Lard Substitute?

[earlene]

Thank you, dixiedragon, I may try that one day soon. I have a lot of shea and at only 5% it would take a long time to use it up. So this might be a good time to see what a high shea soap is like.

Edit: added:

I ran out of Castor Oil and Sunflower as well. I used up a lot of odds and ends of soaping oils in December, and those where two I used up. But I have Safflower HO, so I will use it for this trial and forego the Castor as I don't want to venture out in our snowstorm (I thought it was going to be Spring soon!). I'll add sugar to help with bubbles.

Time to put in another order with Soaper's Choice.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I have never used shea in really large percentages like some people use lard in large percentages. Have you?

Not yet... it's on my "Round Tuit" list!

 

[catbinch]

Just an update:

I tried HP soap for the first time with (unfortunately besides the point of this thread) 40% lard, 20% shea, 20% cocoa, and 20% coconut with oolong tea (which turns red when added with lye?) at 5% superfat. It turned out magnificent, probably my favorite soap I've ever made, honestly. If someone requests a bar of vegan of this recipie, im gonna try palm. I might sub shea for mango butter, not too sure yet. Thank you all very very very much for the suggestions, they are very much appreciated!!!

 

[cmzaha]

I have used shea up to 80% with 12% CO, 8% castor. From my notes it took 2 years curing to be really nice.

 

[Saponificarian]

Earlene, I don’t soap without Shea Butter anymore because I love what it brings to soap. (Plus it’s local to me) Contrary to what people say that Shea cuts lather, I haven’t experienced that. My Shea in recipes ranges between 20-70%.

I have a mild soap I make that is Shea, Tallow, Canola or Soybean and Castor that is so mild but the lather is very very nice. No large bubbles but the lather is shiny and with bath pouf almost like whipped cream. Thick and heavy. Of course I cure my soaps for a minimum of 3 months and if I want to be fancy, I add 1 egg yolk per pound.

I am currently using a Shea/Tallow recipe with PKO and Soybean oil that is out of this world great! It is 6months now and I made 2 batches of it yesterday so I never run out! It is that great! Can you tell I love Shea?!

If Lard is similar to Shea, I can understand why people love it. Can’t use Lard though.

 

[shannonx468]

TIP: I once ran out of shea butter as I was in the middle of putting a recipe together. I went to soap calc. I calculated 100% shea buter and the numbers showed up in the right column. Then I went through the list of oils/fats/butters ticking them one at a time (just the ones I had on hand). Those numbers showed up in the column to the left of the shea butter numbers. Easy to compare side-by-side. Lo and behold, lard numbers were almost identical to shea butter. I've been subbing lard for shea and vice versa ever since.

Where do I find this soap calculator I am new to soap making.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Where do I find this soap calculator I am new to soap making.

Look at your post above @shannonx468 and click the words “soap calculator.” Or maybe the link will show up in this post, too?