More or less Oils

[Lee242]

I've made soap with 6 0r 7 different oils and soap with 3 oils and butters added different additives to them. I can't really tell the difference in them. CP
My questions is:
Is there any difference in them or just what some one might think?

 

[toxikon]

Some oils have strong/unique enough qualities that you can use them in small quantities and notice a difference in your soap. Castor oil is commonly used at only 5% but it can make a noticeable difference in your bars. Other oils can definitely get lost in the mix. If you make a recipe that has 20% olive oil and you add 5% avocado oil, you will probably be unable to discern any effect from the avocado oil because olive oil and avocado oil share similar properties anyway.

I think you'll find that most people around the forum have been soaping long enough that the appeal of using tons of oils in their recipes is gone, and they've settled on a simpler recipe that makes the most out of their favourite oils. My favourite recipe right now is 5 oils. When I first started I didn't really understand the properties of different oils and just threw a ton of stuff into my pot and hoped for the best. Now that I've refined and downgraded, I much prefer the simpler recipe I use now.

This is a nice resource I use often: http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/

You can look at the fatty acid profiles of different oils and butters to determine what kind of effect they have on soap and what similarities they share. For example, you can see that coconut oil and babassu are very similar, so it may not be worth including both in your recipe.

 

[dixiedragon]

My soap uses 6 oils - lard, coconut, olive, castor, rice bran and sunflower. It's not about telling a difference to me - it's actually the opposite. Rice bran and sunflower oils are much cheaper than olive, so instead of using 30% olive I use 10% of each, and I can't tell a difference between the 2. (though I haven't done a blind survey).

 

[Obsidian]

My basic recipe has 4 oils, lard, HO safflower (or avocado), coconut and castor. I'll occasionally add in a extra oil like pine tar, neem or shea but thats for specialty bars.

 

[bumbleklutz]

I guess I'm the odd man out in this situation.

I use 8 oils in my "standard" recipe. I started out with a basic recipe, and added and subtracted oils and changed the percentages of the oils until I found a bar of soap that I REALLY loved. To tell the truth, I don't think I'll ever stop experimenting...LOL. Currently, I use: castor oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, palm oil, olive oil and rice bran oil. Sometimes I'll add a bit of HO sunflower to that mix as well.

 

[shunt2011]

Mine are pretty basic, Lard, OO, Castor, CO & Shea. Sometimes I'll use HO Sunflower or Avocado. I'm working on changing it up a bit due to the cost of OO. Costco just went up to 32.00 for 2-3liter bottles here.

 

[artemis]

My questions is:
Is there any difference in them or just what some one might think?

I'd say both: there is a difference in what certain oils do in a bar soap, but not everyone notices the differences. My favorite soaps have avocado oil in them. They just feel better to me. Everyone's skin is different, so some people are going to be more sensitive to different things.

I agree that as an early soaper, it was tempting to have a long list of oils and additives. I don't really notice much difference when an oil is less than 5%.

 

[earlene]

Mine are pretty basic, Lard, OO, Castor, CO & Shea. Sometimes I'll use HO Sunflower or Avocado. I'm working on changing it up a bit due to the cost of OO. Costco just went up to 32.00 for 2-3liter bottles here.

Wow, Really? I have been so pleased that Costco is finally going to build in Davenport, IA. The closest Costco to us is about 75 miles away, so we just shop at Sam's Club.

I miss Costco so much. When I lived in California, I had so many Costco stores within only a few miles of everywhere I lived or worked, my shopping there was super convenient. I miss the artichoke hearts in oil that are not available at Sams Club, and so many other items Sams Club just does not carry.

To read that the price of OO has gone up so much at Costco is a real disappointment when I have been anticipating finally being able to shop there (I don't really know how soon, as they are still in process of getting zoning approvals.)

 

[Kittish]

Maybe it's the area I live in, but I do not understand the appeal of Costco. It's more expensive than the grocery stores here! That's on top of paying for the privilege of shopping there. And there's often no appreciable price difference between Costco and ordering online, so thanks, but I'll take the convenience of not having to drive over 100 miles round trip just to "save" a couple of bucks in shipping.

