# Soybean Oil?  Anyone Tried It.



## DWinMadison (Oct 18, 2014)

My mom asked me to calculate a recipe for her mission trip using coconut, palm and soy.  She finally found 100% soybean oil as GV Vegetable Oil.  Who knew?  Anyone have any experience with soy as an ingredient?  At about 1/3 each it scores pretty well on soapcalc.net


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## cgawlik (Oct 18, 2014)

I've used it a couple times and really like it for swirls,  it seems to slow down trace for me..


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## new12soap (Oct 18, 2014)

This may be helpful

http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm

personally I would not use it in soap, but I do use it in other products.


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## Susie (Oct 18, 2014)

I use it in liquid laundry soap to cut the cost.  Works fine.


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## shunt2011 (Oct 18, 2014)

I personally do not use soy. Though I know many do.  I've also heard that using it in large amounts may make soap more prone to DOS but I can't speak to it directly.


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## Chefmom (Oct 18, 2014)

Pretty much any oil in the oil aisle labeled "vegetable oil" is actually soybean oil.

I have used shortening which is labeled as a combination of soybean/cottonseed oil with success.  I have not seen DOS on my soaps.

I have not ever used straight liquid vegetable (soybean) oil though.


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## Jstar (Oct 18, 2014)

I use it in most of my soaps..have even used it in half and half amounts with CO...I have no issues with it, no DOS, no discoloring, slow to trace, and makes really nice creamy bubbles...so I get the creaminess of the soy, and the large bubbles of the CO..and I get nice hard bars..I like it 

And you have to check the labels..I make sure it says 100% soybean oil..{the cheap store brand is fine} some vegetable oils have other oils mixed, like canola, corn, etc..


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## DWinMadison (Oct 19, 2014)

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.  I'm interested to know what y'all define as "slow to trace."  I had a batch yesterday that reached a very light trace (just past emulsification) in about 3 minutes with a stick blender.  I split into 4 colors for a column pour and was surprised that even after all the stirring in color it was still very pourable for another 10 minutes. That recipe contained coconut, palm, olive, GV shortening, sunflower and castor.


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## sillysoaper (Oct 19, 2014)

I have a tried and true recipe that uses 41% soybean oil that I have been using for 15 years. It works for me with no problems. It’s great for swirling. That is if you do not use any fo’s that will accelerate trace. I have had that happen big time, spoon sticking straight up in the pot and not going anywhere. LOL… My dreams of that beautiful bar of soap with the perfect swirls shattered. How could life possibly go on after that? Sorry, I am getting carried away in the moment.

  It sounds like everything worked out great with your recipe and that you had enough time to work with the swirls. That’s how I like it!


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## dixiedragon (Oct 19, 2014)

Not a fan of soy. IMO, it's a cheap filler oil. It doesn't add hardness or bubbles, just some conditioning. I've found that my soaps with soy are softer and have a tacky feeling. My lard soaps (no soy), last as long as 10 years with DOS, but the the soy soaps almost all have DOS by a year.


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## Jstar (Oct 20, 2014)

Well for me personally, what I mean by 'slow to trace' is that it gives plenty of time to pour fluidly and for design, swirls, whathaveyou...my recipe is tried and true also, and I've been using soybean oil {not Crisco/Shortening/Etc} for a few years now. 

Once I'm done, its starts setting up within a couple hours, and I can cut it in 8 hrs or so with nothing sticky or tacky about it.

Dixie, Im curious what kind of soy oil you used..my soaps have never acted like that, and I have never gotten DOS from them..and I have bars that are 3 yrs old that are hard as rocks, and would be lethal if thrown at someone. 

As far as bubbles go, I have noticed I get more creamy big bubbles with soy and co than I do with say co and oo or co and another type oil..even if sugar is added...so I'll have to disagree on the bubblies issue for me personally


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## jblaney (Oct 20, 2014)

I don't like soy oil either.  Earlier this year I made 3 batches of soap all the same except one oil.   Soy, avocado and almond were the three oils.  The soap with soy was the worst one.   Very few bubbles, avocado was the best.  Everyone is different, but this was my experience.


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## Susie (Oct 20, 2014)

All of those things are why I only use it in liquid soap.  Less bubbles are a good thing in my HE washer.  And I know a batch of liquid laundry soap lasts 6 weeks, so no fear of rancidity.


