Why Use Shea Butter in Soap ? Tips and More!

“Shea Butter makes the best soap!”  We hear that from many soapmakers who love its effect on hardening, curing, lathering and the natural goodness it brings.

Shea Butter  is also easily absorbed by the human body, moisturizing skin and hair naturally without the need for artificial chemicals.  It adds a creamy, richness to the soap that many of them say they cannot get without using lots of shea butter.

Soapmakers everywhere have their favourite recipes, ingredients and soap making tricks, often learned through years of experience. Many of our customers rave about how Baraka Shea Butter is must have ingredient for their soap. They talk about how it affects hardening and curing, its Vitamins A, E, and F as well as its UV protection and essential fatty acids necessary for collagen production and how it lathers.

We compiled a few tips and insights to keep in mind when using shea butter in your DIY soap:

1. Shea Butter is high in stearic and oleic acids, which will produce a long-lasting hard soap with a stable conditioning lather.
2. When beating the butter in a stand or electric hand mixer, it may take a few minutes for the friction of the beaters to soften the butter. Keep going!
3. One commonly used standard is 30/30/30/10. 30% olive oil, 30% coconut oil, 30% palm oil or Shea Butter, and 10% rice bran, sweet almond oil, or others you may prefer.
4. Shea butter is a solid form at room temperature, which traces more quickly. The soap will unmold faster and the final soap bars will feel firmer when used in a recipe with a lot of liquid oil.
5. Some soap makers will super fat with this ingredient by adding it later in the soap making process when a light to medium trace is reached. This will possibly leave some of the Shea Butter unsaponified allowing you to experience the benefits of this ingredient in an unadulterated form. Adding about 1 tablespoon per 3 pounds of oils when using this method is commonplace. Of course, you can always adjust the amount of Shea Butter that you add depending on your personal preferences. – (Soap Making Resource)
6. You can also rebatch your soap, adding the Shea Butter at the appropriate stage after saponification has already occurred. This will ensure that the shea butter will not take part in saponification but will remain pure within your product.

We love hearing about your experiences with using Shea Butter in the soap making process. We also have soft black soap, that utilizes Shea butter by-products, to make it effective for your skin.

Do you have any special tips when using Shea Butter in soap? Please feel free to share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or email to info@barakasheabutter.com.