Soap comparison. Can cheap oils work just as well?

[DeeAnna]

DOS is also accelerated by metallic contaminants, so your soap can have DOS spots even if you use the best fats with the longest shelf life and try to hold your mouth just right.

If you ever see individual orange spots of DOS, sometimes with a dark orange fleck in the center, those are most likely DOS caused by a microscopic speck of metal. This metal comes from the processing machinery used to harvest and process the materials from which the fats/oils come as well as the packaging machinery and our soaping tools. Dirty hands, airborne dust, tap water, and metal curing shelves/trays can also be sources of metal.

Copper is extremely prone to triggering DOS, so you absolutely do not want your soap to touch anything made of copper or copper alloys (brass and bronze). Iron is also another DOS trigger.

That's why a chelator is so helpful -- there's no way a person can fully eliminate metal contamination. A chelator is a good way to catch those stray bits that sneak through our best efforts to work clean and use good quality materials.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I only made one batch with chicken fat, don't remember if I had that result or not. I didn't have enough to use a high percentage in that batch.
I do keep all my oils in a fridge because they get too hot in the garage otherwise and seem go rancid faster with temp fluctuations. I don't know if that is true or not but it seemed that way to me, so I hi-jacked a beer fridge and made it into an oil fridge. So, James, if you buy a large quantity of one of the cheaper oils and only want to use a little in each batch, consider where you can store it to prolong it's life. I specially do this with grapeseed that I use in lotions and body butters.

 

[soapmaker]

I have been lucky in that I haven't had DOS in quite some time (meaning that I have probably just jinxed myself and the next batch will be covered in it).



I do believe in using the fruits of your labors, a good way to live. I may not raise the cattle or hogs that I get my fat from, but I do the labor to make it into the product I want to use. I have also found that I like deer tallow in soap, so when I have access to that fat, it too gets rendered. As does chicken fat, it makes a really nice soap.

I rendered deer fat once for soap and it was a very hard long lasting bar but the soap scum was tremendous. So no more of that for me.

 

[ChriD]

Sidebar to your main point, but that is a HUGE amount of honey and I don't think you'll ever be successful making light colored soap as CP with it. Maybe hot process would work better?

As for cheap oils, you can definitely make good soap limiting yourself to inexpensive oils - as long as they're the right inexpensive oils. Sad to say, I suspect you'll find that soy is not one of the right oils. (I have not tried that myself but used a friend's soap that did try using large amounts of soy. It was not great.) But things like lard, Walmart tallow shortening and HO safflower can be very cheap and make great soap. LouAna brand coconut from Walmart is pretty cheap, and you can better that price for coconut from Amazon if you want.

Hi BrewerGeorge: I stumbled upon Coconut Oil at Big Lots - about $12 for 100+ ounces.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I rendered deer fat once for soap and it was a very hard long lasting bar but the soap scum was tremendous. So no more of that for me.

I don't use the deer tallow alone or in a high quantity. I have not has the scum problem. Last batch I made with it I used 10% deer tallow, 45% beef tallow 30% OO and 15% CO, with 12% superfat. I made this for a friend who has problems with many soaps and she loved it. The qualities may not be perfect per Soap Calc, but when the product provides the qualities needed I will use that recipe. The OO was the most expensive part of that recipe, followed by the CO. Neither were overly expensive.

 

[James Handley]

Ok it has been about two weeks so I wanted to try the soap out and give a review.

The soap smells like a bee hive. May not be pleasant for all but I like it.

Used it in the shower with a shower poof/scrubby... whatever that is called.

It takes a lot of time, effort and soap to get it to suds up and get a decent bubbly lather with the shower scrubby; even then the lather is weak.

Just using your hands there is next to no bubbles and the lather is almost slimy.

However I think it cleans fairly well. I did a lot of outside work and had a good sweat and body odor to test this. I ended up pretty scentless. No body odor was able to be detected afterwords.

The soap did not dry out the skin but it was not super smooth after. Like it all looked clean and had no residue but there was a tightness. If you ran your hand over your arm, it would catch a little rather than gliding over smoothly.

I used the soap in my beard and hair and it was not bad. My last soap made it feel weird and I felt I needed a good bit of conditioner. This cheap soap I did not feel that. Hours after shower my hair actually feels pretty good.

The bar itself is a little tacky and soft, so I don't know how it will handle staying in the shower.

So I think it is a good emergency soap. But not one I would sell or even send to a friend. Just don't think it keeps to my standards.

Pretty fun though. Makes me think I can make a soap primarily of soy bean oil and just put in a little coconut oil, maybe 2-3% castor to get the lather up and something else to help with the moisturizing.

 

[shunt2011]

Good Review. Just remember soap is not moisturizing due to it being a wash off product.....depending on the recipe it will be less likely to strip all the oils off your skin. Castor will stabilize any lather you get in your recipe. I don't use soy in my soaps so won't know if it's any good or not on a personal level. Doesn't sound overly exciting in the soap department but sounds like it got you clean. It's nice to test things out for yourself for sure. Never know if you like it or not otherwise.

 

[James Handley]

Good Review. Just remember soap is not moisturizing due to it being a wash off product.....depending on the recipe it will be less likely to strip all the oils off your skin. Castor will stabilize any lather you get in your recipe. I don't use soy in my soaps so won't know if it's any good or not on a personal level. Doesn't sound overly exciting in the soap department but sounds like it got you clean. It's nice to test things out for yourself for sure. Never know if you like it or not otherwise.

Right. I like learn through testing and lots of failure it seems. Just going in blind you learn so mutch more rather than just following the rules and doing what others have already found what works.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

I have used chicken fat that I have saved from rendering the skin on chickens. I find it really slows trace

How did it go? I have a bunch of chicken fat every week and I would like to incorporate it in soaps. Doesnt need to be a fancy bar or anything, but I am curious to know how much % would be the limit.

 

[msunnerstood]

Right. I like learn through testing and lots of failure it seems. Just going in blind you learn so mutch more rather than just following the rules and doing what others have already found what works.

Thats how I learned. I started with liquid soap, which I guess is out of order. Videos and articles ive seen have said to start with CP, then HP and then liquid. I didnt know any better and started with liquid, then to HP and Ive never tried CP. CP scares me a little

 

[SoaperForLife]

As far as DOS goes... I have had a batch of soap with a single bar showing signs of it.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...replaced 10% by weight of the water to pure honey from my own beehives. (38g)...."

Remember that properly cured honey is roughly 20% water. Replacing 38 g of water with the same weight of honey would have reduced the water content in your batch by 30 grams. That will increase the lye concentration. If your soap behaves in an unexpected way, keep this water reduction in mind as a possible reason.

 

[penelopejane]

^^^yes.
I do not reduce the recipe water when adding honey (I use 31% lye concentration).
I use a lot less honey than the OP does. I use 1/2 tablespoon (8g) ppo.

 

[SoaperForLife]

I have always found hydrogenated soybean oil to add rich creamy lather to my soaps but I also include coconut, palm and a few others.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

How did it go? I have a bunch of chicken fat every week and I would like to incorporate it in soaps. Doesnt need to be a fancy bar or anything, but I am curious to know how much % would be the limit.

I've used chicken oil at 35% in recipes (combined with lard, olive oil, & palm kernel oil). It's a lovely soap! I wouldn't be afraid to use it at a higher % or substitute it completely in my recipes for the lard.