Peanut Oil for Soap Making

Using peanut oil for soap making will add a stable lather and conditioning properties to your soap at a relatively low price compared to some other soap making oils.

Here are the fatty acid, iodine, and SAP values for peanut oil:

When using peanut oil for soap making, here are some of the characteristics that you will see in your soap:

The stable lather produced by peanut oil is superb and is also good for the skin with its above average conditioning properties. Unfortunately, one of the major problems with this oil is that it won't last long within your soap. Its susceptibility to early rancidity will likely cause DOS (dreaded orange spots) to appear in your soap early on down the road.

Peanut oil also produces a very soft soap. After a long cure time, it will eventually harden up... hopefully before the onset of DOS. If you do decide to use peanut oil to make soap, I recommend letting it take up no more then 20% of the oils used. I would also try to add some oils that make a harder soap and more stable oils to your recipe to help your product last a bit longer.

One of the first thoughts when thinking about using peanut oil for soap making is "what about peanut allergies". There are a ton of people that are allergic to peanuts... will peanut oil soap make them have a reaction? Is it safe for my consumer? Is it safe for my family member who has a peanut allergy?

Believe it or not, if you use the right type of peanut oil, this shouldn't be a problem. You see, people who are allergic to peanuts actually react to the proteins found within the nut. When peanut oil is properly refined, the proteins are removed. If you do decide to use peanut oil to make soap, you should definitely stick with refined peanut oil and avoid the unrefined type.

Notice that I said "properly refined" peanut oil. Unfortunately, there is no definitive way of telling whether an oil is properly refined and all the proteins are successfully removed. For this reason, I do not recommend that you use any type of peanut oil in your soap if you know it is going to be used by someone who has an allergy to the nut. It's just not worth the risk!

You can add many of the same properties and benefits to your soap by incorporating rice bran oil while avoiding some of the risk of triggering a severe allergic reaction. Keep in mind that people could be allergic to just about anything, so even if you leave this single oil out of your soap your consumer could still react adversely to other ingredients within your product. All you can do is mark your ingredients clearly on the label and leave it up to the consumer to check for possible allergens.

Click here to learn about how you can use peanut oil to make a great soap for dry skin

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