Calling all lardinators! Why do you love lard-based soaps? 🐖

[meepocow]

Dear piggy fat soap makers!

I've got three or four 1 lb batches of lard soaps at different percentages curing up. And it made me curious.

What properties do you like about lard? How do you find the performance, skin-friendliness, hardness, scent retention, etc.? Have you landed on your 'ideal' lard percentage yet?

Thank you! Oink Oink!

 

[glendam]

I like that it is cheaper than beef tallow and has a slightly longer shelf life. Plus I can buy it at the grocery store (in 8 lb buckets). I do like beef tallow too, so I alternate between both. I keep it around 30-35% percent. I like the hardness of the bars with them. I have tried other soap makers bars and the only ones I really liked were the ones that also had lard. Your post reminded me of these embeds:

 

[meepocow]

I like that it is cheaper than beef tallow and has a slightly longer shelf life. Plus I can buy it at the grocery store (in 8 lb buckets). I do like beef tallow too, so I alternate between both. I keep it around 30-35% percent. I like the hardness of the bars with them. I have tried other soap makers bars and the only ones I really liked were the ones that also had lard. Your post reminded me of these embeds:
View attachment 69173

Those embeds are TOO cute!

I have been buying 1 lb blocks of lard since I'm still experimenting, but will have to keep an eye out for larger buckets. Canadian here, I've never seen 8 lb buckets at my grocery stores!

 

[MrsZ]

I love lard in my soaps! I use it at 40% in almost all of my soaps. It seems to make my skin very happy, not drying to me (which many soaps are). I appreciate that it is inexpensive and easy for me to obtain. (I like beef tallow too, but haven't figured out where to get it at a price I can manage yet)

It also is slow to trace as a general rule, so it usually gives me plenty of working time for designs and colors.

 

[Misschief]

I have been buying 1 lb blocks of lard since I'm still experimenting, but will have to keep an eye out for larger buckets. Canadian here, I've never seen 8 lb buckets at my grocery stores!

Likewise.... Tenderflake Lard.... 1 lb. blocks. I stock up when they're on sale.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I find it gives a very creamy lather. While palm, lard, and Shea butter are technically quite interchangeable in recipes, I found that lard just has a more luxurious feel over palm. And while I haven't used Shea butter at the same amounts in a soap, I have heard from experienced and trusted soapers that it just isn't the same as lard.

 

[Obsidian]

Besides the tendancy to slow trace and adding a great creamy lather, it has quality I can only describe as body.
Palm has a similiar lather but the bidy seems weak or thin while lard if full, more substantial in a way.
It adds good longevity, is mild to the skin, cheap and easily accessible.

My basic recipe is 50% lard but I also make a 80% bar, that one will last forever and is extra gentle for dry skin.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

IMHO lard is almost the perfect soap making fat. It’s inexpensive, easy to buy locally, makes a lovely gentle bar and behaves extremely well for design soaps that need a fairly fluid batter. I can’t call it perfect because I am one of the minority(?) of soap makers who can begin to detect the scent of lard in a soap as it ages, especially at about 60% lard or higher. My compromise is to use a mix of lard and tallow in my animal fat based soap or to make sure that I use a non-fading fragrance.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Lard shows up frequently in this thread:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/one-oil-for-the-rest-of-your-life.83093/

What properties do you like about lard?

What's not to like?!

How do you find the performance, skin-friendliness, hardness, scent retention, etc.?

All the above with emphasis on "scent retention" - IMO & IME

Have you landed on your 'ideal' lard percentage yet?

1) Sub for Palm in the Basic Trinity of OIls.

2) 85% lard, 10% coconut, 5% castor for Grandma's Old Fashioned Lye Soap I make for a geezer pal. (Reminds him of his childhood.)

3) 50/50 Lard & PKO for "HOG WASH (liquid) HAIR & BODY SHAMPOO scented with Peppermint. Friends & family favorite.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

​

Favorite Piggie Mold

 

[Gaisy59]

Get my lard at a butcher shop. Canadian too. Not all butcher shops have lard though so hard to find. When I can’t find it anymore i will do what @Misschief does and buy Tenderflake

 

[Marsi]

I don't often use animal fats, but tallow lard and a little coconut make a beautiful soap. White, hard and gentle on skin, with lovely lather.

