Choosing what oils and butters to use, is the first step when formulating a soap recipe. When I first got into soap making I tried and tested multiple combinations until I found the one which suited me best. I still like tweaking my recipes now and again and trying out new oils. It’s part of the fun of the limitless world of soap.
I made the decision to not use palm oil, for environmental reasons, and use sustainably sourced coconut oil instead, though the increased use of coconut oil these past years has also had an environmental impact. Palm oil or coconut oil are needed to produce a hard soap as they are saturated oils. Olive oil is the main ingredient in all my soaps and is a wonderful soap ingredient. Even though it’s an unsaturated oil, with time, the soap will harden. It’s also an oil with beneficial skin properties as it helps form a moisturising layer while still allowing the skin to breathe.
I add other oils for their specific properties such as castor oil (lather) avocado oil and sweet almond oil (conditioning), shea butter (nourishing).
