Soap Making – Choice of Oils
Coconut Oil:
One of the most common base oils used in soap making is coconut oil (botanical name Cocos Nucifera Coconut Oil), and there is a purposeful reason for its popularity. Coconut oil helps to produce a bar of soap that has excellent cleaning properties. Most important to the soap maker is the desirable fluffy bubbly factor that coconut oil adds to finished soap.
The most common type of coconut oil used by soap makers is refined. Check with your manufacture to ensure they list refined coconut oil with wording such as 100% pure, or no added chemical. The use of unrefined coconut oil may leave extra undesirable odours in finished soap. Fractionated coconut oil makes the soap soft and mushy soap.
Avocado Oil:
Avocado oil, botanical name Persea gratissimia (Avocado) Oil, is a popular ingredient in soap making due to the conditioning and creamy lather properties. Other oils and butters are commonly added to soap recipes that contain avocado oil, such as coconut oil, to help the lather to be more fluffy and bubbly.
Avocado oil is used in many soap recipes at 10% – 20% depending on the type of finish you are wanting. Because of it’s higher palmitic acid content, it contributes to a harder bar of soap (compared to other liquid oils such as almond, grapeseed, sunflower, safflower).
Cocavo Soap Oils:
Cocavo manufactures a range of cooking oils, most based on coconut oil & avocado oil. We also use High Oleic Sunflower Oil & Pure Olive oil in some of our blended gourmet oils.
As part of our raw materials procurement processes, we are often left with excess oil after the manufacturing process. This oil is saved in food grade drums and when a certain quantity is reached, the oil is offered to hobbyist soap makers & balm makers.
We have 2 grades of soap grade oils available.
- A blend of Refined Coconut Oil and Extra Virgin Avocado Oil. The approximate blend ratio is 80% pure coconut oil & 20% extra virgin avocado oil making this the perfect soap maker oil.
- Our 2nd soap grade oil is predominantly a mix of extra virgin avocado oil 90% and the remaining 10% a mix of High Oleic Sunflower Oil & pure olive oil. This is perfect to combining with other oils used in soap making.
Cocavo understands the financial challenges faced by small home-based hobbyist soap makers. Quality oils are expensive, so to keep prices down, soap-makers will often opt for cheaper oils which is not ideal.
To help hobbyist soap-makers be able to use quality oils such as those in our 2 soap grade oils, we have opted to offer these oils at very cheap rates. Packaged in new, food-grade containers in quantities from 5 litre to 20 litre containers, these oils will help hobbyists to make their soaps economically. (Larger packaging options available on request)
Available on the Cocavo website shop for purchase now. To purchase or for more information, click on this link: https://cocavo.co.nz/product-category/second-grade-oils/
Information Source Acknowledgement: Lovinsoap.com
