I "hardly" ever use animal oils!
- When I first started making soap to sell, I bought a variety of oils including some lard. Eventhough I am not a vegetarian or vegan, I decided to go all-natural/vegan, with no animal products except for goat-milk, honey and beeswax in my non vegan soaps. But.... since I had already purchased the lard, I made a batch of soap for my husband with a fragrance oil he liked. It is his "private stock". So the only time I use animal oils is when I make my husbands soap.
- —Guest Kukunanny
I use animal oils in soap making
- When I first started soap making, I used to be proud of making all vegetable soap. The bars were softer and I had to wait longer for them to cure, but I thought I was doing the right thing. My mom told me that my soap was good, but a good old bar of lard soap just couldn't be beat. So I made some lard soap for her from oils I could get from the local grocery. Lard with olive, coconut and caster oils for conditioning and suds. She loved it. AO soap is economical to make and the oils can be easily found, even in small towns like ours. It makes a hard bar that cleans and suds well. Since the tallow from meat is something that we have anyway, if we eat meat, then it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Although I do still use palm to make some soap, I will always make some plain old lard soap too. Sometimes moms are smarter than we give credit for.
- —Guest jodalene
i am against using animal fat
- I cannot imagine using any kind of animal fat, of course if you use the fat it means the animal is already dead, and anyway, I live in Israel and I would'nt use lard
- —Guest Anis David
Never! Never! Never!
- Would I use an animal's fat in my soaps! I understand that there are many sides to this argument - But I also understand that a person's skin is their largest organ. And it DEFFINATELY absorbs what is in the soaps! I'm a vegetarian - and I don't want animal fat in MY skin.
- —Guest lee arnold
Both with good measure
- If it takes 8 years for a palm tree to reach maturity and 1 or 2 for an animal....not using animal fat is not going to save them, it is not cruelty, it is a necessity, and we eat their meat. What is really ugly to me is using exotic animals tallow because what do you do with the rest of the animal? Exhibit at your home as trophy? If we let the trees grow and continue their cycle that will benefit all us in the planet, but if we let all the animal reproduce and reproduce that will misbalance our ecosystem. I think a good balance use between both will no hurt anyone
- —Liliput2007
I do not use animal fats in my soap
- The main reason for this is that I make soap for myself only, and I am vegetarian. I don't see the point of using animal products if there is and alternative I am happy to use and gives me a good product. I do not use palm oil either. I use a combination of olive oil, rice bran oil, coconut oil and vegetable butters. I am very happy with the results. The main reason for starting to make my own soap is that I didn't like all the chemicals and ingredients I found in the commercially produced bars. I respect other peoples choice to use animal fats; I just wouldn't use it myself. Each to their own
- —fizzer49
Animal oil seems more natural to me.
- This is just my uneducated opinion. I would think that soap made with animal oil would naturally be more beneficial to human skin. I have found all vegetable soap to be either too drying on the coconut/ palm side or not cleansing enough leaning towards the more liquid oil side. Adding animal oil seems to pull the diffetances together. I hope that makes sence.
- —Guest Sandy
I use tallow all the time in soap
- Not only do I use beef tallow but I have a customer who has me make soap for him out of the bear he kills each year. He and his family use it and they give it as gifts to their friends.....................Linda
- —Guest Linda Wise
I love animal oil soaps
- I proudly use animal oils in soap. David, you referred to the current trend toward more "natural" and consumers choosing veggie based as more "natural". I agree, this is happening, but I disagree with the idea. What could be more natural than an animal?? It is at least on par with veggies as "natural". Both are grown from the earth. We have unethical, unhealthy, and non-earth friendly practices in both animal and in veggie production. I believe the more important question is how are our products grown and processed? This will better determine how ethical our products are. If we remove the "ethical" question, and just evaluate the soaps on their qualities, animal oils wins hands down, therefore, I believe it is generally misguided consumers following mass media, rather than questioning the source of the products used. I, for one, am tired of animal oils getting bashed with no real substantial reason not to use them (ethically raised and processed, of course). I love animal oil soap!!
- —Guest Gillian
Animal or Vegetable?
- I use animal oils in my soap because it is practical, economical and makes a good, hard, cleansing bar of soap with a great creamy lather. It is also in keeping with my heritage as a fourth-generation soapmaker. I use a combination of both animal oils and vegetable oils and view it as having “the best of both worlds.” The use of animal oils is a byproduct. If every soapmaker on the face of the earth stood up and declared they would not use animal oils… it would not hurt the meat industry. That is because animal oils is a byproduct. But the most important point is that it is each soapmaker’s CHOICE as to what they put in their soap. As Americans, we highly value CHOICE. I respect soapmakers who prefer to use all vegetable oils and they should also respect me. I also believe that the ‘umbrella’ of soapmaking is large enough to cover animal oil and vegetable oil users alike.
- —TheCountrySoaper
animal oils or veggie oils
- I love using animal oils because I think they make a moisturizing bar. I have dry skin so it really makes a difference to me
- —Guest Aline McKay
Using AO in soaps
- I’ve used AO (animal oils) since 1999 except for a short time when I bought more expensive oils to experiment with. What I found amazed me and my customers. I could not duplicate the rich, creamy, moisturizing soaps using only the more expensive vegetable oils. I could come close, but they never stood up to the soap recipes that utilized AO. Since everyone’s skin is different, samples of soaps, with and without AO, were given to friends, families and finally skeptical customers-to-be. Everyone reported back that the soaps made using AO were the better product. I’ve only had 1 customer ask me for a vegetable only soap. She ended buying one of my AO based bars and has been a steady customer for 5 years. Today I proudly use AO in our soaps because we feel they provide the best of the best! I render my own so I know these oils contain no growth hormones, no antibiotics and no medication since the oil is obtained from the animals we raise for our table.
- —Guest Muller's Lane Farm
Animal vs. Vegetable
- Yes, I use animal oils in my soaps, and for two main reasons: they contribute to a quality bar, and it allows me to use something that might otherwise be wasted and to make it into something wonderful. Yes, there are political, ethical, and religious issues surrounding AO's that I am fully aware of, but I have made the decision to continue using them and have only had a couple of customer objections. Nothing is without trouble or consequences. Use of AO's include issues around treatment of animals, hormones, vegetarians/vegans, factory farming, etc. VO's regarding ethical cropping, GMO's, pesticides, herbicides, and adulteration of oils. We all need to look at the issues and decide what's best for us.
- —soapbeth
I see many sides of the discussion...
- I'll get things started...but not with a particularly definitive answer. I have been on many sides of the discussion...and can relate to them all. I care deeply about animal cruelty and how much of a toll factory farming has on the earth. I also understand the devastation that palm oil farming is having on parts of the world. I also have respect for hunters who respectfully and gratefully use the whole animal - fat and all. They're often more in-touch with and respectful of our earth than the average shopper at the grocery store picking up a pound of hamburger. There are also decisions we make if we are making soap for ourselves...vs. making it for customers. While both Dove and Ivory soap contain beef tallow, I rarely ever had a customer come up to me asking for it to be in their soap...indeed, most of them wouldn't buy a soap that they knew had animal oils in it. We have to choose the ingredients in our recipes carefully...and for many different reasons. What are yours?
- —candleandsoap
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