Butter in soap?

[Jennfromoz]

Just a quick question. Can you use normal dairy butter in soap making? I can't find any information on it and it's not mentioned in calculators. We can use shea butter, cocoa butter, Lard and tallow, so why not butter? Just a question

 

[lsg]

I think that dairy butter might become rancid.

 

[SoapDaddy70]

Oh boy. You done did it now. There has been some heated discussions about this.

 

[TheGecko]

Some folks claim that using dairy butter stinks up the soap, some folks say it's fine. Make a test batch.

 

[artemis]

If you search the forum you'll find a few different discussions. Some about why it shouldn't work and some from people who have tried it.

 

[Misschief]

Just a quick question. Can you use normal dairy butter in soap making? I can't find any information on it and it's not mentioned in calculators. We can use shea butter, cocoa butter, Lard and tallow, so why not butter? Just a question

Look for Milk Fat, Bovine

 

[DeeAnna]

What Misschief said. Dairy butter is not 100% fat. Milkfat / milk fat / butterfat is the name of the fat in butter. I have an example of how to caclculate the amount of milkfat in butter. See Nutrition labels | Soapy Stuff

This topic has been beaten to death many times in this forum.

 

[dibbles]

Just wanted to add - shea butter and cocoa butter are plant based fats. Butter is a dairy product which is completely different.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Can you use normal dairy butter in soap making?

You can if you don't mind soap that stinks to high heaven.

 

[KiwiMoose]

This topic has been beaten to death many times in this forum.

And long may it stay dead.

 

[Catscankim]

Oh boy. You done did it now. There has been some heated discussions about this.

I wish i could double laugh emoji at this. So true

 

[Jennfromoz]

Ok, I don't think I'll consider this. I would prefer to come out of the shower smelling like a flower than to come out stinkier that I came in.

 

[Rick Jarvis]

How about Mayo?

 

[Cat&Oak]

@Jennfromoz when I first started making soap I thought I was incredibly clever to make a batch with heavy cream. OMG it smelled like baby vomit

 

[DeeAnna]

I know you're kidding around, Rick, but I honestly think mayo would work fine in soap. Egg, oil, and a little lemon or vinegar -- all things people use in soap with good results.

Hollandaise .... maybe not so much.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

How about Mayo?

Mayo is an excellent hair conditiioner. Just don't use too much or it's hard to rinse out and you smell like a salad for days. Don' ask how I know.

 

[Ford]

I use "I can't believe it's not butter" brand. Mostly canola and no dairy. May work. But I am not going to try.

 

[user 49910]

You could probably use Ghee with no issues. It is the the pure butterfat with no milk solids in it. It's the milk solids that cause the issues of ferment, odor, cheesiness, etc. Indian cooking uses lots of Ghee. It's fairly simple to make also.

Ghee is a type of clarified butter that’s made from heating butter and allowing the liquid and milk portion to separate from the fat. The milk caramelizes and becomes a solid, and the remaining oil is ghee. Ghee was created to prevent butter from spoiling during warm weather.

I am surprised someone here hasn't mentioned it already.

 

[DeeAnna]

... It's the milk solids that cause the issues of ferment, odor, cheesiness, etc....

The reason why someone hasn't mentioned this is because this isn't the reason for the odor when dairy butter is used to make soap.

Ghee is essentially 100% milk fat. It's the shorter-chain fatty acids present in milk fat that cause the objectionable odor when the fat is saponified. Soap made with ghee has the same odor problem as soap made with plain dairy butter.

If milk solids caused the odor, then soap made with dairy milk (contains low to no milkfat) as a full replacement for water would have this objectionable smell. They don't.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/used-dairy-butter-soap-stinks.82354/post-867708https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/using-dairy-butter-for-soap.81338/#post-853296https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/recipe-for-cheap-soap-in-india-no-palm-no-lard.76365/https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/butter-soap-curiosity.48266/https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/what-about-50-goat-ghee-and-50-oelic-sunflower.73344/

 

[user 49910]

Well apparently it is the Butyric acid which causes the issues. Learn something new everyday.

From a chemical website:
Butyric acid, also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a straight-chain alkyl carboxylic acid with the chemical formula CH₃CH₂CH₂CO₂H. It is an oily, colorless liquid with an unpleasant odor.