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BeginnerVeganPalm-freeFragranced

Vegan, Palm-Free

Plant-based, palm-free workhorse. Shea and cocoa replace palm for hardness.

4-week cure6 of 8 qualities in range

A fully vegan, palm-free balanced bar. Shea and cocoa butter pull the hardness up where palm would normally sit, while olive and coconut do the daily-driver work. A great default for makers who avoid palm for sustainability reasons.

Ingredients (1 kg batch)

IngredientAmount
Olive oil
Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil
400.0 g (40%)
Coconut oil 76°
Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil
250.0 g (25%)
Shea butter
Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter
150.0 g (15%)
Cocoa butter
Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter
100.0 g (10%)
Castor oil
Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil
50.0 g (5%)
Rice bran oil
Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Oil
50.0 g (5%)
NaOH (lye)
140.9 g (99% purity)
Distilled water
330.0 g
Fragrance / EO (3%)
30.0 g

Open the recipe in the calculator to scale up or down by gram, ounce, kg, or pound.

Expected qualities

Hardness41 (2954)
Cleansing17 (1222)
Conditioning55 (4469)
Bubbly22 (1446)
Creamy22 (1648)
Longevity42 (54100)
Iodine59 (4170)
INS113 (136165)

Step-by-step

  1. Standard CP procedure.
  2. Melt the cocoa and shea butters first; they're hard at room temperature.
  3. Combine all oils, cool to 38–43°C.
  4. Trace, fragrance, pour, unmould after 24–48 hours, cure 4 weeks.

Notes & troubleshooting

  • Refined shea is unscented; raw shea has a smoky-nutty aroma that can clash with delicate fragrances.
  • Cocoa butter brings a faint chocolate scent; deodorised cocoa butter avoids it.

Regulatory disclaimer

FormulaNorth helps organize cosmetic formulation, label, costing, and CNF preparation information. It is not legal or regulatory advice and does not replace Health Canada guidance, professional regulatory review, or the maker's responsibility to verify product compliance before sale.

Selling in Canada?

Soap sold to the public in Canada is generally regulated as a cosmetic. Save this recipe to a free FormulaNorth account, then use the bilingual label drafter and CNF preparation tools to get ready for sale.

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