Our Ingredients: Butters We Love (and WHY)
Every soap maker has a few specific ingredients they rely on. Sure, we may venture out into unknown territory with new butters, new oils we're learning about and even a long list of botanicals that can hold up to the saponification process. But, we will always have our basics and our "favorite" recipes.
Here is why we chose these "basics" for our recipes. By the way, we use certified organic, fair trade certified, non-GMO butters in our recipes!
KOKUM BUTTER | Natural emolient qualities, non-pore clogging, regenerative qualities.
[Learn about the many benefits of kokum butter here...]
Kokum butter is just now gaining in popularity as the new "favorite" butter, but we've been using it awhile.
Kokum is derived from the very hearty Garcinia Indica tree found in India. It's one of the most stable vegetable butters in the market.
What we love most is that Kokum butter is naturally non-non-comodegenic (which means it won't clog pores) and it's known for its natural regenerative qualities as well as its emolient qualities (which means it attracts moisture). Since we're in a super dry part of the country, that's important to us.
Another amazing quality is that it remains in a solid state at room temperature, but melts immediately upon contact with the skin. Kokum naturally consists of up to 80% of stearic-oleic-stearic (SOS) triglycerides, which makes it more emolient than other butters.
I'm not going to lie, it's quite a bit more expensive than other butters. But it's worth it for the amazing qualities it offers.
SHEA BUTTER | Naturally rich in Vitamins A & E, offers some UV protection, emolient
Shea butter is pretty amazing stuff. It's extracted from the nut of the African shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) which is found in Africa (because, you know, "African Shea Tree"). Shea has a long history - the ancient Egyptians spoke of caravans carrying the butter to Egypt and they still use this miracle butter to protect against the windswept plains of the desert.
Like Kokum, Shea butter melts on contact with the skin and it doesn't feel greasy when you apply it straight to skin. Also like Kokum, it has natural emolient properties, naturally attracting moisture from the air to help rehydrate skin.
We use it in soap because it has a lot of great unsaponifiables (meaning it can come through saponification with plenty of benefits). We know you'll love this amazing butter as much as we do!
Cocoa Butter | Because, chocolate...
Why use cocoa butter? Beyond the obvious, of course. Primarily because this aromatic butter has lots of benefits beyond just looking (and tasting) amazing.
This very hard butter provides plenty of Vitamin E and creates slip in products, but it also tastes amazing - making it the perfect compliment to Kokum and Shea in our lip balms.