Peanut Oil - Soap for Dry Skin

Do you want to know which ingredient makes a great soap for dry skin? Believe it or not, the answer is peanut oil! Surprised? Well, you should be. After all, peanut oil is best known for cooking high grease fried foods that are not exactly skin friendly; but when this oil is used in the soap making process and saponification occurs, an amazing transformation takes place!

Peanut oil has skin care benefits that are very similar to castor oil, olive oil and avocado oil. Not only is it non-drying, but it also softens and conditions the skin extremely well.

Furthermore, peanut oil has high levels of vitamin E which protects the skin from damaging free radicals, aids in the removal of wrinkles, and helps regenerate damaged cells.

Wow! Sounds like this is the perfect natural skin care ingredient. Hmm... Is there any such thing as perfect? Of course not! Although this oil does make an amazing soap for dry skin, it needs to be used in conjunction with other soap making oils for the best results.

Here are some of the negatives associated with using peanut oil alone to make soap:

1. Peanut oil produces a weak lather
2. It makes extremely soft soap
3. It spoils quickly

As you can see, most of the negatives associated with using peanut oil has nothing to do with skin care, but are structural in nature. Combine this oil with other beneficial ingredients and your problem is solved! Use coconut oil to generate a better lather, palm oil to add hardness to the bar, and grapefruit seed extract or ROE to naturally preserve your finished product.

My recommendation: If you decide to incorporate peanut oil into your soaps allow it to take up only about 15% of the total oils used in your soap making recipe. This will be plenty to produce a beneficial soap for dry skin, yet a small enough portion to eliminate the negative attributes of this oil.

Where can you get peanut oil? Just about any supermarket carries this product in small quantities. If you're looking for something a little bit larger scale and more economical, call around to your local Asian restaurants (they use a lot of peanut oil in their cooking) and ask them where they purchase their supply.

Most are more then happy to help, but I think that they are more willing if you ask them when picking up your order. After they see that you are a customer, most will bend over backwards to satisfy you!

Click here to learn more about using peanut oil for soap making.

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