Coconut oil. I know a lot of people don't like the 20% superfat coconut oil soap, but I do. I also would use coconut oil if it was the only oil I could cook with, as it is more versatile than olive oil since it doesn't taste as strong. I like olive oil in my salad dressing, but I don't like it in desserts. I could use coconut oil in salad dressing in a pinch, and still use it in desserts. Plus, it's super cheap.
One oil for the rest of your life...
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1. Lard
2. Lard
Like @Zany_in_CO said, think how Grandma dealt with her cooking and lack of choices in the kitchen.
My 2 biological grandmothers were Salvadoran and I know for a fact that, at least my city Grandma, her favorite soap was made with lard and wood ash. They were sold at the local market for 3 for 5¢, back in 1967/68.
2. Lard
Like @Zany_in_CO said, think how Grandma dealt with her cooking and lack of choices in the kitchen.
My 2 biological grandmothers were Salvadoran and I know for a fact that, at least my city Grandma, her favorite soap was made with lard and wood ash. They were sold at the local market for 3 for 5¢, back in 1967/68.
Depending on how the lard was rendered, and how discerning your nose is, or whoever is going to use your soaps, there's a good chance it's not going to smell like bacon.
Firstly because bacon is a particular meat product, think Italian sausage, versus breakfast sausage. You wouldn't confuse the two if you were cooking them. Nor would you confuse Parma ham with A Country ham that's common in the Southern U. S. during the last days of the Summer, early Fall. As a last example, I make my split pea soup with smoked ham hocks, not cured because I prefer the flavor profile of the smoked ones. Just my preference.
So, does lard smell like bacon? Not to me. There's a faint smell of fried pork meat, but by the time I'm done with my additives, and I usually don't use fragrances or essential oils in my soaps, even that faint smell is gone. And my friends who ask for my soaps don't know there's mostly lard in them, except for the few who've asked.
Those bars are usually the whitest of my soaps, they last at least a month each per person, and if I do add an essential oil, it holds the scent much better than the soaps I make with a higher olive oil content.
And the lard heavy soaps are the ones I use for making my Soleseif bars. Gorgeous creamy lather, even though they take the longest to cure, at 3 months, before I let them get used.
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1. Lard
2. Rice Bran Oil
2. Rice Bran Oil
BubblingBrooke
Member
I'm another fan of lard or tallow - honestly either would be fine! I render and filter it myself and my end product is odorless and white as fresh snow 
Aromasuzie
Well-Known Member
Wow, you guys are making me want to try lard, it's so expensive in NZ! I worked it out to be $16 a kilo. You guys also seem to be a big fan of shortening at times, I don't even know where I would look to find it in the supermarket. New Zealand is a HUGE butter nation and at one stage it was illegal to bring margarine into the country 
Since I'm not a big fan on the taste of oils, I'd have to choose Rice Bran Oil as its cheap and tasteless.
Since I'm not a big fan on the taste of oils, I'd have to choose Rice Bran Oil as its cheap and tasteless.
Same aisle as cooking oils, near the flour and sugar, at least around here.
Using lard in soap making has a long history. I find this utilization fascinating as it was largely based on using waste, although we (and I still do) cooked with lard regularly. Nothing was wasted on personal homesteads and farms. The other two ingredients that have been used largely since the 1700-1800's when soap began to be industrialized was coconut oil and palm oil, as both were considered less than superior oils. Shortening/margarine began during WWII as there were shortages for everything. They used it as a substitutes for the real things and then just kept it. I'm sharing off the top of my head, but have read many books, striving to find the history of soap making. There was a man who was known for clarifying palm oil... I found this interesting, as it was a milestone for the soap makers.
I'm now tempted to try making a 100% shea butter bar in one of my single cavity molds just to try it. Brambleberry did it and it's a low lather product... but it isn't supposed to be slimy like castile. The SMF calculator suggests that for a single oil, it isn't TERRIBLY unbalanced, with 4 of the six categories being solidly in the green, with only bubbly & cleansing being red (at 0). And since bubbly fluffy lather isn't what I want / need from a bar, and the cleanse is literally no worse than 100% OO castile and that works as soap...
As for cooking... I don't that often. I skip this inquiry.
As for cooking... I don't that often. I skip this inquiry.
I'm now tempted to try making a 100% shea butter bar in one of my single cavity molds just to try it. Brambleberry did it and it's a low lather product... but it isn't supposed to be slimy like castile. The SMF calculator suggests that for a single oil, it isn't TERRIBLY unbalanced, with 4 of the six categories being solidly in the green, with only bubbly & cleansing being red (at 0). And since bubbly fluffy lather isn't what I want / need from a bar, and the cleanse is literally no worse than 100% OO castile and that works as soap...
As for cooking... I don't that often. I skip this inquiry.
Interesting experiment, please start a thread to let us know how it comes out if you do try it.
Maybe make a slightly larger batch than a single bar, so you can see how it performs with a longer than average cure time. In my very limited experience and from what I've read, it seems to me that single oil soaps often benefit from longer cures. If you had 4 bars, you could try them at 1, 2, 6 and 12 months, for example.
Interesting experiment, please start a thread to let us know how it comes out if you do try it.
Maybe make a slightly larger batch than a single bar, so you can see how it performs with a longer than average cure time. In my very limited experience and from what I've read, it seems to me that single oil soaps often benefit from longer cures. If you had 4 bars, you could try them at 1, 2, 6 and 12 months, for example.
I do have that Brambleberry 4 cavity hex mold... >_> I like the hex shape... And it would be less risky to do 4 soaps than one soaps; less margin for grievous error. I wouldn't need to fill the molds us fully. Hmm. I'm tempted...
ETA: And I WILL have free time this Saturday morning. And I do have the shea. And the lye. And the water. And some peppermint EO because I love peppermint... lol
You might find this interesting.I'm now tempted to try making a 100% shea butter bar in one of my single cavity molds just to try it. Brambleberry did it and it's a low lather product... but it isn't supposed to be slimy like castile. The SMF calculator suggests that for a single oil, it isn't TERRIBLY unbalanced, with 4 of the six categories being solidly in the green, with only bubbly & cleansing being red (at 0). And since bubbly fluffy lather isn't what I want / need from a bar, and the cleanse is literally no worse than 100% OO castile and that works as soap...
As for cooking... I don't that often. I skip this inquiry.
http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm
So basically no excuse
We'll be awaiting your report!
