Beyond being a kitchen staple, coconut oil has found its way into the realm of soap, bringing with it a wealth of beauty benefits. Coconut oil is one of the most common oils in soapmaking. This post explores a few of the reasons that we use coconut oil in our soap here at Wyldewood.
- Lather - Coconut oil contributes to a rich and creamy lather in soap. Coconut oil contains lauric and myristic saturated fatty acids. This unique fatty acid profile helps promote big, fluffy lather in handmade soaps.
- Cleansing - The unique fatty acid profile of coconut oil also contributes to the exceptional cleansing properties of each finished bar of soap. Due to the exceptional cleansing properties of coconut oil in soap, it can become drying when used at a high rate in a soap recipe. We developed our recipe very carefully to harness the best benefits of coconut oil while including other oils to more than balance any drying effects.
- Solid at room temperature – This may seem like a strange idea, but we have found that there is a fine balance between including too many oils that are liquid at room temperature and oils that are solid at room temperature and how hard the final bar will be. We prefer handmade soap bars that are long lasting and do not dissolve quickly in water. Coconut oil is just one of the oils we use to provide a firm long lasting bar of soap.
- Long shelf life – Coconut oil has a very long shelf life so you don’t have to worry about using your bars of soap by a certain date. Personally, I find that the longer a soap is allowed to cure, the better the finished bar of soap will be. If the superfat level is too high, there is always a chance that free oils could go rancid. Some soaps will develop orange spots (called Dreaded Orange Spots by many soapers) over time which is a side effect of oils going rancid over time. We have kept many bars of soap for years to monitor and have not had any show up.
Coconut oil's versatility as a skincare superhero extends seamlessly into the world of soap. From fluffy luxurious lather to firm long lasting bars of soap, coconut oil brings a lot to the table for soap makers. Your daily cleanse just got a whole lot more luxurious and pampering thanks to this one powerhouse ingredient.