Why is my lard soap ugly?

[kdezman]

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Lard, Pig Tallow (Manteca)	50	7.65	216.99
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	20	3.06	86.8
Shea Butter	20	3.06	86.8
Castor Oil	10	1.53	43.4
Total

This is my lard recipe. I'm using armour lard and it is good until 2026 according to the package. I've made 3 batches and all have varying shades of browning and just general ugliness. I do not have this issue with olive oil soaps, similar recipe. The fragrance oils (3 different ones from 2 companies) are not the culprit according to their reviews. I generally soap between 85-95F. Thanks so much for any insight!

 

[Yooper]

If it's browning, it likely IS the fragrance oils.
85F is cool for hard oils though, so you may want to ensure that that you're not getting a false trace but that wouldn't cause browning.

 

[mandolynne]

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Lard, Pig Tallow (Manteca)	50	7.65	216.99
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	20	3.06	86.8
Shea Butter	20	3.06	86.8
Castor Oil	10	1.53	43.4
Total

This is my lard recipe. I'm using armour lard and it is good until 2026 according to the package. I've made 3 batches and all have varying shades of browning and just general ugliness. I do not have this issue with olive oil soaps, similar recipe. The fragrance oils (3 different ones from 2 companies) are not the culprit according to their reviews. I generally soap between 85-95F. Thanks so much for any insight!

fragrance oils with vanilla will eventually turn your soap brown. It happens as it cures.