Questions about babassu

[wearytraveler]

I've read that babassu oil has many of the same properties as CO but is less harsh/cleansing. So one of the questions I have is, if I have two identical recipes, one using babassu and the other using CO, yet both recipes showing a cleansing value of 11 on Soapcalc, will the one with babassu still be less harsh/cleansing?
Lastly, where can I get my hands on a small amount (about 10 oz.) of babassu?

Thanks.

 

[DeeAnna]

It's less about "cleansing" as such and more about irritation. There's a difference. Compared with coconut oil, Babassu and Palm Kernel both have somewhat lower amounts of the very short chain fatty acids that are able to irritate the skin of people with sensitive skin. People with non-sensitive skin probably won't notice any difference.

Soapcalc doesn't even include these very short fatty acids in "the numbers" and their fatty acid profiles, so the info in soapcalc about "cleansing", etc. tells you nothing about this issue. Palm kernel has the lowest % of these short fatty acids, babassu has a middle amount, and coconut has the most.

Will a soap with babassu be less cleansing than a soap with coconut oil? I'd say the cleansing ability is going to be about the same in either case, all other things being equal. If your skin is specifically sensitive to the effects of short fatty acids, you may find the babassu soap to be somewhat less irritating. But you're probably going to be even happier with palm kernel if this is an issue. PKO has the least amounts of these short fatty acids compared with the other two.

 

[wearytraveler]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the info.

It's less about "cleansing" as such and more about irritation. There's a difference. Compared with coconut oil, Babassu and Palm Kernel both have somewhat lower amounts of the very short chain fatty acids that are able to irritate the skin of people with sensitive skin. People with non-sensitive skin probably won't notice any difference.

Soapcalc doesn't even include these very short fatty acids in "the numbers" and their fatty acid profiles, so the info in soapcalc about "cleansing", etc. tells you nothing about this issue. Palm kernel has the lowest % of these short fatty acids, babassu has a middle amount, and coconut has the most.

Will a soap with babassu be less cleansing than a soap with coconut oil? I'd say the cleansing ability is going to be about the same in either case, all other things being equal. If your skin is specifically sensitive to the effects of short fatty acids, you may find the babassu soap to be somewhat less irritating. But you're probably going to be even happier with palm kernel if this is an issue. PKO has the least amounts of these short fatty acids compared with the other two.