# Safflower and sunflower oils??



## vjbakke (Sep 11, 2012)

What is the best way to use these oils?  Can they be used a a base oil ( over 50%) Can you make a 100% sunflower or safflower oil soaps? Are they prone to DOS?  Can these oils be a good alternative to olive oil?


 Thanks!


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## Genny (Sep 11, 2012)

Both are prone to dos when used in high amounts.  They would also make for very soft soap if used in large amounts.  If you're looking for a good alternative to olive, I'd suggest Rice Bran Oil.  
If you want to use safflower & sunflower, I wouldn't go above 30% with them.


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## vjbakke (Sep 11, 2012)

Thanks, I was just wondering because I can buy them cheap!  lol


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## judymoody (Sep 11, 2012)

I have used the high oleic kind at 20% of my recipe and it makes nice soap.

These single oil test results might be of interest to you: http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm


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## Kansas Farm Girl (Sep 11, 2012)

I have used quite a bit of sunflower oil, but I do keep the % low, it does seem to add a very nice conditioning quality to my soap.


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## Hazel (Sep 12, 2012)

I've used both safflower and sunflower in batches and I really like them. I do keep them normally at 10% or less. I've switched to using high oleic sunflower which is more stable than regular sunflower. I wouldn't be concerned about using it at a higher percentage but not too high - it doesn't help with hardness. (BTW, it's wonderful in liquid soap and I did use it at 65% in the batch.)

You can find high oleic  safflower and high oleic sunflower at Soapers Choice. It might be slightly more expensive than buying the regular oils in a grocery depending on how far away you are from Illinois. Also, the smallest size they have is 7 pounds. If you'd like to try HO sunflower, Majestic Mountain Sage has it in 16 oz containers.

eta: Correction - I used the HO sunflower at 55% in my LS recipe.


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## judymoody (Sep 12, 2012)

You can also get high oleic at the grocery store.  The Louanna brand at Walmart, for example.  The way you can tell is that the monounsaturated fat number will be higher than the polyunsaturated fat.


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## Genny (Sep 13, 2012)

judymoody said:
			
		

> The way you can tell is that the monounsaturated fat number will be higher than the polyunsaturated fat.



I didn't know that.  Why didn't I know that?   LOL


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## green soap (Sep 13, 2012)

Another way to determine how much of these unsaturated oils to use is to enter the whole recipe in soapcalc.net.  Look at the total fatty acid compositions, add the linoleic plus twice the linolenic (the last two fatty acids). I do twice the linolenic, since linolenic fatty acid is triply unsaturated and linoleic is doubly unsaturated.   The rule of thumb is that this number should be less than 15.  So you can 'get away with' some polyunsaturated oils (safflower, sunflower, soy, etc) and will not get untimely DOS.  Polyunsaturates will give the benefit of a more conditioning soap.  Soapcal.net will help you determine what percentage this will be for each oil that you choose to use.


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## Hazel (Sep 13, 2012)

Genny said:
			
		

> judymoody said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I didn't know it, either. Thanks for the great tip!


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## heyjude (Sep 13, 2012)

I can _only_ find the high oleic types of oil at my supermarkets. Three years ago, the stores only carried the high linoleic oils which I'd use around 5%. High oleic I've used from 15 - 20 at most.

Green Soap, I've also heard of the "15% rule" for the L fatty acids. Just curious, do you use castor in your recipe? And if so, how would you adjust your linoleic and linolneic numbers? I like the L fatty acids  for my aging skin, but castor for the bubbles! Too much of all three will give me mush.


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## green soap (Sep 13, 2012)

heyjude said:
			
		

> I can _only_ find the high oleic types of oil at my supermarkets. Three years ago, the stores only carried the high linoleic oils which I'd use around 5%. High oleic I've used from 15 - 20 at most.
> 
> Green Soap, I've also heard of the "15% rule" for the L fatty acids. Just curious, do you use castor in your recipe? And if so, how would you adjust your linoleic and linolneic numbers? I like the L fatty acids  for my aging skin, but castor for the bubbles! Too much of all three will give me mush.



Jude, I only use castor oil in my shaving soap recipe.  I have several recipes, depending on the intended use of the soap.  For the shaving soap, the % of saturated fatty acids is so high that it is not an issue.  The linoleic is super low and linolenic zero.


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## judymoody (Sep 13, 2012)

I use castor at 5% in my base recipe and the linoleic/linolenic combined is comfortably under 15.  Castor is high in ricinoleic acid so it's not really a factor.


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