What next?

[Rusti]

OK, so I have done SoapQueen's basic recipe and a variation with Shea and have been playing with lard, including doing a high lard soap last weekend.

So - what to try next? I grabbed some Avocado oil and also have some mango butter from BB on the way, both mostly for a go at body butter, but I'd be willing to sacrifice some of each for soap.

I also have a 4 pound bucket of lard with at least 3 pounds left in to use. So what are some of your favorite lard recipe variations with either (or both) mango butter and avocado oil? I will have a new mold to break in when the mango butter gets here so I'm curious about ideas.

 

[earlene]

One thing I did in the first couple of months I started soaping was to do single oil soaps of each type of oil I had in the house. Originally I read about it in one of the books I borrowed from my library (or maybe one of the used ones I bought from World Books, not sure which) and thought 'what a great idea.' The reason was to learn what each oil was like on its own and to learn how I might like working with a particular oil. Later I ran across a blog post by another soaper who was documenting her findings from doing the same.

It was a fun project and I learned which oils I like more than others as well as what color each of them ends up being on its own. If you haven't done that and find the idea interesting, how about that for a new project?

In fact I want to do it again with some other oils I did not have on hand the last time. My new ones to do are: shea butter, pumpkin seed oil, red palm oil, avocado oil. I'd have to double check, but I think those are the only ones I have on hand that I have not yet done this with.

 

[Arimara]

One thing I did in the first couple of months I started soaping was to do single oil soaps of each type of oil I had in the house. Originally I read about it in one of the books I borrowed from my library (or maybe one of the used ones I bought from World Books, not sure which) and thought 'what a great idea.' The reason was to learn what each oil was like on its own and to learn how I might like working with a particular oil. Later I ran across a blog post by another soaper who was documenting her findings from doing the same.

It was a fun project and I learned which oils I like more than others as well as what color each of them ends up being on its own. If you haven't done that and find the idea interesting, how about that for a new project?

In fact I want to do it again with some other oils I did not have on hand the last time. My new ones to do are: shea butter, pumpkin seed oil, red palm oil, avocado oil. I'd have to double check, but I think those are the only ones I have on hand that I have not yet done this with.

I'd leave the red palm alone. If you used a little bit in a soap (and I do mean a little bit) you would get a lovely yellowish orange color or something deeper. But that stuff is essentially unrefined palm oil and will lather yellow in higher quantities. If you made a soap with palm, you would have a very good estimate of how much you may like RPO. I also can not stand the smell, which never left after over 6 months of curing.

Your choice though. Avocado and shea butter are nice additives to soap and I personally find the avocado to be my go to over olive oil.

 

[shunt2011]

I toolove avocado. One of my favorite's to use in soap and in body products.

 

[earlene]

I'd leave the red palm alone. If you used a little bit in a soap (and I do mean a little bit) you would get a lovely yellowish orange color or something deeper. But that stuff is essentially unrefined palm oil and will lather yellow in higher quantities. If you made a soap with palm, you would have a very good estimate of how much you may like RPO. I also can not stand the smell, which never left after over 6 months of curing.

Your choice though. Avocado and shea butter are nice additives to soap and I personally find the avocado to be my go to over olive oil.

Yes, I think you are right about the red palm oil. Since posting this earlier I did a lather test of the soap that has 18% red palm and I think 18% is probably too much. I added NG's Vanilla Love Dust fragrance, and it smells pretty nice. But as you said, the lather is a bit on the yellow side. Not sure if I'll do the single oil soap test with it or not, but also not sure what I'll be doing with the rest of it. Maybe using it in carrot soap would help support the color, but in a smaller percentage like with castor oil. My 8-month aged carrot soaps don't have much color left in them anymore, so maybe this would help.

I bought the RPO because it was on clearance for less than half price at a grocery store & I just wanted to see what it would do to my soap. I used the same recipe just changing out one oil in each batch (as well as running it through lye calculator, of course.)

 

[Arimara]

Good luck to ya, then. I've heard it was great in hair care but I've never tried it. It's odor is a little too much for me to handle. It is a good idea to try it for the carrot soap recipe. Just treat it like palm oil, including giving it a good shake or stir when need be.