Making a big order with oils....

[Adema]

I haven't tried yet since my options are very very limited on this tiny island,,, I am in desperate need of advise on what oils will make my soaps super good and what butters are the best...

I am going crasy on soaperschoise,,, I have made soaps with different combos of Sheep tallow, Olive, Canola, Sunflower, Palm, Coconut, Jojoba, Apricot kernel, Almond and Castor oil.. the Canola oil made DOS in my soap so I think that one is out for me but I am thinking about substituting that one for rice bran oil, is that any good?


Now I want to order new oils and butters and since it takes about 4 weeks for the shippment to arrive to Iceland I want to be well stocked.

So far I have on my list Rice bran, Avocado, Cottonseed, Wheat germ (my mom has really bad ezema) Olive Pomace, Shea, mango and cocoa butter.
I also want to try Babassu oil, anyone with experience with that one.

Maybe I shouldn't "waste" butters in soap, I read you guys save it for leave on products..

If somebody could help me as I have a huge decision making phobia i would be sooo grateful.. and if I you have any suggestions on other oils you prefer I would love to know..

 

[honor435]

I havent used any of those oils you had posted, except the butters, i use oo, co, po , castor and shea or cocoa butter. Do you not like oo or co? they seem to be most stable. Palm is a must for me and castor for bubbles. good luck.

 

[Adema]

I like OO and CO but I am having trouble with the harshness of the CO and the slimeyness of the OO I have 3 batches curing that I have tweaked so I have to see if those recipes are keepers.

 

[honor435]

ive never had slimy soap with oo, even at 50%, but i usually use like 11oz, 6po, 7or 8 co, 3 castor. How much are you using in a batch? I sometimes use pk instead of co, that will help with harshness. I love a little hemp in a batch too. Are you using the soap calc? then you figure out things, so no slimy or harshness.

 

[Adema]

ive never had slimy soap with oo, even at 50%, but i usually use like 11oz, 6po, 7or 8 co, 3 castor. How much are you using in a batch? I sometimes use pk instead of co, that will help with harshness. I love a little hemp in a batch too. Are you using the soap calc? then you figure out things, so no slimy or harshness.

I am using soapmaker 3 since I can not enter soapcalc from my home, very weird.. I have 3 batches with good numbers that I have curing but I am now trying to eliminate dos prone oils from my soaps, one DOS batch is enough for me. Maybe I am focusing to much on what I don't have and think I need.

Kveðja
María

 

[RDak]

FWIW Adema, I've used all the oils you have mentioned over the years and have had no problem.

I usually combine CO and PKO to total 30 percent in all my batches. (Plus I almost always use Pine Tar in my soaps. Ratios vary depending on nothing but a "whim" for each batch. Same for castor oil and oleic acid.)

My remaining favorite oil is olive oil and/or high oleic sunflower oil. These I use at about 20-25 percent.

I use the soapcalc and it works well for me. I would imagine soapmaker 3 would work fine also. It seems like a good program for recipes IMHO.

I do use a small amount of EDTA and BHT though. I do this because I almost always use soybean or canola oils also. (Btw, I only HP.)

FWIW, people are always asking me for some soap. I don't do anything special but the oils you are using have always worked well for me. However, I don't use tallow much any longer because it is hard to get in my area. I get some from the filler Crisco types of oils I use at about 10 percent in every batch. Usually the Crisco type of oil Walmart's sells. It has some animal fats in it.

On average, I combine about 8 oils per batch and the soapcalc program has worked everytime.

The only things I use that alot of people at the soapmaking sites don't like are the EDTA and BHT. But I don't want any chance of spoilage.

If I had to pick three or four favorites it would be CO, PKO, OO/Sunflower and pine tar. Plus, usually I use a butter of some kind at 4 percent. Usually shea.

People love the soaps and always ask me for them. I'm doing my annual batches right now because my wife's friends are begging me for some more. (They pay for the raw materials so I break even. I don't charge for my labor, etc. They're all friends of ours.)

I don't make soaps any better than anyone else, it's just the types of ingredients that you are suggesting that make them work well.

Finally, RICE BRAN oil is fine IMHO. It's a good oil IMHO. It replaces OO or Sunflower high oleic for me when I have it. A very good oil IMHO. In fact, that's the oil I used in last year's batches for the wife's friends.

 

[IrishLass]

I don't know if this helps or not, but from my experience you don't necessarily need a whole lot of fancy oils to make wonderful soap.

After 3 years of soaping, I've whittled my oils/butters down to just these staples (I make my 5 different 'keeper' formulas from them):

-Olive oil (this is the one I use the most of)
-Castor oil (there's just no substitute for castor in my book! )
-Coconut oil (I mix it with PKO in 2 of my formulas to cut the dryness factor)
-Palm kernel oil (not to be confused with palm oil, by the way. PKO is pretty much just like coconut oil, but less drying)
-Cocoa butter (I use it in my Castile-type formula and in body butters)
-Mango butter (I use it @ 4% in my lard/tallow formula and also in body butters)
-Rice bran oil (I use it in my Castile-type in place of some of the OO to cut down on sliminess)
-Lard
-Tallow

I have babassu on hand, too, but I'm going to be phasing that one out once it's gone because it's kind of redundant for me in my formulas when CO and PKO do the job just fine (it's very much like CO and PKO). And also- babassu is more expensive for me than CO or PKO.

IrishLass