Teach Soap

Hi folks,
I have a standard recipe I use which I would like to tweak two ways:

Castor Oil 6.1%
Coconut Oil 26.1%
Olive Oil 40.0%
Palm Oil 20.0%
Shea Butter 7.9%

1. I am out of shea right now. What might be a good substitute? I have jojoba, apricot kernel, avocado and (I think) mango and cocoa butter.

2. The percent of olive oil means that this is a rather expensive bar. I would like to tweak it to be somewhat cheaper but, obviously, still a high-quality soap. I don't need to take the OO out all together but I'm thinking perhaps I could add an additional oil that could help reduce the cost. Any thoughts? I'd rather not use tallow (prefer vegetarian soap).

Thanks for any feedback!!!

In answer to question 1, cocoa butter is a good sub for shea butter in soap.

I don't have a solid answer to you for #2. Locally olive oil is the cheapest oil I can find, besides soybean oil.
Some soapers use Rice Bran Oil in place of their olive oil, but I know that if you use too much Rice Bran Oil your soap can go rancid easier.

_________________
Genny

I've used 15% soybean oil in place of some of the olive oil in my recipe and it works very well.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Try rice bran oil for part of the olive.

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

I've never used rice bran oil. How does it compare? What % of rice bran oil would you recommend? I would still keep some of the olive oil--just cut down the percent.
Thanks!

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

I like using rice bran oil...I use it at 15%, sometimes 20%. I did some plugging (with RBO) and tried to keep as close to your #s as possible:

OO 30%
CO 25%
PO 25%
RBO 15%
castor 5%

Hardness 41 yours (with shea) 41
Cleansing 17 18
Condition 55 55
Bubbly 22 23
Creamy 29 29

Sat : Unsat 43:57 43:57

You could sub mango butter for the shea! My two favorite butters! I love how mango butter makes a bar feel, nice and silky!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist