t even think of that! I can’t remember the name of the olive oil I have but I do know it doesn’t say “blended” anywhere on the labeling. I noticed canola oil is cheap and seen a few recipes using it, maybe I’ll try that. Thank you for the suggestions I will include my practice soap with our grapefruit we donate (our tree is loaded with them every year)

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I noticed canola oil is cheap and seen a few recipes using it, maybe I’ll try that.

Canola is a good cooking oil, but not so good for soap as are other choices. Here's a tip for comparing the types of vegetable oil used in soap.

Go to SoapCalc. Plug 100% Canola oil into #6. Hit "Calculate" #7. Look at #5 "Soap Qualities, Fatty Acids" menu on the left. There are two columns. The values for Canola show up in the right column. Then go to the list of oils and tick each oil you're considering one at a time. Their values will show up in the left column so you can compare them side-by-side with canola. In this example, I used RBO.

 

[dibbles]

A couple of comments with my 2 cents. I don’t like using pomace olive oil, one reason being that I find it to accelerate trace. If you decide to try it I would recommend a smaller size bottle to see what you think of it before buying 7 lbs. A lot of people like canola oil in soap. But you should look for high oleic canola. I use sunflower oil, which is another inexpensive oil and a high oleic version of that should be used as well.

 

[Loran]

Canola is a good cooking oil, but not so good for soap as are other choices. Here's a tip for comparing the types of vegetable oil used in soap.

Go to SoapCalc. Plug 100% Canola oil into #6. Hit "Calculate" #7. Look at #5 "Soap Qualities, Fatty Acids" menu on the left. There are two columns. The values for Canola show up in the right column. Then go to the list of oils and tick each oil you're considering one at a time. Their values will show up in the left column so you can compare them side-by-side with canola. In this example, I used RBO.

View attachment 50535

Which soap calc is that? I don’t recognize it. The one I’ve been using is the soapmakingfriend one. I like how it shows the individual oils properties like that

A couple of comments with my 2 cents. I don’t like using pomace olive oil, one reason being that I find it to accelerate trace. If you decide to try it I would recommend a smaller size bottle to see what you think of it before buying 7 lbs. A lot of people like canola oil in soap. But you should look for high oleic canola. I use sunflower oil, which is another inexpensive oil and a high oleic version of that should be used as well.

Yes I really want to try sunflower! I haven’t found any yet, there’s a couple stores the wifey found that we are going to check out this weekend that carry oils.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Which soap calc is that?

If you click on the highlighted name, it's linked to the calculator. I'm old and set in my ways. I, along with most soapers I know, used SoapCalc for many, many years before Soapmaking Friend came along.

FYI: I love HO sunflower oil in non-soap products like lotion and lip balm. However, when I recently added some to a ZNSC batch, it increased the "slime" factor and took longer to cure.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I'm attaching a PDF Oil Comparison Chart that you may want to check out and save to your files for future use. It compares the various qualities and fatty acids of oils as well as discribing their use in making CP/HP.

 

[dibbles]

Yes I really want to try sunflower! I haven’t found any yet, there’s a couple stores the wifey found that we are going to check out this weekend that carry oils.

If you have a Trader Joe's near you, that is where I get mine. It is HO sunflower, and is the best price I've been able to find in my area.

 

[Loran]

Thank all of you so much! This is wonderful knowledge, I’m seriously Enjoying this soap making stuff more and more every day

 

[TheGecko]

A few things.

So what happens after practice makes perfect with your cheap supplies and then you go to make soap with your regular recipe? Think about it. Not all oils/butters are equal, so how your batter acts when made with Kroger Veggie Oil is NOT how your batter is going to act when made with your regular soap ingredients.

I almost always make 1lb test batch with using a new scent or colorant. And while 1 pound may not sound like a lot of soap, I can do layers, I can do in-the-pot swirls, I can do drop-swirls, I can do Taiwan Swirl, etc. And a 1 pound batch of soap makes four very nice size bars that can be cut in half and be tested further for cure, lather, etc. It's not a waste of money, it's part of my R&D budget.

Needless to say, I have a lot of soap...four bars of this, four bars of that, and so on and so forth. So what do I do with it? The stuff that works out...goes on the top shelf for long-term testing. I cut a slice off a bar ever so often and smell it, feel it, wash with it. While I hope to never keep soap in inventory for more than six months, I still want to know how my soap performs in time. Last year I found a bar of BRV GMS that I had bought 10 years previously. It was good quality soap...still had a hint of scent, no discoloration, lathered beautifully. Too bad I can't contact the soap maker and let her know.

So anyhoo...I donate. For the homeless shelter, I cut my bars in half and put in a store-brand ziplock freezer bag with a wash cloth that I buy in bulk at Wal-Mart. I also give them a box of half bars for those that just need a 'refill'. The shelter has my card and an ingredient list. I also donate soap to the food bank at my church. Full bars are wrapped in wax or parchment paper from the Dollar Store. I put a plain white label with the name of the soap and ingredients and ~not for resale~. If there is an issue, the church has my name and number.