Do You Know How Many High LARD Threads There Are?

[BattleGnome]

My two cents: I like a 100% lard bar, so far it's actually one of my favorites. I have yet to use an unscented lard bar (but do have some curing).

If I use a standard 1oz/PPO for a FO there is no lard smell that I can tell. The unscented soaps I just made don't seem to have any noticeable lardy scent and I was using the last of a bucket that had gone a bit ripe. Your sensitivity may vary but appropriate fragrance amounts should work in your favor.

 

[wearytraveler]

I'm one of those with a sensitive sniffer and can always smell souring milk a day or two before anyone else can. I've been soaping for just about a year and my first attempts at high lard soap (60%) were terrible because I could easily pick up the piggy smell and even when using a strong FO it still came through in the shower. And I'm talking about a batch that cured for about 4 months. I gave up on lard and stuck to other oils for making my soap.
However, in the recent weeks, since I started playing with colors and the general consensus is that lard traces slower, I started to use it again but with a change in the way I melt it. I put my lard in a a Pyrex measuring cup and then place that in a pot of hot water over the stove on the lowest flame possible. I turn the flame off a few times throughout this process to make sure the temps never get too high. The first time I did it I made a small test batch and I was still able to smell the piggy scent but I remember that I didn't use low enough heat. Ever since I've been using a really low heat (It takes me a long time to get the lard completely melted) I have been super happy to say that I haven't smelled anything other than the FO and just a general scent of oils. I have gone as high as 70% and haven't had a single issue and I've decided to stick with my "new" recipe for a while as I really like the way the bars turn out (lard, rice bran, castor and CO).
I use the Armor brand that's readily available at Walmart.

 

[Arimara]

I can smell lard at every percentage...until I add an appropriate amount of fragrance or essential oils. Then it smells like whatever the scent is. If the scent is any of the "ocean" smells, I smell the lard through it. I, too, like sharp scents with high lard soaps.

I would not make 100% lard soap. It just gets so much better with castor oil, olive oil, and coconut oil.

While I agree, I still want to try a 100% lard bar myself. I know I made my mom uncomfortable with the thought of a lard soap but I just want to give the woman a good soap that is gentle and that won't irritate her as well.

I agree with Susie for the most part. I can smell lard over 40% in my soaps. However, it cures out mostly (except the unscenteds at like 75% and up). I have noticed a difference in the smells "out of bucket" -high smell = high smell in soap.

That said, NO ONE who I've recruited to sniff my soap smells anything other than soap or the fragrance....I think we're just sensitive to it .

I guess my sniffer is very much like yours. I sadly don't have any more of those bars I had from my experiment with lard (the cocoa powder in them detracted from their general loveliness) but I was smelling pig for at least 3 months.

I can smell a bit of olive oil in unscented Castile,too. If it's scented one, then I can't smell the olive oil.


This goes to show how everyone's sniffer is so different than others'. Can lard cancel out heaps of FO? I can't smell lard in my high lard recipe. ( up to 80%) but I can smell tallow in a high tallow formula ( 80% ). I use FO @3%.
ETA: I don't find high olive more fragrant than high lard. Might be my sniffer is different.

I can smell a lard and a tallow soap at a high percentage. It's bothersome but hey, I'm me. I prefer tallow to lard when I smell the natural oils.

Well I know I do not have the experience than others here. But lately I have been using lard, as I love the end result of the bar. And I prefer to make Hot process soap.

My guess is that if you do HP instead of CP were the soap has gone through the whole process, and then at your scent at the end, you have little change of any lard smell coming though, and you scent sticking well.

Just my 2 cents.

I have not made a full lard soap but i doubt i'd want to use hp as a means of making it. I base that line of thought after reading about others' experience in over heating their lard. Still, if you could control the heat, it might turn out fine.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

To offset the odor of lard/tallow see #13 here:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=62879&page=2

I make 100% lard soap once or twice a year -- for laundry and we have a geezer pal who loves it -- reminds him of when he was a kid. It makes a nice white hard bar, takes color easily, and is known to hold scent. If you google "old fashioned lye soap" you might find other benefits. Good for skin problems like acne, eczema. At the beginning of the last century, lard was used by neonatal nurses to clean new borns... lotsa good stuff.

PM me for my recipe if interested. Frankly, and with all due respect, I don't want to offend anyone. To each his own, yes? My recipe goes against what I'm reading here and I'd rather not be pummeled because I don't agree with the echo chamber. KWIM?

HTH :bunny:
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[BrewerGeorge]

Alright, I made 'em. I'll pay updates at cutting. SUPER long working time, too.

 

[SunRiseArts]

I am curious. 100% lard .... how does is bubble and/or lather?

 

[Susie]

It does lather, but it is not anything to get excited about. Sort of thin lather, not nearly as substantial as lather made with a combination of oils. But don't take my word for it, make the soap, then you will know for yourself.

 

[cherrycoke216]

It does lather, but it is not anything to get excited about. Sort of thin lather, not nearly as substantial as lather made with a combination of oils. But don't take my word for it, make the soap, then you will know for yourself.

Susie, is this 100% lard using NaOH only or dual lye? Thanks in advance.

 

[NsMar42111]

It lathers wayyyyy nicer if you do sugar in the lye water. If not a purist, you can do 95% lard 5% castor and even better