Olive Oil

Olive Oil is a soft moisturizing liquid fat (liquid at room temperature), since it is roughly 85% unsaturated fatty acids. It is extracted from Pressed Olive and there are varying grades of olive oil. These different grades depend of a few different factors such as the amount of free fatty acids left in the oils and weather or not its been further refined with chemical.

The Main types of Olive oil used in Soap making are Virgin Olive Oil and Pomace Olive Oil. Virgin olive oil is higher quality oil extracted from the first press of the olives, while Pomace is from the leftover solids after the press which still have some residual oil. These residual solid bits are further refined with chemicals to extract the leftover oil that can be pressed. Typically Pomace oil is slightly cheaper than Virgin olive oil and is fine to use in Soaps.

Good news its actually better to use a lower grade virgin olive oil over an extra virgin olive oil when it comes to making soap, so there some money you can save. Extra Virgin olive oil is well suited to dressings on salads not for cooking. Extra Virgin Olive oil has a very low smoking point. So when exposed to excessive heat the oil will denature and lose some of its properties. In some ways this actually makes sense when you think about it. In order for Olive Oil to be considered Extra Virgin it need to have a free fatty acid content of less than 0.8% while regular virgin olive oil only need to have a free fatty acid content of less than 2%. Now if you remember Fatty Acids are what give us the various different properties we look for in soap. So more of the Fatty acids in extra virgin olive oil of bound up and mixed with various esters and polypenols which are great for eating and have plenty of amazing antioxidant properties, however none of this is necessary for soap making. I think next I’m going to have to do some research about avocado oil as it has a very high smoking point from what Ive heard.