Vegan Alternative

[BrewerGeorge]

I'm trying to duplicate the characteristics of one of my recipes except replacing the tallow with vegan oils. If I make all the Hardness, Cleansing, Bubbly, etc numbers match in soapcalc, is that sufficient to make them close in performance? The fatty acid numbers are somewhat different, but the Quality numbers are the same (except for iodine). Is that going to be close enough?

 

[Yooper]

No, not really. The numbers will be close, but tallow is so very creamy that just making the numbers the same doesn't mean the soap will be at all similar.

What do you have so far?

 

[BrewerGeorge]

This is a shaving soap. I realize that it is a bit unorthodox, but I like it and want to duplicate it. Each will have sodium lactate, sodium citrate, a bit of sugar and some clay for slip.

Here's the original:

Here's the vegan alternative:

 

[IrishLass]

Looking at the fatty acid profiles of both, I don't see why it wouldn't work. The only major difference is the oleic/linoleic switcheroo. If it were me, I would try to bring the linoleic down to 15% (as a DOS preventative), but that's just me. Other than that, I'd give it a go. You'll need to be mindful of the stearic acid, though. It reacts instantly with the lye and is best hot processed.


IrishLass

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Looking at the fatty acid profiles of both, I don't see why it wouldn't work. The only major difference is the oleic/linoleic switcheroo. If it were me, I would try to bring the linoleic down to 15% (as a DOS preventative), but that's just me. Other than that, I'd give it a go. You'll need to be mindful of the stearic acid, though. It reacts instantly with the lye and is best hot processed.


IrishLass

Thanks. I intended to say this will be hot processed, but I made so many edits trying to get a decent layout of the information that it got lost.

As far as reducing the linoleic, which oil is a major contributor that I should reduce?

 

[IrishLass]

The palm shortening. If you want to bring the linoleic down to 15%, one way to do it is to reduce the palm shortening to 30, increase the castor to 21, and increase the stearic to 24. That will change your other numbers a little, but in my opinion, not in a bad way.


IrishLass

 

[cmzaha]

Spectrum has a 100% palm shortening. It will act exactly like palm oil. I did some tests a few months ago and my 100% palm shortening versus the Palm Oil are identical, with no dos in either and both last the same length of time. I do not use Spectrum because I buy 50# blocks of 100% palm shortening from Smart & Final

 

[snappyllama]

A quick trick on Soap Calc to check the profile of an individual oil is to:

Click on the oil in the "Oils, Fats, and Waxes" column. Then look to the far left (5) column under "One". It will show the profile of just that oil.

The column next to it is "All". It shows the total make-up of the calculated batch. Whenever you change the recipe, you have to click the "Calculate" button for the "All" column to update.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

The palm shortening. If you want to bring the linoleic down to 15%, one way to do it is to reduce the palm shortening to 30, increase the castor to 21, and increase the stearic to 24. That will change your other numbers a little, but in my opinion, not in a bad way.


IrishLass

I'm sure I'll follow your recommendation. Considering how long shaving soap lasts (years!) there is no reason to take a chance. But for the sake of discussion, do you think the shortening brings enough anti-oxidants along with it (THA I think, don't have it in front of me) to take care of its higher linoleic content?