Teach Soap

Hello All,

I am new here and have really enjoyed lurking around the forum, and love seeing the photo's of the beautiful soaps that many of you have made. I am in awe. I am pretty much a newbie and have maybe 10 batches of soap under my belt. I have tried recipes with lard and with out lard and personally I like the soap made with lard better. Can someone please tell me the downside of using lard?

Many thanks,
Anne

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Contented goats give special milk; it's mostly cream and smooth as silk

There is no downside using lard in soaps. It's just some people prefer not to use animal based fats.

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

Apart from what Irena said, it can make the soap smell a bit piggy if you use too much. It is very conditioning. 10% is OK.

Thank you both for your replies. I had thought there was some sort of "taboo" that I was missing. I totally understand those that don't eat pork for religious reasons not wanting to bathe with a lard soap, but I just couldn't wrap my head around anything else.

Anne

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Contented goats give special milk; it's mostly cream and smooth as silk

I use 20% to 50% lard in my soaps ...... I love lard.

I toyed with the idea of making a totally local soap, which would include lard. I used professionally processed Manteca for my experiment, and found it had no scent at all--I didn't scent it, and made a nice soap. I don't know whether I'll make soap for sale with lard, but it can be done without a meaty scent.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

I'm fiddling around with lamb tallow, for soap, rendering it myself. As to the odor, when I boil it in water for the first cycle, it DOES smell, in fact, the neighbors must think I'm boiling whole sheep, hides on! But by the end of the second cycle and the third, there is practically no smell at all. I made the first batch of soap a couple weeks ago and it turned out softer than I want, so I'm going to trade a little of the olive oil for shea and see if that firms things up a bit. I scented part of the batch with Vetiver and the rest with peppermint. Peppermint was the winner there. The soap feels wonderful on my skin and I'm hoping it will be a big hit with the folks in the big cities who are dedicated to using up the whole animal.

Probably in the USA the lard is all chemically deodorised. Here in Mexico it is not; it's a natural product, smells of pork, and is a light tan colour, not white.

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

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

I prefer my recipes with lard over all my recipes. I have never had an odor to any of my soaps scented or unscented. I buy the Manteca brand and never had a problem. Has anyone tried Soapers Choice lard?

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~Kelly~