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Before buying grocery store oils, if the front label does not specify which type of oil it is (it will say "vegetable oil" instead of "corn oil"), check the back label. If it's a blend, it will say something like "soybean oil, corn oil" on the back label.
Walmart's brand of soybean oil does say "vegetable oil" on the front, and checking the back is a necessity when looking for soybean oil. I didn't realize Walmart sold soybean oil until I looked at that back label.
On lye calculators that list Crisco (such as SoapCalc), it is for the hydrogenated shortening, not the liquid oil.
As for oils for white soap, going with oils available in grocery stores: Crisco shortening, "light" or "extra light" olive, safflower, and lard.
In my experience, olive gives a fairly white soap, but it does have a yellow tone to it. I didn't realize it until I held a bar against a bright white sheet of paper. Boy, did that yellow pop! But I have found that light or extra light makes for an even whiter bar than regular or pomace oilive.
Other good oils for white soap are any clear to very lightly colored oil, such as sweet almond, apricot kernel, castor, and fractionated coconut. Of course, coconut, palm kernel, and babassu all soap white. I haven't used it, but I believe tallow soaps white also.
If you want to include butters in your soap, and you're aiming for a white soap, use the more refined white butters. The unrefined and filtered butters tend to give yellow tones to soap. Also, some ingredients (honey, FOs, EOs, etc) can cause yellowing or other discoloration.
How much yellow tone you get with any soap recipe is dependent on the oil combination plus the amount of each oil that can give a yellow tone.
One way to learn what color which oil/butter/fat soaps to is to make a small batch of soap using just one oil. So you would make a batch with each oil you have. Do not add any extra ingredients ... just oil, water, lye.
Some of these will make decent soap, some won't. But it's a good learning experience because not only will you see what color they soap to, you'll see just how hard/soft they soap, how they lather, etc. Keep notes on these batches and consult them when you go to create a new recipe.
Carol
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