FYI - Tallow Lovers

[mretzloff]

Good luck. I wish you much success.

I asked my mother if she would make some tallow shaving soap. She did and it is curing (it'll be another three or four weeks). If it turns out nicely, I can let you guys sample some.

 

[krissy]

Animal Fats (tallow or lard) provide a certain creaminess to the soap that you can't get with just palm oil. I do use palm oil as well as lard. But need to get some tallow.

Jim that quote is a basic description on how milled soap is made. Then triple milled is run through the rollers three times before the process is complete.

I've learned one thing about soapmakers. There are many who just add in ingredients by picking amounts to use out of thin air. Then there are others who look at certain benchmarks that a soap will provide to get the qualities they are looking for. Tweaking a recipe by 1 percent in this direction or the other of specific oils really can make a big difference in the final product. The lye calculator that I prefer to use gives me benchmark numbers to look at. And while they aren't 100% accurate I do think they are fairly close for the most part. And I can figure a recipe out and the finished product will have the qualities that I was looking to create.

Yes I will be working on a tallow based soap recipe. But you also need to have the right blend of oils in the right percents to balance everything out to get the qualities one is looking for.


SHANE : if you are considering making your own soap, that isn't made out of a melt and pour soap base, I can teach you how to do it easily and safely. It's quite simple and rewarding !!! I'll even help you with a recipe. Before making a shaving soap, what about making a bath soap first. Then you can make your shaving soaps and have the best of both worlds. I can get you a basic recipe to use that is using oils found right in your local walmart.


cleancut..... question for you. You say the scent of Old Spice. Now granted this isn't a product my hubby uses (commercially made) but the scent of Dragon's Blood Fragrance Oil makes me think of Old Spice for some reason. Is that what your talking about or other scents? But looking it up on one of my tricks of the trade I see there are a few companies that make a dupe for old spice.

unscented should always be an option.


One of the biggest reasons why it's being replaced is because so many people are anti-amimal product these days. They lose customers because they have animal products such as tallow in them. But there is a smaller group who will be looking for that product in the ingredient list. So by changing over they gain more customers than they would lose.

 

[whitebar]

A Violet EO tallow soap might also be quite interesting.

 

[Sharpj74]

A Violet EO tallow soap might also be quite interesting.

+1 very interested in Violet & other florals

 

[Sullybob]

If you have some simple, old-school fragrances, I'm in. Sandalwood would be a big plus.

I would also be interested in this.

 

[ScotchDave]

I'll probably be torn to bits by the angry tallow mob, but still: can someone please remind me again why tallow is special given that its major constituents are nothing out of the ordinary and can be replaced with a little effort by a mixture of various plant oils (especially palm oil) and fats? Not saying that tallow is bad and that plants are good or vice versa or anything else (especially not that a guy can't heave a hobby project): I am questioning this rather odd fixation on tallow.

In biochemistry it is a well known fact that different sources of the same compound can have vastly different properties due to different structures. This is probably why animal fat (tallow) reacts differently to palm fat, and behaves differently in soap.

 

[TacoBell]

If you have some simple, old-school fragrances, I'm in. Sandalwood would be a big plus.

 

[xgunterx]

I have no clue what the smallest batch/order would be on industrial scale, but if it is doable, it would/could be nice to maybe incorporate an on demand fragrance where the client provides the EO's.
Then B&B could maybe twice a year bring out their own special (maybe even rebranded) soap.
Hell, you could even contact the perfume-houses to develop sticks for them.
Because I never understood why you can get an EDT, AS and deo from for example Boss, but their is nothing to shave you with to complement their products.

But first things first, you absolutely need to discover the right formula that blows other soaps away. Don't settle too quick to end up in the range that is already crowded.
Get a lot of alfa's and beta's out to the shaving community. I would be glad to test (and to stockup ) and I'm sure others will too.

 

[Spatterdash]

But first things first, you absolutely need to discover the right formula that blows other soaps away. Don't settle too quick to end up in the range that is already crowded.
Get a lot of alfa's and beta's out to the shaving community. I would be glad to test (and to stockup ) and I'm sure others will too.

