# Ran out of OO



## Kittish (Jul 19, 2017)

Ran completely out of olive oil and I won't be able to get any more supplies for at least a couple of weeks. Currently I've got castor, sunflower (grocery store brand), canola (grocery store brand), avocado, rice bran, coconut, and meadowfoam seed oils as well as stearic acid, palm kernel flakes, cocoa butter and shea butter. Can I make a decent bar with just these or should I grit my teeth and wait to make more soap until I can get more OO? I know I can throw 10-15% of each type of oil/butter together and make soap but would it be a decent soap? If it would only be sort of 'meh' on top of possibly being prone to DOS, then I'd just as soon not expend the materials.


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## Obsidian (Jul 19, 2017)

You can use avocado or rice bran (or a blend of them) in place of your OO. What do you generally use for your hard oils? Any lard or palm?


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## Kittish (Jul 19, 2017)

Obsidian said:


> You can use avocado or rice bran (or a blend of them) in place of your OO. What do you generally use for your hard oils? Any lard or palm?



Been using shea and cocoa butter as my hard oils. Kind of want to stay away from the palm oil, in part because I'm kind of lazy and don't want to have to melt the entire container every time I go to use it, and in part because of the environmental issues around palm farming (yes, I'm aware those issues apply to PKO as well). I'll be able to pick up some lard when I can get more OO, but it's going to be a couple of weeks.


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## KristaY (Jul 19, 2017)

Rice bran is an excellent sub for OO. I've used it blended with other soft oils and it makes a nice soap. I also use avocado oil in most of my recipes because it's a favorite of mine. I like canola and sunflower but only if they're high oleic. I've used the lower oleic versions and got DOS straight away, especially with canola (also soybean).

I suggest making a small batch subbing all the OO with rice bran and another small batch subbing all the OO with avocado and see what you think of each.


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## Kittish (Jul 19, 2017)

KristaY said:


> Rice bran is an excellent sub for OO. I've used it blended with other soft oils and it makes a nice soap. I also use avocado oil in most of my recipes because it's a favorite of mine. I like canola and sunflower but only if they're high oleic. I've used the lower oleic versions and got DOS straight away, especially with canola (also soybean).
> 
> I suggest making a small batch subbing all the OO with rice bran and another small batch subbing all the OO with avocado and see what you think of each.



Alas, I'm nearly certain that neither my sunflower nor my canola is high oleic. I'm rather hesitant to try using all RBO because of this from this thread:



fuzz-juzz said:


> <snip>
> Out of soft oils, my favourite is RBO. I swapped most of my OO % for RBO. I use it at about 15-20%. The other day I used it at 50%, trying to create mild facial bar.
> Big mistake, it created squishy, mushy disaster. It was 500gr batch so not a huge waste lol.


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## Arimara (Jul 19, 2017)

You may want to consider selling the PKO if you're not going to use it. It's a bigger waste to have it lying around and it doesn't honor the plants any not to use what was taken from them. Generally speaking, as far as soap goes, I'd suggest 20% each RBO, shea, and cocoa butter, 25% avocado oil, and 15% coconut oil. I'd also utilize some salt in that recipe and keep the superfat low.


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## Kittish (Jul 19, 2017)

Arimara said:


> You may want to consider selling the PKO if you're not going to use it. It's a bigger waste to have it lying around and it doesn't honor the plants any not to use what was taken from them. Generally speaking, as far as soap goes, I'd suggest 20% each RBO, shea, and cocoa butter, 25% avocado oil, and 15% coconut oil. I'd also utilize some salt in that recipe and keep the superfat low.



Since I've got the PKO, I'll use what I've got, but I'm not planning to buy any more. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give it a try. I've not even thought of trying to make salt bars yet, the thought is kind of intimidating. Trying new things is good, though, right?


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## Arimara (Jul 19, 2017)

Kittish said:


> Since I've got the PKO, I'll use what I've got, but I'm not planning to buy any more. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give it a try. I've not even thought of trying to make salt bars yet, the thought is kind of intimidating. Trying new things is good, though, right?



Only if they really really pique your interest. I personally can't use them, even though they do feel nice, but you may find salt bars to be your thing.

About the PKO, sorry- I thought your wasn't going to use it. Seems silly on my part but I have met people with that mind set. If you did use the PKO, I would sub 5-10% of the CO with it and enjoy the bubbles.

I didn't bring up the meadowfoam but please don't consider using it in a soap. From what I hear, it is truly wasted in a soap, though it may feel nice. If you pick up lotionmaking, that oils would be better spent there.


