[SIZE=-1]I really think that Rachael from the Latherings Forum should write her own soapmaking book. It would make for a delightful read and she has tried lots of innovative things in her soapmaking with mixed results. I admire her spirit of adventure and experimentation. When I asked her why she had a prejudice against palm oil, this was her response. She has given her permission for me to share it. I hooted more than once while reading it and hope you'll enjoy it as well. Which type of soaper are you? ;-)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]Subject: Why palm means so little to me.[/SIZE]Date: 12/13 9:51 PMFrom: RachaelThis has been my observation of my fellow soapers. I think that there are a few different types of soapers. They tend to focus on a unique area and strive to fill that need in themselves. There is some overlap of major interest, but most people focus on a given area ...some concentric circles of interest form around the primary one and the rest become secondary. Along with that, comes a disdain for "the rest". It might help to describe my fondness for plastic buckets of canola oil from Costco and not wanting anything to do with the fad of palm oil, and my purchase of fifty dollar fo's to scent 2 batches of soap!--Yes, I have done that!
The Naturalists: EO's [SIZE=-1](essential oils)[/SIZE], not FO's [SIZE=-1](fragrance oils)[/SIZE], and unscented too. No pigments that aren't totally from nature. No sandalwood 'cuz it's endangered, a lot of hemp, recycled paper wrapper with natural inks. These guys equate a shower with their soap with running naked through the hot, dank, primordial jungle of our distant ancestors.
The Veggies: No animal fats. No animal stearic acid. No beeswax. No milk. A lot of guilt with palmitic acid use even. No musk. Hippy soap.
The Ranchers: Tallow and lard. "Why else did God put cows on the planet?"
The Expense Artists: Hundreds invested in box molds and high tensile strength wire cutters and all the fad oils and fats. Well stocked shelves bulging with packages of dyes and pigments, additives and the like. They usually only make one batch a week.
The Castile Makers: Often confused with the Stir Crazy (see below). They tend toward three-day traces and don't buy any other oils but olive. Sometimes one will encounter a lax one who will include some cocoa butter to speed trace and cut the smell level some.
The Oil Investors: Emu oil, shea butter, neem, cocoa butter, fractionated coconut oil.
The Additive Type: Soap without the stuff falling out of it, is no fun. Often they march through the yard, basket in hand, looking for likely victims. The mortar and pestle is their icon.
The Hard Bar People: They probably would love to use tallow, but it isn't in fashion... so they buy palm.
The Stir Crazy:[SIZE=+1][/SIZE]Easy to spot because of the really well developed dominant arm and shoulder. Often these are the Castile Makers. Sometimes they just tend toward the 80% oils to 20% fats. They just love to stir soap. For days and days 'til they get a trace. Kind of a well earned reward.
The Ten-Minute Tracers: "Give me a blender, damit!" The recipe sucks if the owner can't get the bucket of oils to trace in ten minutes or less.
No Blenders Allowed: Self explanatory. Some people hate the use of blenders. I think it just represents change, and they don't do change well.
The Scenters: Soap is a vehicle for scent. A rather obsessive bunch, they tend to sniff alot of things. Very nose governed.
The Colorists:[SIZE=+1][/SIZE]Color is everything to them. Whorls, waves, swirls, marbleizing, blotches, with powdered clays, dyes, spices, herbs, barks and woods, flowers, fruits and veggies, and colored oils.
The Latherists:[SIZE=+1][/SIZE]If you run your finger over it twice and it doesn't immediately start to froth, it needs more coconut, palm kernel, or castor oil. If it didn't dry skin out, their soap would be 100% coconut.
The Namers: When the booth down the hall has Purple Passion Pear, Stud Bubbles and Cleopatra ... and you have Pear, Bay Rum, and Honey-Almond, you know you have run into a Namer.
Group Soapers: They gather in the evening, in the kitchens and basements of our country (and others as well). The group leaders all get the 'funny looks' from neighbors, and no wonder ... when the designated lye stirrer is on the back porch stirring a steaming mixture, and the rest of the crew is gathering over a big pot of something. Chanting is optional.