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## dixiedragon (Oct 20, 2014)

Jstar - just soybean oil from the grocery store.


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## DWinMadison (Oct 20, 2014)

jblaney said:


> I don't like soy oil either.  Earlier this year I made 3 batches of soap all the same except one oil.   Soy, avocado and almond were the three oils.  The soap with soy was the worst one.   Very few bubbles, avocado was the best.  Everyone is different, but this was my experience.




I always appreciate it when people take the time to do these comparisons and post the results. Very helpful. I also appreciate everyone's varied opinions. This is how we learn. I wonder in being in a more humid climate like Mississippi might tend to 1) made bars softer and 2) contribute to DOS....which I have been blessed to never experience


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## Susie (Oct 20, 2014)

I have not had DOS since I stopped using short shelf life oils.  I don't use any sort of fancy dehumidifier or fans.  I figure the soap is going to live in someone's bathroom, so it needs to be OK with humidity.  Sort of a "start as you mean to go on".  And my bars are good and hard with a 6-8 week cure.


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## DWinMadison (Oct 20, 2014)

Susie said:


> I have not had DOS since I stopped using short shelf life oils.  I don't use any sort of fancy dehumidifier or fans.  I figure the soap is going to live in someone's bathroom, so it needs to be OK with humidity.  Sort of a "start as you mean to go on".  And my bars are good and hard with a 6-8 week cure.



Excellent point.  Guess I should have thought that one through.


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## sillysoaper (Oct 20, 2014)

Dixie that’s too bad about your experience with soybean oil. Luckily my experience has been good like Jstar’s experience using it. I have had bars last for years with soybean oil in it. I found a bar on a shelf that I had forgotten about that was just sitting out in the open, that I had made using soybean oil. It had been on the shelf for at least 6 years. There wasn’t any DOS at all. It was also a rock hard bar of soap. I found the soap using my soybean recipe to be very conditioning and had no problems with the lather. It’s all about personal preference in the oils that we use for our soapmaking. What we like, what our friends and family like. If you sell… what your customers like.
  LOL… I wish soybean oil was cheap where I live. I live in a bush community off the road system. By the time I get the oil, I’ve paid a good amount for it.


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## WAsoaps (Oct 29, 2014)

About a week, ago I decided to try my hand at CP. I normally do HP.

Well, so far I made 3 2lb loaves of soap and TWO while in the mold, overnight got this weird spongy look on the top exposed area. Also, these two were leaking big time. 
The common denominator with these two was that I made it out of soybean oil. It was *awful*. :thumbdown:
But looking over my soap journal, I noticed that soybean was great for HP soaps.

Another note, the clear liquid that was seeping out of my soybean oil soaps, at first I thought were the essential oils (or FOs) but I dipped a tissue in the pool to soak it up and sniffed it. Peeewwwww! It had a slight fishy odor. So not the EO or FOs. I guess some water and/or oil?
BUT the soaps themselves smell fantastic.

Conclusion: I won't be using soybean/veg oil for CP anymore. :???:


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## Jstar (Oct 29, 2014)

WA, did you only use soybean oil?


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## WAsoaps (Oct 29, 2014)

For the most recent, yes. It was a simple, no extras soap: lye water mixture into soubean oil, and then eucalyptus oil.

Same with the other one. It wasn't "superfatted" ...don't think there's such a thing with CP (??). It was the same as above... only I used a mixture of 2 FOs and a single EO. (Is it a no no to mix FOs and EOs??)


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## Jstar (Oct 29, 2014)

Ahh that could be the problem..soybean oil is a soft oil, so needs a harder oil to go with it, like coconut or palm..maybe try a smaller simple batch with 2 oils. I do CO and SBO {the oil, not veggie shortening}

I just posted a pic of my last soap last night, its a 100% coconut milk, made with CO,  SBO, cocoa butter, Kaolin Clay and FO..turned out wonderfully 

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=42556&page=104

As for superfatting, the lye will take what it wants, so you can't really tell which oil will be left over for the superfat..but yes superfatting is totally possible with CP 

The FO+EO question..I only use FO's, so I can't speak for certainty on that, but I personally wouldn't think it would hurt to mix them..someone can correct me if Im wrong on that front.


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