I'm in the same (minority?) camp as Mobjack - I can smell that the soap is made from lard and the tallow (no matter how old the bar) and while I can tolerate tallow a little, the lard soap smell in use puts me off these soaps.

(@Mobjack Bay - My recent foray into making soap with hydrogenated soy had a curious, but in thinking about it, obvious correlation to the tallow smell ... it had some of the same soapy "notes" that tallow soap does )

 

[Gaisy59]

I don't often use animal fats, but tallow lard and a little coconut make a beautiful soap. White, hard and gentle on skin, with lovely lather.

I'm in the same (minority?) camp as Mobjack - I can smell that the soap is made from lard and the tallow (no matter how old the bar) and while I can tolerate tallow a little, the lard soap smell in use puts me off these soaps.

(@Mobjack Bay - My recent foray into making soap with hydrogenated soy had a curious, but in thinking about it, obvious correlation to the tallow smell ... it had some of the same soapy "notes" that tallow soap does )

I too can smell piggy but mostly during the cook (i hot process), but once scent is in then I don’t smell it unless i really try.

 

[user 56151]

Lard is not so cheap in Australia. To buy it from the supermarket I pay $4.50 for 250 grams. If you have a source through a butcher it would be cheap but then you would have to render it. What I buy from the supermarket has very little smell and reminds me of the smell of Shea butter. I’ve never noticed the smell come through in the soap. I nearly always use it between 10% and 20%. I find it gives a creamy lather.

 

[AliOop]

Lard is not so cheap in Australia. To buy it from the supermarket I pay $4.50 for 250 grams. If you have a source through a butcher it would be cheap but then you would have to render it. What I buy from the supermarket has very little smell and reminds me of the smell of Shea butter. I’ve never noticed the smell come through in the soap. I nearly always use it between 10% and 20%. I find it gives a creamy lather.

Awww that's so sad that it is so expensive where you are! It's not expensive to purchase lard here in the US, but the only time I've noticed a "piggy" smell is when I've purchased a 50lb cube of it. My home-rendered lard has no smell at all. I do put it through several rounds of cleaning after I render it; I don't quit till all the smell is gone.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Lard is not so cheap in Australia

What about emu oil? It has similar properties to lard. It's expensive here but I would imagine less expensive there.

Left Column: EMU Right Column: LARD

 

[SoapLover1]

I, too, purchase a 50 lb. cube. It’s amazing and No Smell. It traces slowly so I have time to make any design of my choice. It lathers wonderfully and is very soothing on the skin and retains scent quite well when mixed with A Clay or Arrow Root. I use anywhere from 100% down to 50%. It’s my favorite of all the fats, oils and butters! I add Tallow, Babassu Oil and Castor to complete my recipes. I think 100% Lard is still one of my Favorites! Blessings!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Related Threads

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/popular-yt-soapers-who-use-lard.85827/#post-916842
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/a-soap-as-a-drug-from-a-local-soap-maker.85901/#post-918245

 

[Marsi]

What about emu oil? It has similar properties to lard. It's expensive here but I would imagine less expensive there.

Emu's aren't the easiest creatures to farm ... they are slightly deadly and need massive double-fencing systems
(large, low-density stocking, minimum 6 foot internal fencing from 12 months and a perimeter fence around the lot)

Emu oil is significantly more expensive than lard.

Expect to pay AU$150 to AU$200 per litre (or AU$25 per 50ml bottle)
(unless you buy it from Alibaba ... then it's only US$8.71 per litre ... no fake oils there, right? )

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Emu oil is significantly more expensive than lard.

Good to know. It's expensive here too. 100% Pure Emu Oil
I use it to make MSM Emu Oil Cream for arthritis.

What about camel hump fat? My understanding is that Australia has camels running wild like we have wild mustangs (horses) here in the wild, wlld west. From my research, it is similar to tallow and lard. Is that readily available?