I'm routinely using 5 or 6 different oils in each batch of soap I make currently, usually doing variations on coconut, castor, rice bran, olive and shea. As they reach testing stages I'm making notes on which proportions I like best. I've also got canola and sunflower (not sure if they're HO or not, will have to dig out the bottles and look at the fats profiles) that I'm using in smallish amounts (10-20%) in some batches. I've used avocado in a few batches, so far it doesn't seem to make any appreciable difference to me. I've liked cocoa butter, but it's kind of on the pricey side so I probably won't be using lots of it. I just happened to have a couple of pounds that I'd bought for cooking projects.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I'm with you Kittish. For just a little more than a Costco membership, I get Amazon Prime and everything comes to me!

 

[earlene]

I didn't mean to get the thread off topic. I don't drive 100 miles round trip to purchase soaping oils (or anything else for that matter)! Anyway, I would like to be able to purchase Kirkland OO when it comes near me, but if it ends up being significantly more costly than Sams Club OO, I won't. I was just bemoaning the fact that it has gone up in price before I again have the opportunity. But that's not all Costco sells; and many of the things they sell (or did sell when I lived near several and shopped there frequently) was at a far better price than other stores. I am a discerning shopper who price checks every store I visit and I even take notes so I know where to buy whatever it is I want in order to get the best bargain. In my very small town, we have only a few stores to choose from, but I know who sells what for the best price, and when I go shopping I make the appropriate circular route to get the best deals. It barely makes a dent in gasoline costs for me and my time is worth it as far as I am concerned. Sometimes I have to go out of town to purchase what I want because certain things are simply not sold in my town. That's when I go to Sams Club (or would go to Costco) because it would then be on my regular route for other purchases that I cannot get in my own town. And since purchasing fresh or frozen foods (some of what I buy not available in my small town) is not something I would do online, Amazon is not an option for every item I regularly purchase. (And Costco and Sams Club are not for some of these items, either, hence the regular shopping routes outside of my town.) Some soaping oil I do purchase online for convenience, of course, but if it's cheaper where I normally shop, that's where I purchase it.

 

[Lee242]

This is one that I made wasn't any better than any other one I made.
I tried one that was for creepy skin same no better no worst.
Castor Oil
Coconut Oil, 76 deg
Palm Kernel Oil
Sunflower Oil
Shea Butter
Canola Oil
Jojoba Oil a Liquid Wax Ester
Lard, Pig Tallow Manteca
Another had 4 oils and about the same.

 

[BattleGnome]

After almost 2 years I'm finally at the point where I'm starting to repeat recipes and trying to narrow down what consider to be "perfect."

Right now I'm at 4-5 oils but am not adverse to experimenting if I see a good sale or get a sample. My main variables right now are castor, lard, canola, and sunflower. I don't find castor to be essential for bubbles (but I'm not really a bubbly sort of girl) and only get it if I'm loitering in a pharmacy section or need one last item to get free shipping. I'm working on using up my canola and sunflower oils, I'll decide later if they added enough special to the bar or if I want an OO substitute. I'm back peddling a bit on lard. I certainly love it in a bar but I hate dealing with it on the stove. It maybe become my "luxury oil of choice" in the future. Right now olive, coconut, and Shea are in just about every bar I make. I may sub out olive based on the purity and pricing issues. I've got most of a liter jug right now and I tend to make 2# batches at most.


For the Costco discussion: I hear rumors (but don't have a store close to test them) that if you walk in with a gift card they'll let you shop regardless of membership. If you want to give them money, they won't say no.

 

[earlene]

For the Costco discussion: I hear rumors (but don't have a store close to test them) that if you walk in with a gift card they'll let you shop regardless of membership. If you want to give them money, they won't say no.

This is true, but someone has to buy that gift card for you first, of course.

My husband and I went to Iowa City yesterday because he has been wanting to go to the restaurant of owned by the daughter of one of his high school classmates. The food was fantastic, btw.

Anyway, one of his co-workers had bought us a couple of Costco gift cards several months ago and we brought those along so we could go inside and browse/shop. All we bought was bread & a couple other dry-goods types stuff because of the distance and other stops which would make buying cold/frozen items unwise. I did wonder if they would take a credit card since we don't have a membership, but as long as it was a Visa card, they said it was okay.

The thing that I had never seen at a Costco was the covered parking! I even took a couple of photos because it seemed so unusual to me. It's not like Iowa City has weather any different that the Quad Cities, so I'm wondering if they're going to include covered parking in the one they build in Davenport. Such a nice feature! No Sams Club I have ever been to has covered parking, and in the winter in the snow, it sure would be nice!