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## BattleGnome (Jul 19, 2017)

What Arimara means is to add 1tsp-1tbsp of salt to the water before adding your NaOH. Salt acts as a hardener to help unmold faster and cleanser. There's not enough salt to be considered a salt bar or even a brine bar. In a way it's like adding sodium lactate, except sodium lactate might bring other things to the table as well

Edit:
Arimara posted while I was typing, keeping it up cuz of different infor


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## Arimara (Jul 19, 2017)

BattleGnome said:


> What Arimara means is to add 1tsp-1tbsp of salt to the water before adding your NaOH. Salt acts as a hardener to help unmold faster and cleanser. There's not enough salt to be considered a salt bar or even a brine bar. In a way it's like adding sodium lactate, except sodium lactate might bring other things to the table as well
> 
> Edit:
> Arimara posted while I was typing, keeping it up cuz of different infor



Thanks. I've been having difficulties with my hands lately so I'm afraid how often I post and how well I explain myself are suffering. Sorry for not elaborating.


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## Kittish (Jul 19, 2017)

Thanks for the clarification, *BattleGnome*. I'm certainly game to give that a try.

*Arimara*, awesome! I appreciate your recommendations, and I'm going to use them.  The meadowfoam I will use in soap, a little, simply so it won't wind up sitting around for months and months. I'll be branching out into doing teeny, tiny little batches of solid perfumes (like under an ounce batch size tiny), and can maybe use some in those too. Got no real plans at this time to try lotions.


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## Steve85569 (Jul 19, 2017)

I have an RBO experiment still curing. 
I made a Castille at the same time and the spirit of " I wonder?" got me.
The bars are 100% RBO.
They look fine. I may just *_have to*_ try one and report back to you. They're at 7 months cure and counting.

Steve


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## cmzaha (Jul 19, 2017)

I personally dislike OO in soap but love canola and sunflower. For years I used just the store brand of canola with no dos issues and I purchase Mid Oleic sunflower to save money not high oleic. I get more dos when using lard than when I use regular canola or sunflower


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## KristaY (Jul 20, 2017)

Kittish said:


> Alas, I'm nearly certain that neither my sunflower nor my canola is high oleic. I'm rather hesitant to try using all RBO because of this from this thread:



That was interesting. I have a gentle recipe I love that's 45% OO, 45% RBO & 10% butter. I don't have a squishy problem with it but I also cure it at least 6 months. Maybe it's the blend of the two oils?


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## Steve85569 (Jul 20, 2017)

I used 100% RBO in my experiment. I also used sodium acetate ( vinegar) and 4% salt  The SF was 3% (estimated). That could very well be why there was no squishy-ness when I used it in the shower today.
My time estimate was off though. According to the label it was made on April 27th this year. It made slime and lather left me squeeky clean too.

The Monkee Farts FO has all but vanished though.

It can be done. But you do need to harden the soap. It is all soft oil after all.


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## Arimara (Jul 21, 2017)

Steve85569 said:


> I used 100% RBO in my experiment. I also used sodium acetate ( vinegar) and 4% salt  The SF was 3% (estimated). That could very well be why there was no squishy-ness when I used it in the shower today.
> My time estimate was off though. According to the label it was made on April 27th this year. It made slime and lather left me squeeky clean too.
> 
> The Monkee Farts FO has all but vanished though.
> ...



How was the lather? Bubbbly, creamy or non-existent?


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## Steve85569 (Jul 21, 2017)

Lather is creamy. Just like one would expect from an OO bar.
I may just *have to* do this experiment with a 0% SF just to see how long it will store.


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## neonstudy (Jul 21, 2017)

How about a salt bar. Do you have any fine ground sea salt? You could do 80% coconut oil, 10% avocado, 10% shea, 25% superfat, add 50% sea salt at trace.


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## cmzaha (Jul 21, 2017)

neonstudy said:


> How about a salt bar. Do you have any fine ground sea salt? You could do 80% coconut oil, 10% avocado, 10% shea, 25% superfat, add 50% sea salt at trace.


 There is no reason to use 25% superfat. I would not go over 20% and actually for this recipe I would use 15% superfat. High superfat and butters drastically cut lather in salt bars.


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## penelopejane (May 23, 2018)

You will have to try RB yourself because just like OO you might like it or you might not like it for your skin.  It is a personal preference.  Different OO perform differently in soap.  So do different RB oils.  Especially in regard to colour.

