contributes
Check the list of the most common soap-making oils & the qualities they will give to your soap recipes!💚
This info will be useful when you will create your next Soap! 🛁
Like choosing the ingredients in any recipe, choosing the oils in your soap recipes is a very important step in your soap making. Each oil imparts different qualities to the final soap
Creating your soap recipe is the art of balancing them to create the perfect bar of soap
💛Apricot Kernel Oil
Apricot kernel oil is a light oil that is similar to almond oil in its fatty acid makeup. It absorbs nicely into the skin and is a good luxury conditioning oil in soap - at about 5% - 10%. It's good in soap, massage and bath oils, massage bars and bath bombs.
💛Almond Oil A lovely moisturizing oil that is very light and absorbs well. In soap, it produces a low, stable lather, but I wouldn't use it more than about 5% - 10% in soap - as it's not a very hard oil in soap.
💛Avocado Oil Avocado oil is a heavy, green, rich, moisturizing oil that has a high percentage of unsaponifiables (the portions of the oil that don't react with the lye to form soap,) so it's a good oil to superfat with.
💛Babassu Oil
Babassu oil comes from the kernels of the babassu palm. Its fatty acid makeup is very similar to palm kernel and to coconut oil. It's high in lauric and myristic acid, which contribute to a nice, fluffy lather.
💛Canola Oil Canola, a kind of rapeseed, is a good economical oil for soap making - you can substitute a portion of your olive for canola, or use it as part of your batch at 10-15%. It gives a nice, low, creamy lather and is moisturizing. It will slow down the rate at which your soap will get to trace, so it's a good oil to add if you're doing complicated swirls or colors.
💛Castor Oil Castor oil is a thick, clear oil that helps increase the lather in soap - a rich, creamy lather. It's also a humectant (attracts moisture to your skin) oil. Just a little will do...5% - 8% in your recipe will work wonders. Shampoo bars often use 10%-15%...but more than that and you get a soft bar of soap.
💛Coconut Oil Coconut oil is one of the primary oils soapmakers use in their soap. Most of the coconut oil sold and used has a melting point of 76°, but there is a hydrogenated type that melts at 92°. Either version works the same to give tremendous, bubbly lather to your soap. It also makes for a very hard, white bar of soap.
💛Corn Oil
Not many soap makers use corn oil. There's nothing wrong with it; there are just better oils to use. It acts like most of the other vegetable liquid oils like soybean or canola. Some soap makers choose not to use it for fear of affecting people with corn allergies. That aside, it can be used as part of your recipe (10-15%) and will help give a moisturizing, stable lather. Nothing remarkable - but if you've got some on hand that you're not going to use for cooking, go ahead and use it in soap.
💛Grapeseed Oil
Grapeseed oil is a lightweight, moisturizing oil that is a good additive to soap in small quantities. It doesn't have a long shelf life, so unless you treat it with rosemary oleoresin extract, or have a very low superfat percentage, don't use it more than about 5% in your recipe.
💛Hemp Seed Oil Hemp oil, hemp milk, hemp seeds, hemp flour Annabelle Breakey/Getty Images Hemp seed oil is a deep, green color with a light, nutty smell. No, it doesn't smell like marijuana, nor does it have any of the effects that marijuana has, but it does indeed come from the seed of the cannabis plant. It's really lovely in lotions and creams and great in soap too. It gives a light, creamy/silky lather. Because of its fatty acid makeup, it has a very short shelf life less than six months, so it should be refrigerated or even kept in the freezer.
Use the info above to create your soap recipe next time & enjoy the process!