Vegetal
oils and animal fats
So you can use any oil/fat but it's important to
choose them carefully. For example, I once tried a recipe with only rapeseed and
sunflower oil... not a good idea.
I decided to make soap in order to reduce my carbon
footprint. So I use mostly oils that are from Europe (rather a common kitchen
oil), easy to find, and not too expensive (but this is still Norway...).
- Organic, cold pressed, refined?
Organic: no
pesticides or other chemicals are used to produce it; organic oil is most often
cold pressed but not always.
I recommend choosing organic (and cold pressed) oil if
you want to use it on your skin, as a makeup remover for example (see the article "Eco take care of your skin...").
Same for superfat oil, since it won't be transformed but I don't always do
so.
Coldpressed: means
the oil was mechanically extracted, without warming it or using any chemicals.
It kept all its properties. It's the best value for money: good quality and not
too expensive. I don't bother using organic oil in soap (again except for
superfat oil) since it will be entirely transformed and I'm not sure it's worth
the cost.
Refined:
chemically extracted, using solvents, or hydrogenated, or warmed at very high
temperatures. It alters the composition of the oil and destroys its
beneficial components. Industrial oil manufacturers do this because it's cheaper
and easier to extract but sometimes it's done for a specific purpose: to make
it more resistant to becoming rancid, or able to stand higher temperatures, or
less smelly, and so on.
I sometimes use refined oil when I want a very brightly
colored soap because they happen to be almost transparent; or when I want to
make cheap laundry soap.
- Olive oil
The best oil ever, for soap, cosmetics, health, and your
wallet. I use it not only as the main ingredient in my base recipe but also as
superfat oil after trace (see article "Superfatting your soap"). It
is not a sensitive oil so there is no risk that your soap will go rancid and
olive oil makes very soft (for the skin) soaps. I recently made baby soap with
only olive oil and goat’s milk. Olive oil is one of the best oils for sensitive
skin.
Olive oil makes hard soaps (not every liquid oil does)
but if left in a drop of water it will turn into jelly. It is also well known
that olive oil soap doesn't produce a lot of bubbles but I've been positively
surprised by a 5-month-old soap made with 75-25 % of olive and rapeseed oil.
- Rapeseed oil
It makes very soft soaps, with a thin lather,
but it is quite sensitive. It’s therefore recommended that you don’t use more
than 20 %. It's good to combine with olive oil. Cold-pressed rapeseed oil has a
nice yellow colour, and so will your soap (but not as bright).
- Sunflower oil
Same as rapeseed oil for the softness and
sensitivity to oxidation, but it makes a nice lather with bubbles.
- Grapeseed oil
Its main interest is the lather it produces, with
bubbles. It's not recommended to use more than 15 %. I've never found it other
than refined.
- Lard
Yes, lard, or pork fat, is a good alternative to
coconut or palm oil, oils with a heavy carbon footprint (especially palm oil
and deforestation). The lather may not be as abundant with lard but I think
it's pretty good anyway. 10 to 30 % is a reasonable proportion.
I've never found it in an already "meltable"
form in Norway:
you have to prepare it yourself.
When using sensitive oils, one recommends adding some
vitamin E, which is an antioxidant.
Caustic
soda
Of course, it is the second main ingredient. It's very
easy to find in Norway
(because of this strange food specialty, lutefisk ^^), in any supermarket.
Liquid
I use tap water, but you can actually use other
ingredients (herbal tea, rice cooking water, milk). When using liquid other
than water you should take into consideration that the temperature will
increase a lot when you pour the caustic soda into it. It may help to freeze your
liquid beforehand.
Colors
Caustic soda is very capricious; you almost never know
which color you will get.
You can use food colors; of the same brand, but only 2
out of 3 work.
However, it is not the most ecological solution: some
are imported from overseas and some contain toxic ingredients that may be
dangerous for children at high concentrations.
Fortunately, there are more natural/easy-to-find colours
you can use. For example cocoa powder, real chocolate, curry, plant powder,
clays... Try to mix it in a little bit of soap dough, to begin with.
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| Purple food color |
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| Cocoa powder |
Scent
I like nothing better than the natural smell of unscented homemade soap! But I flavor my soaps sometimes, for example with
essential oils. The problem is that it's quite expensive since you need to add
at least 2% (of the total oil weight) for it to smell.
Another solution is to buy synthetic fragrances.
They’re not as natural (and in my opinion not a lot cheaper) but you can make
crazy soaps flavored with apple pie, chocolate cakes, tropical island
scents...
Be careful: if your fragrance contains alcohol, the
dough will thicken very fast.
Bonjour Green touch !
ReplyDeleteJ'ai la même philosophie par rapport aux matières premières utilisées, j'évite l'huile de coco, de palme etc. et privilégie les produits locaux et le saindoux ;-)
Tanks for a helpful article. im learning how to super fat soaps. Is shea butter good to be used as a super fat oil?
ReplyDelete