Teach Soap

I can't get butters where I live so I have to import/ship everything and it gets expensive. Actually, the only thing I do not have to import is Olive Oil and over priced Coconut Oil. I'd like to start using butters but do not want to invest in them ... when I'm not 100% sure which ones I want.

Out of all of the butters that can be added to soap, what is your favorite and why?

cocoa butter. It lasts for years. I got out of soapmaking for a long time, and my cocoa-butter is still fine. The mango butter has a weird harsh/sour smell. I guess that's rancidity? Shea butter is very trendy right now and has been for a while. If I had to pick only one butter, I'd pick cocoa. I am planning to use up my funky-smelling butters in small quantities in CP soaps, then I will buy nothing but cocoa and shea butter. Now that we have a second fridge, I can store the Shea there.

If I can ask, where do you live?

I use cocoa butter and mango butter. I'm allergic to shea.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

My favorite butter is Cocoa Butter, I have been using it for years in its natural form for moisturizing properties especially through all of my pregnancies to help minimize stretch marks. Shea butter is a close second and find that I use more of that in my soaps than the cocoa. Babassu oil is becoming really popular and being used in place of Coconut oil in a lot of cosmetics. I have been experimenting with it in bath melts and I LOVE IT so I have tried in a bathbomb recipe I just tweaked so see how it holds up. I have read in several different places that it does wonderfully in body butters and lotions. It absorbs very well into the skin and doesn't leave you feeling greasy which I can personally attest to.

Lj

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Lj

If you can only get a couple, the Shea and cocoa butters have the best label appeal. I use deodorized cocoa butter and love the creamy lather it promotes but it does have a higher melt point than Shea. It also costs more. In the end, I use Shea butter more. Mango butter is another great butter but doesn't share the popularity of the other two. It's fabulous in whipped body butters. It's fun to experiment with them.

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

My friend is deadly allergic to walnuts. She gets NO butter in her special bar/batch just to be sure - unless I also buy the deodorized cocoa ...

You all are the best! Thank you SO much.

I've made a ton of body butters with shea, avocado, mango and coco butter. I've been incorporating them into my CP now. I'm glad you asked that question so I could learn more too

In my body butters, there's nothing like the slip of coco butter IMHO. I'm hoping I feel the same when I finally get to use all the soap I've been making.

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Jeannine

~the journey is everything~

I prefer to leave my butters out of my cp soap personally. I like them better in body butters and sugar scrubs. I do make a bar with shea in it but I like my simple bars better.

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Haven