sarahmarah Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I’m new to soap making and I’m reading up on oils with the goal of creating my first recipe. I see that coconut oil is a hugely popular but I’m trying to opt out of using it a lot because I know so many people with tree but allergies. I’ve read Babassu oil is a good substitute but that it can speed trace? Is it a beginner friendly oil? I’d love to hear what you think of it. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Babassu is very similar to coconut, but with a prettier name and higher price tag. Def buy a small amount to try with your formula just to see for yourself. We all go through the exotic oils as a right of passage, then settle back to familiar staples for the long haul, after realizing we can’t please everyone, we make what we like and stop catering to the fringes. plus, Being able to swap out oils with market condition changes makes us more agile manufacturers. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightLight Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Also nuts! Babassu palm, (Attalea martiana, A. oleifera, or A. speciosa), tall palm tree with feathery leaves that grows wild in tropical northeastern Brazil. The kernels of its hard-shelled nuts are the source of babassu oil, similar in properties and uses to coconut oil and used increasingly as a substitute for it. Brittanica.com You could do an olive oil soap. One ingredient. This will be low lather but you could add sodium lactate to firm it up, some beeswax or stearic also. Some sugar for bubbles. There is a chart somewhere online that someone made soaps of single oils and it lists all properties. I think it’s on Flickr. Here is some additional soapmaking info Here is the link. First is the recipe then scroll to see photos how each bar behaves also this http://curious-soapmaker.com/big-test-100-one-oil-soaps-part-i.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 That photo is from one of my research swaps on the now dead dish forum. My friend Kenna gets a lot of mileage from it 😅 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 In all the years I have been making and selling soap I have only had maybe 2 customers say they can't use coconut oil due to allergy. I always ask what soap are they using now. One of the coconut allergy customers told me they use Dove soap. I told her next time check out the label. Dove uses coconut oil but its in its INCI name and told her what to look for. For the price you pay in coconut oil vs babassu if you plan to sell soap and make it in volume I would highly recommend coconut oil over babassu. You can always offer a soap sans coconut for the seriously coconut allergic customers. Like TT posted, its good to try out different oils to see how they can change the soap properties. I love babassu and use it in a neem oil soap recipe for people with skin conditions, cancer/chemo, eczema, psoriasis, rashes, poison ivy, etc. For the bulk of my soap recipes I use coconut oil Another sub is palm kernal oil although it comes from coconut palms too. One of the best lather combos I have ever used is a combination of coconut oil, palm kernal oil, and castor oil. This trio offers the trifecta perfecta of super sudsy creamy lather. Remember, you can also lower you coconut oil usage for those with sensitive skin. I make a bastile soap with only 10% coconut oil in it. It makes a super mild bastile soap and it clears my complexion up when I use it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 20 hours ago, TallTayl said: That photo is from one of my research swaps on the now dead dish forum. My friend Kenna gets a lot of mileage from it 😅 I remember that. I also remember someone posted results of single oil recipes that was quite interesting and educational. As in only one oil in the soap. So there was a coconut oil soap, an olive oil soap, a palm oil soap, a castor oil soap, etc., etc., etc. Knowing what each individual oil does in soap helped me with tweaking my soap recipes over the years. Did you do the single oil soap post TT?? Can't remember where I saw this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 1 hour ago, Candybee said: I remember that. I also remember someone posted results of single oil recipes that was quite interesting and educational. As in only one oil in the soap. So there was a coconut oil soap, an olive oil soap, a palm oil soap, a castor oil soap, etc., etc., etc. Knowing what each individual oil does in soap helped me with tweaking my soap recipes over the years. Did you do the single oil soap post TT?? Can't remember where I saw this. That was on thendish from a different swap. Lots of interesting ones, including peanut oil if I recall. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 On 3/7/2020 at 6:53 PM, TallTayl said: That was on thendish from a different swap. Lots of interesting ones, including peanut oil if I recall. Yeah the single oil thread was really an awesome resource... The one made from stearic acid was a particularly amusing tale of caution. 😂 Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 42 minutes ago, Sponiebr said: Yeah the single oil thread was really an awesome resource... The one made from stearic acid was a particularly amusing tale of caution. 😂 Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services This would be a GREAT time to redo that swap here... are you in? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted March 13, 2020 Share Posted March 13, 2020 13 hours ago, TallTayl said: This would be a GREAT time to redo that swap here... are you in? Am I in? I am INsane if that's what you're ask'n after. (but THAT ain't news to NOBODY) I'm out of business right now, I haven't been able to make any soap since Sept. I am working on trying to get a workspace set up though so I can start making soap again. I don't disagree that we should have that collection of information again... It was a HUGE and IMPORTANT piece of research. I'm still fuzzy on how this swap'n thing works... Is it kinda like a key party? (Just for the record, I'm not really clear on how THOSE work either...) A whole buncha people make single oil soaps and then send their little cakes'o'suds to some poor unsuspecting soul with a chain letter-esq note informing them of the horrors and disaster that awaits them should they desecrate the sacred foamy swap by breaking the swap code of the latherati? Can you demand anything in return? I don't usually want much... You'd be surprised at just how sketchy I'll go for a Klondike Bar... I think THIS might blow the doors off my hidden potential here... BUT!!! We'll NEED a cover story for when the feds come asking questions! Who's gonna do THAT!? So much to do... So few slaves, erm... I mean conscripts, to get it done... Sponiebr The Prelate of cluttered dark spaces in abandoned shops 'n stuff... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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