Zerby Pirkel's soap adventures!

[TeresaT]

Yep. 100% lard--or any oil for that matter (except castor, mineral or motor)--is possible. You just plug that oil into your soap calculator of choice, set the percentage at 100 and hit calculate. It will give you the amount of water and NaOH that you need to combine for your lye solution to saponify the selected amount of lard. I know some people on the forum have made single oil sample batches to determine the properties of the soap that particular oil produces. That sounds like a worthwhile experiment for me to do, someday. But not today. Tomorrow ain't lookin' too good, either.

 

[ZerbyPirkel]

Hi Mysoapyheart! No, it's not Mr...I'm an old lady, now...me a Ms....

 

[earlene]

Yep. 100% lard--or any oil for that matter (except castor, mineral or motor)--is possible. You just plug that oil into your soap calculator of choice, set the percentage at 100 and hit calculate. It will give you the amount of water and NaOH that you need to combine for your lye solution to saponify the selected amount of lard. I know some people on the forum have made single oil sample batches to determine the properties of the soap that particular oil produces. That sounds like a worthwhile experiment for me to do, someday. But not today. Tomorrow ain't lookin' too good, either.

Actually I did make a 100% castor oil soap when I did the single oil soaps last year. I like it, too. It's one of my favorites of the 100%'s that I made. It is hard even though SoapCalc says it won't be. It is a light beige-ish shade, a bit on the translucent side. And it lathers well, which I expected. It feels very nice on my skin when I wash with it, which I do periodically to remind myself what it is like. I made it 0% superfat, as I made all the 100%'s, and used only water in the lye solution. No fragrances or colorants, either. Just the one oil, the lye and water. All cold process. The castor set up really fast with simple hand stirring and was fairly translucent right from the start. I unmolded it at 12 hours. It was very hard at 48 hours.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

Hi Mysoapyheart! No, it's not Mr...I'm an old lady, now...me a Ms....

Ooops, a thousand apologies! I had heard the name before on a man, so I assumed you was one, so sorry! *inserts size 10.5 foot in mouth* (which is quite hard when one struggles with rheumatism...)

 

[IrishLass]

Hi! What can I use instead of olive oil, since I don't trust it, at the moment. I would want something that would contribute to the white color. Thanks!

If you can find high oleic sunflower or high oleic safflower oil, those would be good substitutes, although I'm not sure how much they contribute or detract from overall whiteness. I can't imagine they'd detract too much, though. My olive oil is quite yellowish and it produces very light, off-white bars, and with just a little TD, I get very white bars. Hopefully someone else can chime in on that.

Actually I did make a 100% castor oil soap when I did the single oil soaps last year...... It is hard even though SoapCalc says it won't be...... And it lathers well, which I expected. .

That's very interesting that it lathered well for you. Can you describe the lather- i.e., more bubbly or more creamy? I ask because I know of at least 4 other soapers who have made a 100% castor oil soap and their resulting bars had very little to absolutely no lather at all- mostly just a gummy, oily/slippery/lotiony feel.....even after months down the road. It makes me wonder whether the water that was used to wash with them was hard or soft....hmmmm. Do you have soft water? (curious minds want to know! )

Having said that, though, they all attest with you that their 100% castor bars are very hard, and that they set up fast, too.


IrishLass

 

[ZerbyPirkel]

That is funny that you are using the term "Lardites"...my friends are laughingly calling me "Lard Butt" since I bought some lard for my soap...

 

[doriettefarm]

Welcome to the addiction Zerby! I would also recommend lard or tallow for a nice hard bar of white soap. If you don't want to use olive oil, check out high oleic sunflower . . . the stuff I get from Soaper's choice is really pale and much lighter in color than the Kirkland/Costco olive oil.

