# Recipe for Laundry and Bathing Soap Using only PKO and Tallow (Beef)



## mosesakpan (Apr 22, 2017)

Hello All, 
I'm a beginner in soaping and also in this forum.  
I need help on recipe using only two possible  oils that I can access with available fund. The oils are PKO and Tallow beef.  I want two different recipes 
1) for laundry - for washing mostly clothes and kitchen plates and
2) for bathing -  for body washing. 

Any other oil is too expensive for the business here in Nigeria. 

Thank you all.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Apr 22, 2017)

Hello

For washing dishes etc, just 100% pko would be best, with maximum 1% superfat. For bathing, 80% tallow and 20% pko, with 5% super fat. 

Welcome to smf!


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## mosesakpan (Apr 22, 2017)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Hello
> 
> For washing dishes etc, just 100% pko would be best, with maximum 1% superfat. For bathing, 80% tallow and 20% pko, with 5% super fat.
> 
> Welcome to smf!



Thank you for your reply. 

What about 60% PKO and 40% Tallow for washing clothes?


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Apr 22, 2017)

The pko alone would be best, but if that is much more expensive than the tallow then maybe a mix. I've not personally made a laundry soap with anything other than one pko-type oil, so I don't know what you might have to watch out for with your washing


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## shunt2011 (Apr 22, 2017)

Welcome to the forum!

You asked this same question in another post and have received some advice already. Please don't post the same question in multiple threads as you may not get adequate responses.

Also this is the introduction forum.  No the Lye soapmaking section.


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## Susie (Apr 22, 2017)

Hey and welcome to the forum!


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## mosesakpan (Apr 22, 2017)

shunt2011 said:


> Welcome to the forum!
> 
> You asked this same question in another post and have received some advice already. Please don't post the same question in multiple threads as you may not get adequate responses.
> 
> Also this is the introduction forum.  No the Lye soapmaking section.


The first was wrongly posted in tread that I was supposed contribute. Then I now did a fresh post.  Thank you for your kindly advise.


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## DeeAnna (Apr 22, 2017)

I make a 70% coconut oil and 30% lard recipe for laundry soap, and it works reasonably well. Maybe not as good as 100% coconut oil or 100% PKO, but well enough. 

I would think 60% PKO and 40% tallow would be as good or better than my recipe. Tallow has more of the cleansing fatty acids than lard does, so this recipe would probably be similar to mine. This would be a reasonable compromise to keep costs down.


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## IrishLass (Apr 22, 2017)

Welcome Moseskpan! :wave:

I moved everything regarding your question from the Intro section (and also from Deola's thread) over to here. 

If I were going to make a bath soap with only tallow and PKO, I would use 30% tallow and 70% PKO with a super-fat of about 15% to 20%


IrishLass


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## mosesakpan (Apr 22, 2017)

IrishLass said:


> Welcome Moseskpan! :wave:
> 
> I moved everything regarding your question from the Intro section (and also from Deola's thread) over to here.
> 
> ...



Thank you so much.  I'll try the recipe  on Monday


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## mosesakpan (Apr 22, 2017)

Your recipe of 70% Co &30% lard is slightly better than my from the soapcalc info.


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## Arimara (Apr 22, 2017)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Hello
> 
> For washing dishes etc, just 100% pko would be best, with maximum 1% superfat. For bathing, 80% tallow and 20% pko, with 5% super fat.
> 
> Welcome to smf!



I absolutely have to disagree about the superfat with the laundry soap. That amount of oil may be minuscule but it will build up over time and affect the clothing in one way or another, especially if OP uses a dryer.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Apr 23, 2017)

But for a beginner, I didn't want to frighten with talk of 0%, which is why I suggested a maximum of 1% so that there is some margin but the superfat is low. 

To be clear, even if you set the calc to 0% super fat you will still be most likely getting one, albeit small


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## Susie (Apr 23, 2017)

Arimara said:


> I absolutely have to disagree about the superfat with the laundry soap. That amount of oil may be minuscule but it will build up over time and affect the clothing in one way or another, especially if OP uses a dryer.



I agree.  No superfat in laundry soap.  You can smell it after a couple of washes.  I might not even use tallow, just use PKO.  But I have a sensitive nose.


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## DeeAnna (Apr 23, 2017)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> To be clear, even if you set the calc to 0% super fat you will still be most likely getting one, albeit small



I didn't blink at your suggestion about 1% superfat in a laundry soap, Effie. It's fine. The world is not going to end and one's laundry isn't going to be a disaster if someone does that for a laundry soap recipe.

