Palm or Tallow

[ohsoap]

There are so many posts about Palm or Lard. But what about Palm vs. Tallow? I just found a local supplier for bulk tallow and it is such a good price that I am considering giving up my veggie based soaps.

Can someone who has soaped with both explain the difference in feel of your soap?
I know from experience that Palm drags the first couple of uses, and is quite creamy, I have noticed that with higher amounts of palm my lather is denser, but with lower amounts I get more bubbles from my coconut.

I've read that tallow provides a lacy later... what is a lacy lather, how would you describe that?

Things I am looking at are cost, feeling, quality, performance. Please feel free to provide imput.

 

[carebear]

I adore tallow. It seems to contribute more hardness to soap, and a denser lather than palm - which kinda contradicts the "lacy" thing. I dunno - I think it depends on your total mix.

But I adore palm too.

Lacy lather - I would think of as loose, not dense. But that's just a guess on my part.

 

[ChrissyB]

Tallow is an easy substitution for palm, it makes for a hard long lasting soap with a nice lather.
I prefer tallow over lard, I always get the stinky smell with lard no matter what I do, there is only one brand of lard available over here, so I think it's that, not me! and tallow doesn't smell at all.
My son prefers tallow soap over palm, but he uses it to wash his hair, body and shave.
My regular recipe is OO, Palm, CO, but occasionally I'll use tallow instead of palm.
Try it. If it's cheap, it's worth a go!

 

[ohsoap]

I did a bit more searching, and read that it provides a lather that feels similar to a milk soap (which is great cause I love the feeling of a milk soap, but hate making them). In soapcalc the cleansing value is higher, so I am alittle worried about that. :?

 

[honor435]

i thought tallow was lard? arent they both made from animal fat?
Ok, i had to google, lard is from pigs, tallow from cows, i wonder if you buy "lard" in stores if you really know what youre getting?

 

[renaissancemom]

i still don't get why a high cleansing # is bad. i would think the higher the cleansing the better it cleans you. can someone explain why this wrong.

 

[Half Caper Farm]

The only time you want high cleansing is if you're scrubbing bathtubs or doing laundry - or if you fell in the pigpen. Otherwise, it's a tad harsh on the skin. :wink: Very drying.

 

[renaissancemom]

i understand, thanks

 

[Adema]

I have used tallow quite a bit in my soaps and I like it alot, but I have to render it like crasy, I can not buy it rendered and deodorized. I did one time use it with the sheep smell and it did unfortunatly come through a bit but after a long cure it mellowed, it gives my soap a lovely soft lather and a lovely feel to my hands after use. I wish I could say the same for my coconut bar with only 8% superfat :wink:

Kveðja
María

 

[ohsoap]

I was playing around with soapcalc and tallow yeilds a higher cleansing value than palm oil. I use a fair amount of coconut in my recipe so I really don't want to go higher on my cleansing then I already am. Would I just lower my tallow % and up my olive oil to balance my bar out? Or just use them interchangably and not worry about my numbers?

 

[ohsoap]

bump

 

[Half Caper Farm]

I can't tell you from experience, but I'd be inclined to try a small test batch and see how you like it. If it's too cleansing, it will make great laundry soap!

 

[tamarajane]

I love tallow in my soaps. Better than lard.

 

[honor435]

Higher cleansing number makes soap more drying, i dont make mine more than 22.

 

[ohsoap]

It only goes up to 20. I got advice on here before to keep conditioning over 55 with a high cleansing, and that advice really made a difference on my skin. Tallow brings my conditioning back to 54 and I know the numbers aren't off my much, but it still worries me a little.

 

[dagmar88]

superfat generously and you'll be fine.

 

[ohsoap]

Is 7% enough?

 

[dagmar88]

Depends on what you like; after you've made some batches you'll find out what superfat level goes best with your recipe.
Care to share yours?

 

[ohsoap]

...

It has a cleansing of 19 and conditioning of 55 (was alot higher before the updates on soapcalc). I was SF at 5% before then, but have started SF at 7% since the updates.

 

[dagmar88]

I always try to make sure CO & PKO don't come over 25% combined.
I'd prefer:
42% olive
20% palm
10% coconut
15% palm kernal
8% castor and
5% cocoa butter.

for your original recipe.

That makes cleansing 16 and conditioning 58; while keeping a good lather. I'd add a bit of sugar though. Should make a really nice soap; and there's nothing wrong with superfatting at 7% for this one.

When you'd replace the palm with tallow, that would only up the cleansing by one point.