Smelly lard soap

[Sonya is soaping]

Hi all I've just made my first batch of soap and incorporated lard into the recipe.
It's been curing 72hrs and I've noticed it still smells like fatty bacon. Yuck.
I'm wondering will this ever go away or should I just throw it out now? Because of ghe smell it's really put me off of using lard in soap now

 

[steffamarie]

Was this an unscented soap? I know some people have reported they can still smell the lard in their finished product, although I believe it dissipates with time. I use 55% or greater lard in some of my recipes and I don't get a lingering pork smell, but I do use FOs and/or EOs. I consider myself someone with a fairly sensitive nose, but it's possible you just have a more heightened sense of smell than I do!

 

[Sonya is soaping]

It is a lightly scented soap. I can smell the FO but the lardy smells mingles with it. I can smell both.

 

[steffamarie]

It is a lightly scented soap. I can smell the FO but the lardy smells mingles with it. I can smell both.

I'd give it the full cure time and if you can still smell it, then maybe try something like vegetable shortening that has very little scent. Some people can smell all the oils in their soaps, so that just may be something to avoid. Shame since lard makes a fantastic soap, but lard-scented soap isn't high on my list of desirable batches.

 

[lenarenee]

Love your handle Sonya!

If you can stand it, wait 4 weeks to smell again. It's very young soap and there's lots of changes that can happen in a month.

If you use lard again, melt it with as little heat as possible. Hot lard brings out all the smell!

 

[cmzaha]

I do not pick up a piggy smell unless the soap is a couple of years old

 

[psfred]

You may never be able to stand the smell of lard, it's an individual thing. I can smell Fierce a couple hundred yards upwind, I think, and not in a good way (I think it reeks).

Always barely melt lard, that "cooked bacon" smell is a result of getting it too hot. Ditto for beef tallow, it starts to smell like hamburgers off the grill if it gets too hot. Nothing you can do if the lard smells offensive to you out of the container, but barely melting it may help. If you have other hard oils, melt them separately and avoid things like "countertop Hot Process" where you heat oils up to 200F.

Wait and see, worst case you will never like the smell and be forced to give your soap to potential customers.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

I can smell the lard in high lard soaps. Will it dissipate enough for you to use it? Who knows?, I would keep it and try it now and again in a few months. It may not bother you in a couple or you may still smell i in 6...

 

[Sonya is soaping]

Okay yes I think it may have got to hot when I melted it. I will wait as suggested for the 4-6 weeks and update to let everyone know if the smell gets better.
Thankyou everyone, what a great community! Happy to be here.

 

[Relle]

Welcome Sonya, if you would like to go to the Intro thread and tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into soaping. Where in Oz are you ? There are a few of us Aussies here.

 

[amd]

I use 25% tallow or lard in my soaps, and I can smell it. I recently used at 100% lard soap and it smelled so grossly of lard I couldn't use it. My husband couldn't smell it though. I think some of it has to do with being familiar with oil smells to begin with, before we make it into soap. I think in higher amounts you will always smell it, maybe others won't.

 

[NsMar42111]

It also seems to depend on your lard brand

 

[clownking99]

Did you make the lard ? COuld you say what brand ? Do you melt it on. The stove or microwave ?

 

[shunt2011]

I agree with it being extra smelly if overheated. I just warm mine and don't pick up a lardy smell. If over heated I can smell it for 8 weeks sometimes. I've been guilty of that a time or two....

 

[Obsidian]

When I first started using lard, it always smelled very piggy. Once I stopped over heating it, no more smell,.
I make a lot of unscented for family, no one has ever mentioned it smelling piggy. Its just a nice soapy scent.

 

[clownking99]

When I first started using lard, it always smelled very piggy. Once I stopped over heating it, no more smell,.
I make a lot of unscented for family, no one has ever mentioned it smelling piggy. Its just a nice soapy scent.

Do you microwave your lard?
I usually microwave my 1lb block of lard in microwave with all the other oils for 90-120 seconds

 

[earlene]

I don't like lard in soap that I use, but for some family members I use it. I found that melting a tub of lard is very easy to do with just sinkful of hot water and put the tub in the sink (don't let the water reach the top, of course.) No overheating of lard is really necessary unless you're doing HP, then I don't know, as I haven't made a lot of soaps with lard.

But the smell remains in the soap for several months even with 6% fragrance added. I am able to smell the lard when testing the soap for lather, etc. Therefore, for me, as with some others, the smell is there. And it's not because I know it was made with lard. One day a couple of months ago I was washing with a soap I thought was a completely veggie oils soap and said to myself, 'I hate how this fragrance smells. It smells like lard soap. I have to look up this FO so I can make a note never to use it again.' I looked up the soap and realized it was a 30% lard recipe; not the FO I was smelling, but the lard at 30% after several months cure.

 

[Obsidian]

Do you microwave your lard?
I usually microwave my 1lb block of lard in microwave with all the other oils for 90-120 seconds

Yes, I microwave all my oils together. Usually take 1 or 2 minutes to get it all melty.

 

[Sonya is soaping]

I did mine on the stovetop with my other oils. It's was my 1st ever soap so I'm thinking it got too hot. Even before heating it, it smelt like bacon though. Might have to see if there's another brand here in Australia.

 

[Relle]

Varieties of branded lard in Australia are virtually non existant. The days of butchers selling it, are also long gone. We had a butcher shop some time ago and haven't seen it in all the time we had the business. You might have to render some yourself.