While Steve's assessment (in Earlene's link above) is interesting he uses vinegar in his 100% RB soap which will effect the feel and lather of soap depending on how much is used. 

These experiments are a good guide because they use no additives to muddy the waters of comparison. 

http://alchemyandashes.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/single-oil-soap-experiment-phase-one.html
http://alchemyandashes.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/hey-remember-me-i-baaaccckkk-single-oil.html
http://alchemyandashes.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/single-oil-soap-experiment-phase-3-one.html


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## zolveria (May 23, 2018)

lowes home improvement has fry oil RICE BRAND rice oil 3gallons for 25 here in ny and  here are the location that have it 

Fernley Lowe's375 Stanley Dr
Fernley, NV208.5 mi
 34 Available


Carson City Lowe's430 Fairview Dr
Carson City, NV243.7 mi
 34 Available
Reno Lowe's5075 Kietzke Ln
Reno, NV246.8 mi
 23 Available
N.E. Las Vegas Lowe's2465 N Nellis Blvd
Las Vegas, NV256.3 mi


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## Lin19687 (May 30, 2018)

Ok you all are making me change my formula to add RBO in and even at a bit of higher amount.\
I am not a huge OO fan, it's ok, but kinda slimy to me


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## amd (May 30, 2018)

I've been wanting to change because it seems like the OO I use rises in price by $1 every 6 months. I'd also like to get my bar costs down to $5 a bar without sacrificing quality (just to clarify, that's the price I'd like to sell them at, not what it costs me to make them). I had been doing some experiments with HO sunflower, but either the test bars developed DOS quickly or weren't the quality I'm looking for. I'm moving on to RBO, which I have used minimally in the past but didn't put anything through long term testing. If nothing else, this is pushing me to understand fatty acid profiles a bit better.


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## Lin19687 (May 30, 2018)

Well you better get what you can at Lowes before others know this tiny secret ! 

Mine is actually on sale here ! AND I have a coupon DOUBLE WHAMY !
On sale brings it to about $0.05 an Ounce
Coupon is for $10 off if I spend $50
so that makes it 4 cents an ounce


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## Rune (Jun 11, 2018)

I understand that olive oils is very expensive in America. But what about immigrant shops? Maybe they have olive oil from Turkey, Iran, Morocco or other countries, that can be cheaper.


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## shunt2011 (Jun 11, 2018)

Rune said:


> I understand that olive oils is very expensive in America. But what about immigrant shops? Maybe they have olive oil from Turkey, Iran, Morocco or other countries, that can be cheaper.



The problem with that is the possibility of adulterated OO.  There are so many on the market that have ben adulterated.   Would just need to check labels carefully.   I've checked a few shops in my area with not much luck cost wise.


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## Rune (Jun 11, 2018)

According to tests done in Norway, the olive oils from immigrant shops was not more adulterated than those from the grocery store. But they did not test all, just a few brands. I think the key to avoid adulterated olive oil is to choose cheap refined and not expensive extra virgin. They will try to cheat where there is most money to be made. I have never heard about adulterated refined olive oil, or pomace. But it can exist, of course.

I need to go to immigrant shops to see if I can find castor oil. A long story short, castor oil does not exist in this country, other than in small bottles for a price higher than heaven. It is sold as laxative and some hair growth thing, or what it is.


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## earlene (Jun 13, 2018)

Rune said:


> I need to go to immigrant shops to see if I can find castor oil. A long story short, castor oil does not exist in this country, other than in small bottles for a price higher than heaven. It is sold as laxative and some hair growth thing, or what it is.


When I first started out that's how I bought my Castor Oil, as the 3 - ounce bottles sold as a laxative.  Since the percentage in soap is so small (usually I use 3%, but 5% is often recommended), a small bottle like that was sufficient for several small batches of soap.

But you don't actually need Castor Oil to make soap if it's hard to come by or too costly.  I have made many soaps without Castor and they clean just fine.


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## zolveria (Jun 14, 2018)

i normally cut my olive in half .. if it ask for 24 oz  i use 12 of olive and 12 of rice oil.  or canola Oil ...
you can also find canola oil in resturant  supply houses cubes for much cheaper than store gallons . you can also find shortening in 45lb cubes


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## Rune (Jun 24, 2018)

earlene said:


> But you don't actually need Castor Oil to make soap if it's hard to come by or too costly.  I have made many soaps without Castor and they clean just fine.



