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Tallow vs Lanolin vs Tallow/Lanolin - does it matter? Are Beef fat/Bison Fat/Duck Fat more or less the same? Silk?

A lot of stuff tossed in the title, but its pretty straight forward.

Should there be a preference of Tallow vs Lanolin, vs a soap that has both Tallow and Lanolin
Is there any reason NOT to have tallow or lanolin in a soap? (I get that a lot, but not everyone, like it, but are there drawbacks?)

I've seen Beef tallow, Bison Tallow, and Mutton Tallow. Does where the tallow come from make any difference?

Silk. It's been awhile, I don't recall silk being a thing. Is it a gimmick? Does it help? are there downsides?

Thanks so much, my shopping list has narrowed, but I still need to pare it down.

Currently,
Arko stick
Haslinger Schafmilch
Sterling Soap Co - Sheep
Declaration Grooming - Yuzu/Rose/Patchuli

I can't justify all of them, I'm thinking of dropping Sterling's Sheep
 
Scientifically speaking (google searching), lanolin contains no triglycerides and tallow is primarily made up of triglycerides.

What this means in practice, I do not know. For me, tallow = slick and lanolin = sticky.

I would also imagine that different animals or plants provide different fatty acid compositions in the respective tallow, e.g., some may contain more stearic acid than others.

For example:

Beef cuts presented a predominant presence of oleic acid (36.21%), palmitic (25.67%) and stearic (20.97). Oleic and palmitic acids are present in pork meat at 42.83 and 24.15% respectively; with lesser quantities of stearic and higher amounts of linoleic acid than beef. Poultry products showed a high content of linoleic (19.54%) and low content of stearic (8.22%) acids. Pork, poultry products, and beef liver presented a considerable amount of linoleic acid 11.85%, 19.54%, and 12.09%, respectively.

Source: Fatty acid composition of beef, pork, and poultry fresh cuts, and some of their processed products - PubMed - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10347702/
 
And this is a better reference focusing on the fat in particular of duck, chicken, pork and beef:
Oxidative Stability and Quality Characteristics of Duck, Chicken, Swine and Bovine Skin Fats Extracted by Pressurized Hot Water Extraction - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6612790/table/T2/?report=objectonly

So, much of the whole hype about duck fat, is due to the fact that it is high in linoleic acid.

Linoleic acid has become increasingly popular in the beauty products industry because of its beneficial properties on the skin. Research points to linoleic acid's anti-inflammatory, acne reductive, skin-lightening and moisture retentive properties when applied topically on the skin.

However, if you do not have the money for a duck, there is a solution for you.

Cockroaches release oleic and linoleic acid upon death, which discourages other roaches from entering the area.

Source: Linoleic acid - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
Stirling's mutton tallow soaps are excellent performers. Has it been your experience that of the four you listed the Stirling mutton tallow soap doesn't perform as good as the others?
 
Stirling's mutton tallow soaps are excellent performers. Has it been your experience that of the four you listed the Stirling mutton tallow soap doesn't perform as good as the others?
Stirling mutton tallow soaps have been excellent performers for me too, especially for the right amount of slickness on my face and nice feel after the shave.
 
I have experience with sheep, beef, and duck soaps. They are all good. I find the soaps composed of sheep/mutton tallow seem to give the most luxurious most unctuous face feel and the duck soaps lather seems to be the lightest of them all- not inferring that i dislike the duck soaps just that the lather is lighter and i find it cleans up easier than the others. Again, all are great and can do no wrong.
 

Ravenonrock

I shaved the pig
I just can’t tell anymore, other than this feels nice while shaving and the post shave feel works. I use tallow and lanolin, beef, mutton and assorted vegetable based butters and they all seem to work equally well. I doubt I could differentiate in a blind testing.
 
There is no tallow vs. lanolin. Tallow is saponified as part of the soap. IOW, you would not find plain tallow in the soap after it is made, but tallowates instead. Lanolin is put in for skin conditioning post-shave. Some people have a skin sensitivity to lanolin, so they need to avoid it. People that like a soap to rinse totally clean might want to avoid it.

Tallow consists of a mix of different fatty acids such as stearic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid, etc. Fats from different animals have slightly different fatty acid compositions, but are fairly similar. It might make some difference in the soap's properties, but tallow is not a magic ingredient.
 
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And this is a better reference focusing on the fat in particular of duck, chicken, pork and beef:
Oxidative Stability and Quality Characteristics of Duck, Chicken, Swine and Bovine Skin Fats Extracted by Pressurized Hot Water Extraction - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6612790/table/T2/?report=objectonly

So, much of the whole hype about duck fat, is due to the fact that it is high in linoleic acid.

Linoleic acid has become increasingly popular in the beauty products industry because of its beneficial properties on the skin. Research points to linoleic acid's anti-inflammatory, acne reductive, skin-lightening and moisture retentive properties when applied topically on the skin.

However, if you do not have the money for a duck, there is a solution for you.

Cockroaches release oleic and linoleic acid upon death, which discourages other roaches from entering the area.

Source: Linoleic acid - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid
You're on quite the roll. Thanks for the info, I know a lot of times the variations don't make a lot of difference, but thought I'd ask. I guess the ones that have tallow and lanolin are licketysplit, er, slick and sticky.
 
