Introduction

[Ahmad Habib]

Hello, I am Ahmad Habib from Pakistan. I am a new member of this forum, I look forward to answer your questions based upon my knowledge and experience of soap making. I also would appreciate if you would answer my questions and tell me something useful regarding making soap.
I started soap making recently and I have a hard time formulating soap recipes with the oils that I have access to. Oils that are high in poly unsaturated fats are widely available and they are not good in soap. Olive oil is very expensive and rice bran oil is not easily available, it is only available in bulk and that is not something I could do. Mustard oil, sesame oil, canola, sunflower, soybean, coconut, neem seed oil, almond, pumpkin seed , blackseed, castor oils are easily available and affordable. Most locals make laundry soap with mustard oil and do not make that kind of soap. Ghee can obtained by rendering fresh cream from milk and tallow from the butchers can be used. These two oils add hardness and longevity to the soap which is crucial other wise the soap gets soft and highly soluble in the shower. However tallow is not something every one wants to use here because it is an animal fat and it has an odor. Each time I make soap it turns out to be very harsh and drying for some reason. It is because of the oils I can.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Welcome Ahmad. Can you get any butters at all? Shea butter, mango butter, cocoa butter? That could be a game changer for your soap. I was interested in the pumpkin seed oil - it sounds good but I see it is high in linoleic fatty acid, which you should be wary of. I have heard that ghee and dairy butter make for a smelly soap, so that may not be a good option.
I wonder if you could try something like 20% tallow, 20% shea or cocoa butter, 20% coconut oil, 20% almond oil, 15% canola and 5% castor.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Welcome Ahmad!

Have you tried salting out tallow to remove the smell? Basically it is rendering it a second time shortly before you use it. I ask because when I have salted out tallow (rendered) it had no discernible odor. The salt water separates the proteins and impurities from the fat. You could make a gentle soap with 70% tallow, 20% coconut oil and 10% castor oil.

Do you have a high percentage of customers who are vegetarian? @KiwiMoose had great suggestions for vegetarian or vegan soap. Is there any chance that GW415 soy wax is available? Palm?

If you can find high oleic sunflower oil, high oleic safflower oil, or high oleic canola oil, they would work to incorporate in a new formula. You can read about how to identify high oleic oils in @DeeAnna’s article here.

 

[Ahmad Habib]

Welcome Ahmad. Can you get any butters at all? Shea butter, mango butter, cocoa butter? That could be a game changer for your soap. I was interested in the pumpkin seed oil - it sounds good but I see it is high in linoleic fatty acid, which you should be wary of. I have heard that ghee and dairy butter make for a smelly soap, so that may not be a good option.
I wonder if you could try something like 20% tallow, 20% shea or cocoa butter, 20% coconut oil, 20% almond oil, 15% canola and 5% castor.

Thank you for advice.

Thank you for advice. In my experience ghee does not make a smelly soap, I've used it at the rate of 10% of the total oils. Butters are hard to find and are very expensive.

Welcome Ahmad!

Have you tried salting out tallow to remove the smell? Basically it is rendering it a second time shortly before you use it. I ask because when I have salted out tallow (rendered) it had no discernible odor. The salt water separates the proteins and impurities from the fat. You could make a gentle soap with 70% tallow, 20% coconut oil and 10% castor oil.

Do you have a high percentage of customers who are vegetarian? @KiwiMoose had great suggestions for vegetarian or vegan soap. Is there any chance that GW415 soy wax is available? Palm?

If you can find high oleic sunflower oil, high oleic safflower oil, or high oleic canola oil, they would work to incorporate in a new formula. You can read about how to identify high oleic oils in @DeeAnna’s article here.

Thank you! GW415 soy wax, palm, high oleic sunflower and canola oils are not available. I don't sell my soap, it is just for my personal use and for my family. I will try purifying tallow using salt, I really appreciate your advice.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Here are good instructions to wet render tallow, the process I followed. When I started with actual beef fat, I used a stick blender to emulsify fats and salt water once everything was hot and “melty,” then let the mixture stay hot while the layers separated. You will find many videos on the process if you do a search.

Edit to add: A more succinct and printable version of how to render tallow.

 

[Ahmad Habib]

Here are good instructions to wet render tallow, the process I followed. When I started with actual beef fat, I used a stick blender to emulsify fats and salt water once everything was hot and “melty,” then let the mixture stay hot while the layers separated. You will find many videos on the process if you do a search.

Edit to add: A more succinct and printable version of how to render tallow.

Yes, I was able to find how to wet render tallow. Thank you.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Mustard oil, sesame oil, canola, sunflower, soybean, coconut, neem seed oil, almond, pumpkin seed , blackseed, castor oils are easily available and affordable.

From that list, try making Zany's No Slime Castile with 85% almond oil, 10% coconut oil 76°, 5% castor oil.

 

[Ahmad Habib]

From that list, try making Zany's No Slime Castile with 85% almond oil, 10% coconut oil 76°, 5% castor oil.

I appreciate your generosity. I'll try this recipe.

 

[A-Polly]

Welcome, Ahamad! Zany's No Slime Castile is a great recipe. You could also try 100% coconut oil with a high (18-20%) superfat, or even a salt bar with maybe 80-85% coconut oil and 15-20% of one of the other oils on your chart (a search of the forum will bring up lots of salt bar formula suggestions). You might find this chart helpful:
https://lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/and the lovinsoap website also has lots of recipes to peruse.

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

@A-Polly Great suggestion! Now we have both sides of the spectrum:
Coconut Salt Bar (High Cleansing; Long Cure) vs ZNSC (High Conditioning; Short Cure)

@Ahmad Habib Use the Search feature in the upper right corner of this page to research "Salt Bars". They are very popular but a little tricky to make. Well worth the time and trouble. Start with small (450-500 gram) batches to get the hang of it and go from there. Make as many batches as you can, as often as you can, and you will be up and running with the best of us in about 4 months time!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

the lovinsoap website also has lots of recipes to peruse.

I agree. Lots of good basic info for beginners as well as veterans.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/beginners-learn-to-soap-online.64426/#post-657018