Yes, I guess it is possible without castor. But when I ordered my soap cutter from Turkey, I also ordered three soaps from her. I wanted to see how her soaps compared to mine, and since she is selling, I wanted to see if my soaps are good enough for sales. I know that the soap I made last is not, because of scratchy activated charcoal and not a too pleasant scent. But that is not the most important, I wanted to compare the recipe, lather, feel etc. And I'm sooo glad I bought soaps from her! I could instantly feel an enormous difference. Her soaps is like luxury bars, so silky smooth and with a rich lather. I don't know how to describe it, but it feels like pure luxury. So, I went to her website and looked up her ingredients. She used olive, palm, coconut, sunflower and castor + color and scent. I don't know how much of each she is using, other than that it is in falling order, and I don't want to find out either, since I don't think it's fair to copy her. But I do think she has added a mystery ingredient. I can't figure out what it might be, but the bars have a peculiar smell. My mother says is smells lye. And yes, maybe it is lye. Because the smell reminds of that lye you use on wood to lighen it. It might be her fragrance oils, but all three bars have the same sort of scent, so I suspect some ingredient in the soap itself. Well, I don't know. Maybe it is the Turkey Red Castor Oil, since she is in Turkey? No, who knows. But it is a peculiar scent, and the bars are not lye heavy (I have zap tested).

My recipe is shea, olive, coconut and rapeseed. The shea, coconut and rapeseed is from a vegetable lard type of product, so I just added olive. But my bubbles are really not at all good enough. I don't have that silky smooth feel either. Something has to be done to be able to get up to her level. So I think adding castor will help with the bubbles. I feel I need it. I don't want to up the coconut too much, but I can try to add some extra coconut too. And sugar. I forgot that when I made my soap, since I was supposed to add it to slightly cooled lye, but messed things up.

I think I will try to formulate a recipe like this and see if I can get closer to her rich, foaming bars of soap: Shea, high oleic sunflower, coconut, rapesseed and castor. I don't have palm oil. I hope that the shea can be a replacer for palm, somewhat. I think I will add some kaolin clay too. But I have to wait until my supplies from England and Germany arrives before I can make the soap, since I have ordered mica, clay and castor.


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## dibbles (Jun 24, 2018)

Rune said:


> And sugar. I forgot that when I made my soap, since I was supposed to add it to slightly cooled lye, but messed things up.



Have you added sugar to lye solution before? I ask, because the one time I did this it turned the lye solution into a thick, gloppy mess and was very hard to stir in. Now I take some water from what I have weighed out for the batch and stir the sugar into this until it is dissolved. Then add it back into the batch water before adding the lye.


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## Terri E (Jun 24, 2018)

Rune said:


> Yes, I guess it is possible without castor. But when I ordered my soap cutter from Turkey, I also ordered three soaps from her. I wanted to see how her soaps compared to mine, and since she is selling, I wanted to see if my soaps are good enough for sales. I know that the soap I made last is not, because of scratchy activated charcoal and not a too pleasant scent. But that is not the most important, I wanted to compare the recipe, lather, feel etc. And I'm sooo glad I bought soaps from her! I could instantly feel an enormous difference. Her soaps is like luxury bars, so silky smooth and with a rich lather. I don't know how to describe it, but it feels like pure luxury. So, I went to her website and looked up her ingredients. She used olive, palm, coconut, sunflower and castor + color and scent. I don't know how much of each she is using, other than that it is in falling order, and I don't want to find out either, since I don't think it's fair to copy her. But I do think she has added a mystery ingredient. I can't figure out what it might be, but the bars have a peculiar smell. My mother says is smells lye. And yes, maybe it is lye. Because the smell reminds of that lye you use on wood to lighen it. It might be her fragrance oils, but all three bars have the same sort of scent, so I suspect some ingredient in the soap itself. Well, I don't know. Maybe it is the Turkey Red Castor Oil, since she is in Turkey? No, who knows. But it is a peculiar scent, and the bars are not lye heavy (I have zap tested).
> 
> My recipe is shea, olive, coconut and rapeseed. The shea, coconut and rapeseed is from a vegetable lard type of product, so I just added olive. But my bubbles are really not at all good enough. I don't have that silky smooth feel either. Something has to be done to be able to get up to her level. So I think adding castor will help with the bubbles. I feel I need it. I don't want to up the coconut too much, but I can try to add some extra coconut too. And sugar. I forgot that when I made my soap, since I was supposed to add it to slightly cooled lye, but messed things up.
> 
> I think I will try to formulate a recipe like this and see if I can get closer to her rich, foaming bars of soap: Shea, high oleic sunflower, coconut, rapesseed and castor. I don't have palm oil. I hope that the shea can be a replacer for palm, somewhat. I think I will add some kaolin clay too. But I have to wait until my supplies from England and Germany arrives before I can make the soap, since I have ordered mica, clay and castor.