Agreed. Nail down a high performance soap, worry about scent later. If you need a basic scent to begin with stick a plain EO, like lime, lavender, rose. Worry about expanding the line once you have a soap that lathers well, provides blade protection and gives a moisturizing, super-slick shave.

After that, everything else will be details.

And yes, I'd help beta-alpha test this well.

 

[ambrose]

english lavender, cedar, bergamot

 

[Confilo]

english lavender, cedar, bergamot

+1
Best of luck in your efforts. we need more tallow soap options.

 

[krissy]

If your having it custom made and much of the cost is in the added scent. But many love the scent of sandalwood EO, and a friend of mine and I were just talking about this this morning since it's becoming a favorite of his. (yes he makes soap and his wife makes the lotions, i helped to teach them.)

But he was showing me one of the sources to buy quality sandalwood EO that had the best price but he couldn't justify the cost. Just thought you might find it interesting to see.

http://www.camdengrey.com/essential-oils/Raw-Materials-Essentials-Oils-P-Z/sandalwood-indonesia.html

 

[xgunterx]

8<

http://www.camdengrey.com/essential-oils/Raw-Materials-Essentials-Oils-P-Z/sandalwood-indonesia.html

Those are very steep prices.
http://www.aromatiqueoils.com/80375...=603960&cat=&ack=9&search=sandalwood&sought=1

 

[soapbox]

My folks run a soap company (I don't actually work there unless I go home and they need IT support, though) and they're aggressively doing R&D on a tallow-based shave soap. Dad is up to 6 cold-process test batches so far and I have begun a small beta test with a few B&Bers, with more to come.

I agree that the hydrocarbon chemistry of palm oil is very similar to tallow. If there's a difference, we'll find out what it is.

Dad was interested in shaving soap, and given the demand for tallow soap and the fact that he already uses tallow in the bath soaps (except for the all-vegetable soaps, obviously), he felt like it would be a natural extension of the product line. Glad to see people are fired up about tallow soaps.

 

[Confilo]

My folks run a soap company (I don't actually work there unless I go home and they need IT support, though) and they're aggressively doing R&D on a tallow-based shave soap. Dad is up to 6 cold-process test batches so far and I have begun a small beta test with a few B&Bers, with more to come.

I agree that the hydrocarbon chemistry of palm oil is very similar to tallow. If there's a difference, we'll find out what it is.

Dad was interested in shaving soap, and given the demand for tallow soap and the fact that he already uses tallow in the bath soaps (except for the all-vegetable soaps, obviously), he felt like it would be a natural extension of the product line. Glad to see people are fired up about tallow soaps.

Great site and History. Bring in the tallow shaving soap. I'll be first to try it

 

[soapbox]

Great site and History. Bring in the tallow shaving soap. I'll be first to try it

Well, not exactly the first...

I'll pass along the good wishes to Mom and Dad.

 

[xgunterx]

My folks run a soap company (I don't actually work there unless I go home and they need IT support, though) and they're aggressively doing R&D on a tallow-based shave soap. Dad is up to 6 cold-process test batches so far and I have begun a small beta test with a few B&Bers, with more to come.
8<

That is good news.
Always willing to test all the batches.
6 slices of 5ml is easily shipped and I would take the time to put all my thoughts about it on paper/mail.

 

[krissy]

Soapbox you have mail, i have a question about something on your website.



Yes some EO are very expensive but you also need to know who your buying them from because they all say they don't cut them but they do. You need to make sure your buying them from a reputable seller. And Camden Grey is a very good supplier. And my personal belief is they are a small unknown site and selling cheaper then chances are they are cut oils because they aren't buying in bulk quanties to pass on the savings to the buyers. But that is also a supplier in the UK vs the states.

 

[miket]

Soapbox, I really enjoyed reading through your folk's web site. I found the Mississippi connection interesting as well. I will defininately have to order some soap from them.

Mike

 

[TOB9595]

Soapbox
Best wishes for the tallow soap to work out.

I used to work in Capitol City Products where they cracked palm oil for soaps and foods...I think it will be a viable substitute...Proof is in the soap...as they say
Tom