Palm Oil

Palm Oil comes from the same tree as Palm Kernel Oil, the Elaeis Guineensis, an African Palm tree. This oil, however, comes from the pulp of the fruit and not the seeds. Standard palm oil is refined and deodorized leaving it a creamy off white colour.

A few of Palm Oil's qualities are as follows:

- often used to replace lard and tallow to make all vegetable oil soaps.

- produces a hard bar with a stable lather.

- is high in palmitic acid, vitamin E, vitamin K and magnesium.

- considered a natural anti-oxident.

- this oil is what gives soap its ability to be long lasting.

- speeds up saponification considerably.

- use as a base oil of up to 40% in your soap recipe.

Be sure to purchase your Palm Oil from a supplier that buys from companies that adhere to environmentally sustainable programs.

The chart below shows the approximate percentages of fatty acids present in Palm Oil.


Lauric Myristic Palmitic Stearic Ricinoleic Oleic Linoleic Linolenic
  1 44 5   39 10  
Hardness  
Cleansing  
Full Lather   F/L  
  Stable Lather  
  Conditioning

This information is provided for reference use only and is not meant to substitute the advice of a licensed health care professional.

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