Teach Soap

Normally I use olive oil as my main oil of choice but recently thought I would try adding something else that would work in a similar way for a gentle bar of soap. Mostly because of cost really, I like the oil I get from my supplier and am a little concerned to try one from the Grocery Store or Walmart( that would be cheaper) after reading about several olive oils that weren't pure for soap making. ANyway, thought I would cut the OO in half and sub in apricot oil or avocado oil or even almond oil(as I have lots of that and love it)...would these work in a similar way to produce a gentle bar? Thanks Everyone!

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www.fostersfields.ca
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Well avocado & apricot oil don't have the exact same properties as olive. When I think of an oil that would be similar to olive, property wise, I think Rice Bran. Although I have completely subbed out my olive oil in my regular recipe & used rice bran for it. It was too drying for my skin.

Are you looking for oils with the same properties as olive? Or are you looking for conditioning oils to use in conjunction with your olive oil.

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Genny

When the price of olive oil went high, I subbed half of rice bran with olive oil. I didn't care for the final feel of the bar and went back to olive. Experiment and see what you like.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

You're looking for a good conditioning oil - so high in Oleic and/or high Oleic & Linoleic combination of fatty acids.

Here are some common OO substitutes:
Apricot Kernel Oil (up to 5-10% of recipe)
Avocado Oil (up to 5-30% of recipe)
Almond Oil, Sweet (up to 5-10% of recipe)
Canola (up to 5-15% of recipe) - slows trace so nice for swirling

Less common substitutes that I've seen:
Rice Bran (up to 5-25% of recipe)
Safflower (up to 5-15% of recipe) - can go rancid
Sunflower (up to 5-25% of recipe) - slows trace so nice for swirling
Soybean (up to 5-20% of recipe)

Here are some oil property resources:
Soaping Oil/Butter Properties PDF file (
Properties of Oils Spreadsheet PDF file
Soapmaking Oil Chart
Soap Making Oils / Formulating a Recipe

Thank you Robert. Can I add your comment to the post sticky?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Of course, Irena.

Thanks for all your help, Irena. You've helped me out a ton and I'm sure helped a whole lot of people <- just a random side note of thanks.

Here is an article from the Olive Oil Times - apparently, they are developing a high-oleic acid soybean oil to challenge olive oil's supremacy in that category:

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks for the replies, @ robertw98144, how long have you been soaping for? Curious and nosey:0)

Do any of you know if there are any tested and true Walmart OO's that I could use...don't want to purchase another order from my supplier just yet but I am going to run out of it(NOTE TO SELF-buy larger quantity of that next time)

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www.fostersfields.ca
https://www.facebook.com/FostersFields

I buy Walmart Olive Oil all of the time. I just get the pure olive oil. Never had any problems with it.

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www.facebook.com/Semplice-Naturals

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www.fostersfields.ca
https://www.facebook.com/FostersFields

I buy the Walmart brand. I picked up a bunch of different brands, and they all say the same thing...something like "a blend of olive and extra virgin olive oil." I decided not to worry about it too much. Works just fine.

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Oh - one more thing. Yesterday I had picked a bar from Camamu to test in the shower (they are an Oregon-based company that I first saw at an herbal conference a couple years ago, and they're in a lot of stores here in the Seattle area). It's not the first bar I've tested from them, but it was the best so far. Looking at the ingredients, they list Apricot Kernel Oil in addition to the "trifecta" of OO, CO, PO. The bubbles & lather were really nice though less creamy than my default formula. I'm going to pick some of the Apricot Kernel Oil to try as a partial OO sub.

It was also interesting that the exfoliants were so dang strong and it wasn't even mentioned on the bar except in the ingredients (ground alkanet & lavender buds). Some of my "unsalable" bars are because I thought the exfoliation was too strong, but they are all way less than this bar.

I'm also fascinated that their bar length exactly matches the BB 5lb mold width (3.375" I think), and that their height is only 2". A significantly smaller bar of soap than many, but the proportions are great & the thickness is a little over an inch, so it feels like a good solid bar in the hand. 4oz total weight. Just an interesting bar dimension. The most common dimension I see is 2.5" x 3.5" x 1". My personal favorite so far is 3.5" x 2.25" x 1.06".