For the record, choosing "zero superfat" in an online soap calculator like soapcalc or soapee doesn't really give you a "real" zero superfat. The actual superfat might not be as small as a person might think, depending on the NaOH purity (and on any discrepancy between the sap values in the calc vs. the real sap values of your fats). 

If you really want to come as close as you can to a "real" zero superfat as best as one can do for a CP or HP soap, then set the superfat in your favorite online soap calc to a minus number equal to the difference between 100% and whatever the real NaOH purity is.

For example, my NaOH purity is about 95%. If I was using soapcalc or soapee and my goal was a "real" zero superfat, I'd set the superfat in the calc at -5% to get as close to a my goal as possible.


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## Zany_in_CO (Apr 24, 2017)

mosesakpan said:


> Thank you so much.  I'll try the recipe  on Monday


Welcome Mosesakpan. I think those two oils together would make a very nice soap!

:bathtub:GOOD LUCK!​


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## Arimara (Apr 24, 2017)

I didn't mean to start anything, was just saying. The little bit of oil deposits are part of why I still debate back and forth with cutting costs and making laundry soap or buying the laundry detergent I use.


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## WeaversPort (Apr 25, 2017)

Arimara said:


> I didn't mean to start anything, was just saying. The little bit of oil deposits are part of why I still debate back and forth with cutting costs and making laundry soap or buying the laundry detergent I use.



If it helps, my first few batches of laundry detergent (before I learned to make soap) had shredded Fels Naptha in them. I found that buying the Fels Naptha, washing soda, borax, and oxyclean in large quantities made my laundry soap far cheaper than what I'd been using - especially since I only need a tablespoon per load. I use distilled vinegar on occasion as a fabric softener. 

Now that I can make my own soap, I'll probably try some coconut soaps at a negative superfat at some point, but I still have jars left to use up. I believe that there is also a thread here about a castile soap with negative superfat that is a traditional laundry soap in Italy. 

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/fels-naptha-heavy-duty-laundry-bar-soap/ID=prod6148854-product


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## Arimara (Apr 25, 2017)

WeaversPort said:


> If it helps, my first few batches of laundry detergent (before I learned to make soap) had shredded Fels Naptha in them. I found that buying the Fels Naptha, washing soda, borax, and oxyclean in large quantities made my laundry soap far cheaper than what I'd been using - especially since I only need a tablespoon per load. I use distilled vinegar on occasion as a fabric softener.
> 
> Now that I can make my own soap, I'll probably try some coconut soaps at a negative superfat at some point, but I still have jars left to use up. I believe that there is also a thread here about a castile soap with negative superfat that is a traditional laundry soap in Italy.
> 
> https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/fels-naptha-heavy-duty-laundry-bar-soap/ID=prod6148854-product



I've never had good luck with bars laundry soap. The liquid soap worked better but finding that fine line between too much and too little soap for a washer at the laundromat is still tricky (vinegar is my insurance for too much soap but still).

I actually like the negative superfat castile but for washing my hands. It has this natural smell to it that I can't describe but I've smelled it in quite a few castiles. It's not the stongest washing soap but at least it is good for delicates not having a ton of hangnails on your cuticles.


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## Saponificarian (May 1, 2017)

Hello Moses. To the body soap, why not try to add a percentage of Shea butter to it? It is slightly more expensive than PKO but I can point you in the direction of where to get a good price if you are in Lagos. I usually get 2.5kg for N3,500 which for you guys in the US is like $10. Also we produce Palm Olein here in Nigeria now. I got 2 litres of Palm Olein for like N1,400 ($4) and it is even cheaper if you buy the 5 litres. Adding these 2 oils in varying percentages will greatly improve the conditioning of your soap I think (for bathing)

I will leave the gurus to advice you on the percentages while I sit back and learn. HTH


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## Susie (May 1, 2017)

Arimara said:


> I didn't mean to start anything, was just saying. The little bit of oil deposits are part of why I still debate back and forth with cutting costs and making laundry soap or buying the laundry detergent I use.



I no longer use my soap for laundry.  Why?  Because I can smell that little bit of oil every time I pull my laundry out of the dryer.  I do not like the smell of oil in my clothes.  I have made a -2% SF liquid soap to try to eliminate it.  No dice.  I am happy enough with my "Free and Clear" detergent that I will not willingly go back to soap.


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## Arimara (May 1, 2017)

Susie said:


> I no longer use my soap for laundry.  Why?  Because I can smell that little bit of oil every time I pull my laundry out of the dryer.  I do not like the smell of oil in my clothes.  I have made a -2% SF liquid soap to try to eliminate it.  No dice.  I am happy enough with my "Free and Clear" detergent that I will not willingly go back to soap.



Thanks, now i feel a little better knowing I was not the only one with that issue.


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