Stirling's mutton tallow soaps are excellent performers. Has it been your experience that of the four you listed the Stirling mutton tallow soap doesn't perform as good as the others?
I've not tried any of them. Currently I'm using Proraso green, and Cremo, but I want to up the game a bit, so thought I'd try a couple of new things. In the past I'd tried some hard soaps, but didn't have much luck. My techinique is all over the place, and consistency is not my strong suit, but softer soaps help alleviate that. I guess the Sheep seemed a bit like the a less expensive version of MWF that a lot of people swear by. If @P1C0 is correct about lanolin more sticky, than I might want to just go with a Sterlings that is tallow only. I like slick/slippy soaps.
 
There is no tallow vs. lanolin. Tallow is saponified as part of the soap. IOW, you would not find plain tallow in the soap after it is made, but tallowates instead. Lanolin is put in for skin conditioning post-shave. Some people have a skin sensitivity to lanolin, so they need to avoid it. People that like a soap to rinse totally clean might want to avoid it.

Tallow consists of a mix of different fatty acids such as stearic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid, etc. Fats from different animals have slightly different fatty acid compositions, but are fairly similar. It might make some difference in the soap's properties, but tallow is not a magic ingredient.
Thanks for the info. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the labelling, but some have had lanolin, but not tallow. Some have tallow, but no lanolin, and some have both. It's seeming like the differences aren't that notable, more of just various people's recipes differ.
 
Thanks for the info. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the labelling, but some have had lanolin, but not tallow. Some have tallow, but no lanolin, and some have both. It's seeming like the differences aren't that notable, more of just various people's recipes differ.
You could have a vegetable-based soap with lanolin, too. For instance, Razorock Santa Maria del Fiore. Helps provide smooth, moisturized skin after the shave (as long as it agrees with you). I think the Razorock What the Puck hard soaps have lanolin in them, plus some shea butter.
 
There is no tallow vs. lanolin. Tallow is saponified as part of the soap. IOW, you would not find plain tallow in the soap after it is made, but tallowates instead. Lanolin is put in for skin conditioning post-shave. Some people have a skin sensitivity to lanolin, so they need to avoid it. People that like a soap to rinse totally clean might want to avoid it.

Tallow consists of a mix of different fatty acids such as stearic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid, etc. Fats from different animals have slightly different fatty acid compositions, but are fairly similar. It might make some difference in the soap's properties, but tallow is not a magic ingredient.
Thanks for the info. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the labelling, but some have had lanolin, but not tallow. Some have tallow, but no lanolin, and some have both, some have neither. I'm not thinking it makes a huge deal, but some people really swear by one or the other.
 
No. Your preference should be for an accomplished soap maker, not for accomplished ingredients.
I wouldn't know who they are, but for the most part I'm looking at soaps that a number of knowledgeable people here have mentioned. That said, as always, not everyone agrees. A lot of people like MWF, but a few really dislike it. Some people are fans of Arklo, most don't have a big problem with it, but are much more wanting the fancier stuff. Scent is a whole other factor.

I wasn't trying to imply that any of these are better or not. One of the soaps I'm considering has no animal products or by products at all. I just didn't know much, and thought it might help. If all tallow is mostly the same, then it doesnt matter much if its Bison or Mutton. If lanolin/tallow together aren't that different from just tallow, or just lanolin, then again, its just a bit of info to add to the process.

EDIT: Also, price is a factor. I wasn't wanting to really go above about $30 or so, and hoping for maybe something less. Declaration is $32 for 113 ml, making it the highest cost, with Haslinger not far behind (but it was coming in small sizes, which made it more affordable to try), probably Catie's Bubbles, and I think Stirling was the least expensive one. Obviously there is some very high end stuff out there. I'm just hoping to find something a bit more satisfying then the Proraso green, and Cremo, that I've been using.
 
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Thanks for the info. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the labelling, but some have had lanolin, but not tallow. Some have tallow, but no lanolin, and some have both, some have neither. I'm not thinking it makes a huge deal, but some people really swear by one or the other.
This is what I've read. And I have friends that make their own soap. Tallow is rendered animal fat. Lanolin is the fat that comes off of wool when it's processed. I don't know of a lanolin based soap. Like the Gentleman above said it's added to some tallow soaps for the added skin conditioning. It is harder to get it completely rinsed off but that may be the point?
If you don't have skin sensitivity to it you might find it improves your skin.
 
This is what I've read. And I have friends that make their own soap. Tallow is rendered animal fat. Lanolin is the fat that comes off of wool when it's processed. I don't know of a lanolin based soap. Like the Gentleman above said it's added to some tallow soaps for the added skin conditioning. It is harder to get it completely rinsed off but that may be the point?
If you don't have skin sensitivity to it you might find it improves your skin.
Haslinger Shcafsmilch has lanolin but no tallow. I decided to drop that one from my list. Declaration has one that has both, and Catie's Bubbles has one that has neither, so I thought I'd go that route, and just get those two, and an Arklo stick (I've not tried a stick before, and the Arklo fans are pretty rabid, so I thought for the price why not see what the buzz is about).
 
Any reason not to have Tallow/Lanolin is if you are vegan-minded. Also, some people are sensitive to lanolin. Luckily I am not.

I'm not sure exact differences that tallow and lanolin has on the soap but from my experience, I prefer both of those to be in. Stirling is my favorite soap and it has both. The mutton tallow makes it little more creamy. I like Mitchell's Wool Fat. And the list goes on...

I'd recommend to keep the Stirling Sheep. It's one of my go-to soaps for an easy, luxurious shave.
 
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