Lard Soap for Sensitive Skin and Sensitive Nose?

[ScentimentallyYours]

Does anyone have any advice for vegetarian recipes without cocoa butter that still produce a long-lasting bar?

I’ve been making a palm-free vegetarian soap for several years that I’m happy with. When I omit the lactic acid, the recipe is vegan.
https://www.soapmakingfriend.com/re...palm-free-naturally-white-soap-single-ts-loaf

To discuss this, we should probably start a new thread under recipes that doesn’t include the word “lard.”

 

[AliOop]

I’ve been making a palm-free vegetarian soap for several years that I’m happy with. When I omit the lactic acid, the recipe is vegan.
https://www.soapmakingfriend.com/re...palm-free-naturally-white-soap-single-ts-loaf

To discuss this, we should probably start a new thread under recipes that doesn’t include the word “lard.”

I'm interested that you mentioned "lactic acid," and wondering why you would add that (and it isn't listed in your ingredients). Did you perhaps mean sodium lactate? If so, SL isn't made from animal products. Here is what Wikipedia says:

Sodium lactate is the sodium salt of lactic acid, and has a mild saline taste. It is produced by fermentation of a sugar source, such as maize or beets, and then, by neutralizing the resulting lactic acid to create a compound having the formula NaC3H5O3.

@phstandard here is another a vegan, palm-free recipe that might be of interest to you.

 

[Volossya]

I do not have any suggestions as the soap looks great but which “calculator” is this? I love the graphical nature of it.

Oh, that's a spreadsheet I made. I wanted to learn how lye calculators work and to be able to modify mine as I see fit (in my research I saw people criticizing SoapCalc's soap qualities values, so I made that fatty acid profile chart based on articles by DeeAnna and Kenna of ModernSoapmaking). I used SoapCalcs's SAP and fatty acid values, and verified several recipes against SoapCalc's output to ensure that it works correctly (I was within 1% on everything save the saturated:unstaturated ratio).

I'd be happy to share, but it's still a work in progress (I don't account for lye purity, fragrance, or colorants yet).

I’ve been making a palm-free vegetarian soap for several years that I’m happy with. When I omit the lactic acid, the recipe is vegan.
https://www.soapmakingfriend.com/re...palm-free-naturally-white-soap-single-ts-loaf

To discuss this, we should probably start a new thread under recipes that doesn’t include the word “lard.”

Thank you! I didn't have the smell issues with lard that I was anticipating (at least so far, pending a smell test from my mother once it's cured) but I have some hexagonal silicone ice cube molds I want to make honey and beeswax soap in and I'd been looking for an all-plant-based recipe to use for that.

 

[catcat]

I'm a lard girl and have been for years. I get my lard at Winco, Walmart or Fred Meyer and have never had an odor problem so far. I just made soap with my daughter and the oils/lard had to be at least 9 months old, kept on a bottom shelf with my other oils and there wasn't a smell that I could detect. I'm the one in the house that everyone brings their question, "Smell this Mom, is it okay?" Never have figured out if they don't trust their own noses or they think I have a stronger stomach for rancid smells! LOL

I don't use a scent for the men of the family and none have come back with a scent problem with the soaps. Their soap is 80% lard and 20% CO. For the female side of the family I use 50% lard, 30% RBO 10% butter (whatever I have on hand) 5% castor oil and 5%CO. This one gets a scent and rice flour, and maybe rice sludge if I have it on hand. Again no piggy smells in any of my soaps.

Both get 2% SF to cut the soap scum. I usually melt the butters and sometimes the CO but rarely the lard and use the method of adding lye water while it's hot to melt the lard. No stearic acid spots that I can see but I'm not into fancy soaps and after I ran out of the colors that I used to us I just didn't bother with them either.

My daughter in Hawaii did say that she got one batch of soap that sort of smelled piggy, but it had also sat on her shelf for quite a while...And that probably means it was also in a plastic bag or jumbled in a box with who knows what. It could also mean that the humidity there is a factor...there is rarely humidity in our high desert conditions here.

Unfortunately you will not know if it bothers your Mother until you make it. Each of us are different in skin type and definitely nose types. It is good when starting out, to make small batches to test the waters so to speak. In both my soaps I allow 6 weeks for curing at a minimum and once I found the recipes that I liked I made soap often enough that I could cure for a year...and that soap had a really lovely creamy lather and was so mild on my old skin I have tried to keep up with that cure for all us ladies in the family.

Good info. I'm kinda new here and struggling with some of the acrynims being used. What is RBO? Thanks

 

[artemis]

Good info. I'm kinda new here and struggling with some of the acrynims being used. What is RBO? Thanks

Rice Bran Oil

Here's the list of acronyms:

Thread 'The Acronym and Abbreviation Definition Thread...' https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/the-acronym-and-abbreviation-definition-thread.51841/

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

I'm interested that you mentioned "lactic acid," and wondering why you would add that (and it isn't listed in your ingredients). Did you perhaps mean sodium lactate? If so, SL isn't made from animal products.

Yes, I meant sodium lactate @AliOop. Thank you for the correction. Blankety blankety medication screws up name retrieval in my brain right now. I appreciate the Wikipedia link as well. The source I had checked said that sodium lactate was a byproduct made from lactic acid in milk. I am very happy I can go back to calling my soap Vegan friendly!

I love my vegan recipe because it contains sustainable ingredients (no palm), has a pure white base without using titanium dioxide, and shows pure colors because there is no trace of yellow or green to dull them. Glad I can continue to use sodium lactate along with sodium citrate and sorbitol. BTW, your recommendation for sorbitol has been a game changer for bigger bubbles and no color change.

I have some hexagonal silicone ice cube molds I want to make honey and beeswax soap in and I'd been looking for an all-plant-based recipe to use for that.

Here’s the palm-free vegetarian beeswax and honey soap recipe I use @Volossya. I limited beeswax to 4% because it diminishes lather, but I like the way my skin feels after using beeswax soap. Note that I did not add honey to this recipe, but you can add it in limited quantity. I find honey tints the soap color, so I stuck with sorbitol for this batch.
https://www.soapmakingfriend.com/re...wax-palm-free-vegetarian-soap-large-slab-mold

I used a texture mat for making beeswax candles at the bottom of my slab mold for the beeswax soap. I liked it much better than bubble wrap! I used a blend of gold mica with yellow mica for the color.

 

[Volossya]

Here’s the palm-free vegetarian beeswax and honey soap recipe I use @Volossya. I limited beeswax to 4% because it diminishes lather, but I like the way my skin feels after using beeswax soap. Note that I did not add honey to this recipe, but you can add it in limited quantity. I find honey tints the soap color, so I stuck with sorbitol for this batch.
https://www.soapmakingfriend.com/re...wax-palm-free-vegetarian-soap-large-slab-mold

I used a texture mat for making beeswax candles at the bottom of my slab mold for the beeswax soap. I liked it much better than bubble wrap! I used a blend of gold mica with yellow mica for the color.
View attachment 80843

Ooh, thank you!