You've probably heard us say it a few times when you come to visit us at markets. This mysterious nut oil that's used in our bar soaps.
It comes from a nut tree in South America called babassu. It is a great alternative to coconut oil in which it has so many comparable properties but without the comedogenic aspect. Now what's comedogenic? (That's another question we hear after people ask why babassu).
Simply put, comedogenic = pore clogging.
The wrong balance of coconut oil in your soap can actually lead to skin irritations from scratching to rashes. However for some, it's highly moisturizing and can soothe those irritations.
Unrefined, aka virgin coconut oil, aka solid at room temperature -is typically the one that causes these problems.
Refined, aka MCT oil, aka liquid at room temperature -usually has some of its fatty acids removed and leaves behind the "medium-chain triglycerides", and we use this in our lip balms!
Now back to babassu oil which is used in our soap bars. It has anti-fungal and antioxidant properties, helps with moisturizing, is more lightweight than coconut oil, and gives our soap high oleic properties (good for people with dry skin), and also a nice creamy feel. It is not as easily accessible and definitely pricier than coconut oil ($1 - $4/100g) vs. babassu oil ($4 - $8/100g).
Back story
My husband is actually one of these people that found out he was allergic to coconut oil. I used to buy bar soaps from other small businesses and on various occasions he would start getting bright red rashes on his body. It was something I never noticed for myself because I love bar soaps and never cared to read the ingredients as long as it was made by the owner, and it smelled good.
After his second incident, I started reading the ingredients and would offer different soaps to him, and then gave one that had coconut oil in it again just to see. After the third occurance we figured it was the coconut oil. He asked if there was something I could do because he also loves soap bars, so I made these. Many markets later, I started having other family members tell me that they were allergic to coconut oil and what I suggested as an alternative.
Long story short, I don't use coconut oil in any of my products due to its comedogenic properties.
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