Tallow vs Veggie

I am a huge fan of the recent artisan soap explosion in the US. I don't want to count how many different types of soaps I have and I'm not joing the 3017 club because the truth is the year 3017 isn't long enough for me to plow through them all. The last few weeks I've been experimenting with different razor / blade combo's. To avoid really making a mess of my face I have been sticking with the 2 soaps I know will offer fantastic glide and protection every time. Mama Bear and Mikes. I'm not an expert on either, but it seems to me most if not all of Mama Bears use veggie based oil, and all of Mikes use tallow. I've always been of the belief tallow based soaps are better, but I sure get good shaves from MB's.

Anyone interested in sharing their thoughts or experiences with tallow vs. veggie oil based soaps?

It all depends on ingredients, Synergy and Petal Pushers are two of the best soaps I've used and they are both veggie. There's lots of good tallow soaps too. No reason not to use whatever you like!

Whether tallow or veggie, some are good, some aren't. There's no way to tell without trying them.

Modern Williams is tallow and it sucks. MdC is veggie and it supposedly is the greatest soap ever.

MB is my favorite soap.

I prefer tallow in my kitchen rather than on my face. McDonald's fries haven't been the same since they quit using it.

mmack66 said:

Whether tallow or veggie, some are good, some aren't. There's no way to tell without trying them.

Modern Williams is tallow and it sucks. MdC is veggie and it supposedly is the greatest soap ever.

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I won't call it the greatest soap ever, but MdC does rank right up with the other top soaps I've tried. I found it to be a leader in how efficient it is, though. I barely run the brush over it and it's loaded enough for a full 3 pass shave...

Anyways, the debate has raged on about tallow vs veggie for longer than I've been a member here. In the end, it's not about tallow or veggie fats, it's about the the rest of the formulation bring it all together. Several artisan soap makers have chimed in over the years, a few recently in another thread. They all said in the end you can make great soap from either, or you can make pretty lousy soap from either.

I've had some great results from both and poor results from both. The true quality of the soap is more than just one ingredient!

That being said I do like to look for tallow but that's just me.

mmack66 said:

Whether tallow or veggie, some are good, some aren't. There's no way to tell without trying them.

Modern Williams is tallow and it sucks. MdC is veggie and it supposedly is the greatest soap ever.

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LMAO. U guys crack me up!!!

I have some Calani that is quite stellar. Its veg

Five of my top ten are veggie; five are tallow.

Tallow doesn't guarantee a good soap, you can make great soap without tallow or with tallow. It is also possible to make terrible soap with tallow and without.

I know that tallow doesn't make a soap great by itself, but I get consistently better shaves from top tallow soaps compared to top veggie soaps. They seem to protect my face better.

It depends on the soap, both can be amazing.

Right now Arko is my all time favorite, which is tallow, but Pre De Provence is my #2, which is veggie.

Maybe we should have a threat about the top tallow soaps v. the top veggie ones!

snowman said:

Anyone interested in sharing their thoughts or experiences with tallow vs. veggie oil based soaps?

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Tallow contains significant amounts of three or four saponifiables. They are all available from veggie sources as well. One offers no implicit advantage over the other; what matters is that the person designing the soap is capable of utilizing the particular ratios existing in their source fats properly.

With veggie soaps, just make sure the first ingredient isn't olive or sunflower oil.

I wouldn't count any soap out strictly based on ingredients. I have tried a number of both and have found great performers in each category. Scent has a lot of impact on my opinion, much more so than the ingredients. My den is about equally split between the two. I usually find a soap maker that produces a good performer, order samples, and find a scent that works for me.

@Stubbl E

That was good.

I used to think that Tallow soaps were completely superior to their veggie counterparts. Synergy has changed my thoughts. Not only is it better than any other veggie soap, it is able to compete and exceed some tallows.