If you can get these oils and want an amazing soap recipe that is creamy and has a silky feel here you go:   ( you can up your water amount of course) when adding sugar use sorbitol or xylitol ( sugar alcohols) to your lye solution and add sodium citrate to your soap at light trace. Notice the superfat @ 8%


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## earlene (Jun 24, 2018)

The luxurious-ness of the soap is as much if not more about PROPORTION of it's ingredients, than it is about the actual ingredients, really.   So if her ingredients list is in descending order, which one would expect (but cannot always be sure of unless the country she sells from requires it by law/regulation), then there might be a higher percentage of Olive Oil in her recipe.

But it could also mean that out of a 5-oil soap, there is an equal amount of each oil (20% of each of the 5 oils) and the order of the listing is by choice.  You cannot truly know.  But a bit more reasonable educated guess would probably be something along the lines of perhaps a higher proportion of olive and the rest in descending order a lower percentage of castor oil (and probably NOT Turkey Red Oil, but normal Castor).  

I don't think shea is a good substitute for palm in soap, but it is certainly more luxurious than palm in my opinion.  However, it really should not be used in very high proportions.  It will decrease your bubbles, too.  I have read that some people do cook with shea, but I have not actually every tried it and have never seen a vegetable shortening that includes shea on the ingredient list.  It must be uncommon in the US, I guess.

As for adding a 'mystery ingredient', I suppose it's possible, but I would guess the ingredient list is most likely all inclusive.  The fragrance she added is probably what is giving the soap it's smell.  I don't believe I have ever noticed a 'lye smell' in my finished soaps, and I have a fairly sensitive nose.  Maybe a very high lye-heavy soap might smell of lye, but I would not expect a superfatted soap to ever smell like lye after saponification.  But remember soap without fragrance also has a scent that comes from the formation of soap, and it seems to be influenced by the various oils.  Some people can actually identify a soap high in olive oil by it's scent.


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## cmzaha (Jun 24, 2018)

Terri E said:


> If you can get these oils and want an amazing soap recipe that is creamy and has a silky feel here you go:   ( you can up your water amount of course) when adding sugar use sorbitol or xylitol ( sugar alcohols) to your lye solution and add sodium citrate to your soap at light trace. View attachment 30851


This would be much to much CO for a luxurious soap in my opinion. Sure it will lather with fluffy bubbles, but it would be to stripping for me. JMO


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## Rune (Jun 25, 2018)

dibbles said:


> Have you added sugar to lye solution before? I ask, because the one time I did this it turned the lye solution into a thick, gloppy mess and was very hard to stir in. Now I take some water from what I have weighed out for the batch and stir the sugar into this until it is dissolved. Then add it back into the batch water before adding the lye.



Thank you for a great advice! No, I have never added sugar to lye water before. But I have added potato starch, supposed to be vegan silk or something (I don't have any silk). And that seized up immediately, the lye water became a jelly. I added it to hot lye or in the water before I added the lye (can't remember). I will never do that again. Thank you for warning me about the sugar!


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## Rune (Jun 25, 2018)

Thank you Terri E for the recipe  And thank you Earlene for the good advice 

I don't know if it is a vegetable lard, but I think so. Well, yes, it must be. Because that fat is ment to use when deep frying norwegian christmas cookies, like our type of donuts, for example. Traditionally, something called "smult" was used, and that is lard. They had lard in shops before, but not now it is replaced by this fat that contains shea, coconut and rapeseed. So lard is nowhere to be found in grocery stores. Maybe they have added shea to replace palm oil. I'm quite sure of that. Because palm oil does not exist in grocery products here. I think it was because consumers demanded palm to disappear. So the manufacturers had to replace it with something else. And this deep frying fat is a product that typically would contain palm oil. In Sweden, every or almost every margarine or similar product have palm oil. In Norway, it is replaced by hydrogenated coconut and hydrogenated rapeseed, for the most. This product with a high amount of shea (if I remember correctly, it was 60-something percentages) is one of its kind. I have never seen any shea on the ingredient list of other products. So it is uncommon here too. But this fat is not the cheapest either. Affordable, but maybe around triple the price of regular margarine.

