To make good soap, you need lye, also known as caustic soda or sodium hydroxide (NaOH). You also need a balance of hard and soft oils. Hard oils are for hardness, cleansing and lather. Soft oils create a softer, milder soap.
The below SAP Chart will assist you in selecting oils for your soap making formulations.
- It shows you how much Lye you will need to saponify a particular oil for cold process soap making.
- SAP is a saponification value. It is the ratio of caustic soda to oil. The idea is not to turn all the oils into soap, and require superfat as a buffer. The superfat stops your soap from being caustic, and make it milder.
- Saponfication (SAP) value is the amount of lye required in order to turn 1 gram (1000 milligrams) of an oil or butter into soap.
- Superfatting: When you add additional oils or butters to a soap recipe. There is more fat in the mixture than the lye can react with and this results in some unincorporated oils in the finished soap.
Oil Name | Shelf Life | SAP Value | Usage Rate in Cold Process |
Apricot Kernel Oil | 1 year | .135 | up to 15% |
Argan Oil | 2 years | .136 | up to 10% |
Avocado Oil | 1 year | .133 | up to 20% |
Avocado Butter | 3 years | .133 | up to 12% |
Babassu Oil | 2 years | .175 | up to 33% |
Borage Oil | 3 years | .135 | up to 33% |
Canola Oil | 1 year | .132 | up to 40% |
Carrot Seed Oil | 2 years | .137 | up to 15% |
Castor Oil | 2 years | .135 | up to 25%, *recommend 2-5% |
Chia Seed Oil | 1 year | .158 | up to 10% |
Cocoa Butter | 2 years | .137 | up to 15% |
Coconut Oil | 18 months | .178 | up to 33% |
Coffee Butter | 2 years | .133 | up to 6% |
Coffee Seed Oil | 2 years | .139 | up to 10% |
Evening Primrose Oil | 1 year | .133 | up to 15% |
Flaxseed Oil | 6 months | .19 | up to 5% |
Fractionated Coconut Oil | 3 years | .232 | up to 30% |
Grapeseed Oil | 1 year | .133 | up to 15% |
Green Tea Seed Oil | 2 years | .136 | up to 6% |
Hazelnut Oil | 3 months | .136 | up to 20% |
Hemp Seed Oil | 1 year | .135 | up to 15% |
Jojoba Oil | 2 years | .069 | up to 10% |
Kokum Butter | 2 years | .135 | up to 10% |
Kukui Nut Oil | 2 years | .135 | up to 20% |
Lingonberry Seed Oil | 2 years | .135 | up to 15% |
Mango Butter | 2 years | .137 | up to 15% |
Meadowfoam Oil | 1 year | .12 | up to 20% |
Moringa Seed Oil | 2 years | .139 | up to 15% |
Neem Oil | 2 years | .136 | up to 6% |
Oat Oil | 1 year | .138 | up to 15% |
Olive Oil | 2 years | .134 | up to 100% |
Peach Kernel Oil | 1 year | .178 | up to 25% |
Peanut Oil | 1 year | .19 | up to 25% |
Raspberry Seed Oil | 2 years | .135 | up to 15% |
Rice Bran Oil | 2 years | .129 | up to 100%, *recommend around 20% |
Rosehip Seed Oil | 2 years | .135 | up to 10% |
Safflower Oil | 1 year | .19 | up to 20% |
Sesame Oil | 1 year | .19 | up to 10% |
Shea Butter | 2 years | .133 | up to 15% |
Soybean oil | 3 months | .135 | up to 50%, *recommend around 15% |
Sunflower Oil | 6 months | .134 | up to 100%, *recommend around 20% |
Sweet Almond Oil | 1 year | .136 | up to 20% |
Tamanu Oil | 2 years | .148 | up to 5% |
Walnut Oil | 3 months | .192 | up to 15% |
Wheat Germ Oil | 1 year | .131 | up to 10% |