# Do I Have To Use Lard or Palm Oil?



## newbie nubian (Feb 7, 2009)

Can I use coconut oil for the main oil in soap?


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## Guest (May 8, 2010)

Yes you can Sara, some people find that coconut is drying to their skin if it is over 25 to 30 percent total in the recipe... it does create great foamy lather... 
barb


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Sara can you get it cheap enough to sell soap? If that is your goal anyway. I do make a 100% coconut bar which is more expensive than my two high percentage shea bars now. Vicki


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## newbie nubian (Feb 7, 2009)

Thanks, guys. I didn't have any palm oil on hand when I wanted to make my first goat milk soap. Wanted to make it to give to a family member who would freak out if she knew there was lard in it. I know, I know...weird.

Thanks!!


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

I love coconut soaps. I make one that is 98% coconut, 2% Shea Butter with a 15% superfat. Milk is added too. If I'm making a 100% coconut bar I up the superfat a bit more.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I make an all coconut bar too. It makes very hard soap and bubbles like crazy. The key, like Heather said, is to up the superfat so it's not drying.


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## kuwaha (Aug 22, 2009)

what is superfat?


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## tlt0000 (Apr 28, 2009)

I too would like to know what superfatting is. I know that it is when you use more oils than the lye can "react" to so you are left with some oil that is not saponified. Is that correct? I am new to all this and have tried 2 recipes. My favorite is one that is 75% coconut oil and 25% cocoa butter. We just love it. We used a store bought castile in our hair before and really prefer this to the storebought. I use the amount of lye that the lye calculators say to use. To superfat it, would I use the lesser amount of lye on the calculator? I am wanting to try it as a laundry soap but read that it shouldn't be superfatted so I want to make sure that I am not doing that.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

That's basically it, Tara. Superfatting is adding more oils than the lye will react with. I think most set it around 5%. Because coconut oil can be drying at high percentages you increase the superfat to counteract that. My all coconut is 20% SF. I set the superfat to zero for my laundry soap.

I've been wanting to try coconut/cocoa butter like that but cocoa butter is just too expensive! I should make just a small batch for me. LOL


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## tlt0000 (Apr 28, 2009)

okay, so I do superfat. I guess I superfat at 7%. I use the majestic mountain sage lye calculator, if I don't want to superfat then I should choose the amount of lye that is stated at 0%. I have been using the 5-8% range because it said it makes the best bar of soap. But by using the lye that falls in that range, you would always end up with a bar that is superfatted. So how would you know if you actually did the opposite and made a bar that is lye heavy? The extra lye would never saponify, so could you end up burning yourself with the lye when you used the bar? My understanding is that curing does not help with that, it only helps the water to evaporate more, although I have lots of people that tell me to let it cure for weeks on end so I don't burn myself with the lye. 

Cocoa butter is expensive, but I had a bunch sitting around from making lotion bars and chapped stick. I love cocoa butter


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I've only once had a batch turn out lye heavy so I'm not an expert. But it was obvious there was something wrong. It was crumbly and I got zapped with the tongue test. I never figured out what exactly went wrong....probably mis-measured something. Yes, a lye heavy bar could burn you, esp. once it got wet. I have found I can handle lye on my skin as long as my skin is absolutely dry. (Not saying it's okay to get lye on your skin!) And you are right....curing is letting the water evaporate. I think the saponification process is usually done by the next day and there should be no lye left to worry about. But it must have something to do with your formula too. I make salt bars that I unmold and cut in less than 2 hours. I handle those bars bare handed and have never had a problem. My all coconut bars are more like 6 hours. Yet I had a regular batch once that I unmolded at 12 hours and it zapped. By 24 hours the zap was gone.


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## tlt0000 (Apr 28, 2009)

So, more or less, you will know if it is lye heavy because it just won't be "right". Let me ask this... On the lye calculator it gives a range of how much water/milk you can use. How do you know, within that range, what to do. I usually choose right in the middle just because I don't know any better. Are there times you would use the larger amount and times you would use a lesser amount? Thanks, I am learning alot.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I always found that confusing when I first started out and did like you, picked the middle amount. Then I switched to using soapcalc so I could tell it exactly what superfat I wanted and what lye percentage I wanted. Using the larger water amount is in essence lowering your lye percentage (your lye percentage is the ratio of lye to water). 

Using more water gives you more time to work which is good for beginners or for when you are testing a new recipe or fragrance. I settled on 28% when I first started. Then I moved up to 30% and now I soap nearly everything at 33%. Even new FOs because I want to see if they will work with my standard procedure. I have gone higher but 33 just seems to consistently work the best for me and with my formula.


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## tlt0000 (Apr 28, 2009)

So when you raise your water amount and thereby lower your lye percentage, are you affecting the superfatting? Or do they have nothing to do with each other? And just to make sure I have it right, going from 28% to 33% is raising your lye percentage so you are using less water?


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Changing the amount of liquid (water, milk, whatever) is not going to change your superfatting (except perhaps marginally, if you are using a liquid with fat in it, like milk). It is changing how diluted your lye is, but not how much lye you are using. More diluted lye reacts with the fats/oils a little more slowly, giving you more time to work if you are just getting the hang of the process, or if you are doing decorative kinds of things like swirls, or if you might have a fragrance that speeds things up (accelerates). 

And yes to your last question. That's about the lye percentage that I am using now. I know how much lye I need based on the calculator and the superfat % I want, then I use that same weight of liquid to mix with the lye (I usually use aloe vera juice, but not always). That would give me a 50% lye solution (1/2 lye, 1/2 liquid). Then I add about that same amount of goat milk (sometimes a little more) at emulsion (when the lye solution is just thoroughly mixed with the oils). That gives me, ultimately, a 33% lye solution (1/3 lye, 1/3 whatever liquid I'm using, 1/3 GM), even though it went into the mix at different times. (Doing it that way with the GM to give a lighter bar).


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## tlt0000 (Apr 28, 2009)

WOW!! That all makes sense and I never could have understood it by reading it in a book. Thank you to everyone who took time to explain it


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