So you see, palm oil is not widely available here. But I can order it from the UK. I have found a supplier with really cheap shipping. 

Yes, I also think the strange scent must come from the fragrance oil. It is strong and lingers on the skin, so it is not the soapmaking oils, I think. It is a strange scent, but also somewhat familiar. I have thought about it, and I think it must be low quality fragrance oil, or fragrances they prefer in Turkey. It suddenly stroke my mind, that it actually reminds me of fake perfume. The kind you can buy on the street at holiday destinations. They all smell the same, more or less. I bought a bottle in Greece once. And the fake perfumes have a very peculiar scent. Or had, they might have changed since 1999.


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## Patgst (Jun 25, 2018)

right now Lowes has RBO 3 gallons for $6.16. Not sure it is in all Lowes but it seems to be most of them. I Googled it and that is what came up.


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## earlene (Jun 25, 2018)

Patgst said:


> right now Lowes has RBO 3 gallons for $6.16. Not sure it is in all Lowes but it seems to be most of them. I Googled it and that is what came up.


Same here through July 27, 2018.  Half the price from before!


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## Patgst (Jun 25, 2018)

Yes! Isn't that great? I love a deal.  It also keeps (per Bramble Berry) for at least a year.


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## Zany_in_CO (Jun 25, 2018)

Rune said:


> I think the key to avoid adulterated olive oil is to choose cheap refined and not expensive extra virgin.


  Correct. As far as I know, the  COOC at UC Davis only tests EVOO, mainly because there are way more consumers of OO than there are soapers and so they don't even consider the cheaper grades. I use pomace OO -- highest in acidity, thus better for soap, according to many sources. Here's a link to just one:

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/types-of-olive-oil-for-soap-517112


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## Lin19687 (Jun 26, 2018)

Thanks for the link !


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## penelopejane (Jun 26, 2018)

Rune said:


> Yes, I guess it is possible without castor. But when I ordered my soap cutter from Turkey, I also ordered three soaps from her. I wanted to see how her soaps compared to mine, and since she is selling, I wanted to see if my soaps are good enough for sales. I know that the soap I made last is not, because of scratchy activated charcoal and not a too pleasant scent. But that is not the most important, I wanted to compare the recipe, lather, feel etc. And I'm sooo glad I bought soaps from her! I could instantly feel an enormous difference. Her soaps is like luxury bars, so silky smooth and with a rich lather. I don't know how to describe it, but it feels like pure luxury. So, I went to her website and looked up her ingredients. She used olive, palm, coconut, sunflower and castor + color and scent. I don't know how much of each she is using, other than that it is in falling order, and I don't want to find out either, since I don't think it's fair to copy her. But I do think she has added a mystery ingredient. I can't figure out what it might be, but the bars have a peculiar smell. My mother says is smells lye. And yes, maybe it is lye. Because the smell reminds of that lye you use on wood to lighen it. It might be her fragrance oils, but all three bars have the same sort of scent, so I suspect some ingredient in the soap itself. Well, I don't know. Maybe it is the Turkey Red Castor Oil, since she is in Turkey? No, who knows. But it is a peculiar scent, and the bars are not lye heavy (I have zap tested).
> 
> My recipe is shea, olive, coconut and rapeseed. The shea, coconut and rapeseed is from a vegetable lard type of product, so I just added olive. But my bubbles are really not at all good enough. I don't have that silky smooth feel either. Something has to be done to be able to get up to her level. So I think adding castor will help with the bubbles. I feel I need it. I don't want to up the coconut too much, but I can try to add some extra coconut too. And sugar. I forgot that when I made my soap, since I was supposed to add it to slightly cooled lye, but messed things up.
> 
> I think I will try to formulate a recipe like this and see if I can get closer to her rich, foaming bars of soap: Shea, high oleic sunflower, coconut, rapesseed and castor. I don't have palm oil. I hope that the shea can be a replacer for palm, somewhat. I think I will add some kaolin clay too. But I have to wait until my supplies from England and Germany arrives before I can make the soap, since I have ordered mica, clay and castor.



Rune, 
She’s butter is nice but at high percentages it cuts bubbles. 
It’s also a totally different feel to palm/coconut/OO. 

Refined OO often has other oils added - they list them in the label. Pomace uses chemicals to extract the oils from left over skins and leaves. It is a very different product compared to EVOO.


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