 

[TeresaT]

Actually I did make a 100% castor oil soap when I did the single oil soaps last year. I like it, too. It's one of my favorites of the 100%'s that I made. It is hard even though SoapCalc says it won't be. It is a light beige-ish shade, a bit on the translucent side. And it lathers well, which I expected. It feels very nice on my skin when I wash with it, which I do periodically to remind myself what it is like. I made it 0% superfat, as I made all the 100%'s, and used only water in the lye solution. No fragrances or colorants, either. Just the one oil, the lye and water. All cold process. The castor set up really fast with simple hand stirring and was fairly translucent right from the start. I unmolded it at 12 hours. It was very hard at 48 hours.

Another myth busted!!

 

[earlene]

That's very interesting that it lathered well for you. Can you describe the lather- i.e., more bubbly or more creamy? I ask because I know of at least 4 other soapers who have made a 100% castor oil soap and their resulting bars had very little to absolutely no lather at all- mostly just a gummy, oily/slippery/lotiony feel.....even after months down the road. It makes me wonder whether the water that was used to wash with them was hard or soft....hmmmm. Do you have soft water? (curious minds want to know! )

Having said that, though, they all attest with you that their 100% castor bars are very hard, and that they set up fast, too.


IrishLass

Yes, after posting that it occurred to me that 'lathers well' is a very subjective term and not particularly descriptive. Forgive me.

I just went upstairs to wash my hands with it and it did bubble up at the beginning, then turned to a creamy, more lotion like feel. But I also had just rubbed a lot of oil into my hands, so it may not be a fair comparison to the last time I used it. I'll go back a bit later and if it changes let you know.

As for how soft our water is, it depends on when Hubby last added water softener salt to the tank and when it went it last through it's cycle. So today it could be bit harder than the last time I used the soap because it goes through the water softener cycles on Thursday mornings, plus it needs more salt added to the brine tank. Since I spent most of my life without water softeners, I really notice the difference with using one and it's effect on how my soap feels when the softener runs through it's cycles.

For those who aren't familiar with how a water softener works, this link explains it pretty well for the kind of unit we have. Ours is set to run the cycle weekly, unless we have guests, then Hubby sets it run twice a week. As the salt dissolves, which usually takes about 2 or 3 cycles per bag of salt, then more is added. Sometimes we forget to buy bags of softener salt soon enough and end up with un-softened water and we really notice the difference. As a matter of fact we were going to buy more bags of salt today but when we got to the store realized neither of us had our wallets with us. So tomorrow.

I now want to compare my lathering results when we add new salt and right after the water softener runs through it's cleaning cycle again. Food for thought!

 

[LisaAnne]

Hello Zerby! I love your name. I have 4 brothers in the Phoenix area, fun place to visit. I love lard soap, I've settled on the 75 lard 20 coconut and 5 castor dorymae listed and the 65 lard, 15 coconut, 15 sweet almond and 5 castor that I got from sea wolf.

Lisa (a senior citizen I guess also )

 

[Relle]

ZerbyPirkel, seeing this is the Intro thread, would you like to start some threads about the topics you want to talk about in the relevant sections please.

 

[melinda48]

Hi all! My name is Zerby. I live in Phoenix, AZ. I am a senior citizen. My interest in soapmaking goes way back. I started soaping when I was in Las Vegas, but set it aside due to traveling. I am eager to restart my adventures! However, I only want to make a simple white bar for awhile. I read some posts on making a white soap using lard. I dunno. What do you think? Will Crisco be better?

I also collect antique/vintage greeting cards with great stuff on them that I can turn into soap labels. I have been looking at how some of the more popular people (like Zahida Map) wrap their soaps up and getting ideas.

I do not make soap for a living. It is only for a few friends and family. Too old for a business; don't want one. I'll leave that to the younger folks who have all the energy! Anyway, I hope to relearn all that I have forgotten!

Lard soap just simply rocks!! You will love soaping with lard.

 

[SPowers]

Hi and welcome. Lard has become my favorite oil to work with - I haven't used it yet so hoping my skin will like it.

 

[Relle]

Lard soap just simply rocks!! You will love soaping with lard.

This person hasn't been around since sept 2017.