Why no lather? :(

[Carly B]

I made my first soap with lard on Sept. 21. I was very eager to try it, and when I use it, it gets a beautiful lather if I use a pouf, but if I just use it plain or try to get some lather with a brush, nothing. Maybe a thin film, if that, but nothing that even vaguely resembles lather, creamy or otherwise.

Here is the recipe I used.
If anyone has any idea about why, I'd love some guidance. I was so looking forward to using this soap.

 

[Millie]

That should be a very bubbly bar of soap. We can't see the full recipe though, just the oils. What is your superfat and how old is your lye? Any additives?

 

[Dahila]

there is 30% of OO, leave it for another three weeks and I guarantee it is going to lather like crazy. I get the best lather in my soaps when they are at least 2 years old. The older the soap the better for my dry hands to wash

 

[Lin19687]

OO and lard are not big lathers plus it is not cured either.

 

[Carly B]

That should be a very bubbly bar of soap. We can't see the full recipe though, just the oils. What is your superfat and how old is your lye? Any additives?

5% superfat, the soapcalc default. Distilled water, lye less than a month old, no additives but fragrance according to the vendor's fragrance calc, and some mica. Nothing else. I thought it should be bubbly too. Like I said, using a pouf, it's lovely lather. But I don't think most people use a pouf with bar soap. I went more than 60 years where if I used a pouf at all, it was for shower gel.

 

[cmzaha]

Lard does not lather well and you also have 40% Olive Oil, so this will need a longer cure time than most soaps. The 30% CO will help but would be too cleansing for my old skin.

 

[Millie]

I think the gals are right, it might just take a while to get there. After dusting off my brain, I remember coming to the conclusion that soaps with anything over 30% olive oil needed an extra long time to cure. It's funny though, I have made almost this exact recipe, just switching the olive and lard percentages and that bubbled well from the get go. It was along my quest to find the PONS (point of no smell) for lard. Smells to me at that percentage, but a really nice soap overall.

 

[Michele50]

there is 30% of OO, leave it for another three weeks and I guarantee it is going to lather like crazy. I get the best lather in my soaps when they are at least 2 years old. The older the soap the better for my dry hands to wash

I agree, I like my older soap best because they all have had such a long time to cure/evaporate out the liquids and increase in lather production.

 

[Ladka]

... It was along my quest to find the PONS (point of no smell) for lard. Smells to me at that percentage, but a really nice soap overall.

At what percentage did lard not smell any more?

 

[Michele50]

At what percentage did lard not smell any more?

I think it's a personal thing, unique to each of our noses. For some who use it 100% they have stated they don't smell it in their soap at all. The most I've used in any one recipe is 25.50% and I don't smell any Miss Piggy scent upon un-molding it or any time later. I also don't smell it at all when scooping it out of my container to use.

 

[Ladka]

I have a very sensitive nose and tend to smell the pig rather well. On the other hand, I love pig lard soap and am going to research the composition of soap with pig lard. I started with 80 % leaf lard, used FO's and will proceed to diminish it if necessary.

 

[Obsidian]

I use 55% lard with no piggy smell, even in unscented batches.

My 80% lard is a bit smelly. Its easy to cover with FO but after 3 yrs or so, the smell comes back.

 

[Millie]

@Ladka
I'll have to check my notes later, but I think I left off experimenting at around 25%. A combo of low lard and very strong scent was passable. But then I got pregnant and the mysterious super-nose kicked in. One day I realised my skin reeked! And the next day and the next day, despite showering, I'd be fine for a few hrs, but then running around on a warm summers day.... ugh. There is no full body deoderant that I know of. And then, duh, I went to shower and realised, "oh wait, I think this scent was a lard batch". Switched the soap and no B.O.
So I guess I might have found the PONS for a non-pregnant me

@Carly B Sorry for going so far off topic. Let us know how the lather progresses. I think it will turn into a lovely soap!