Brazil Nut Oil
Saponification values, fatty acid makeup, and what this oil does in a bar of soap.
Saponification values
Grams of lye needed to saponify one gram of brazil nut oil. Multiply by your oil weight, then apply your superfat.
- NaOH (bar soap)
- 0.135
- KOH (liquid soap)
- 0.19
- Iodine
- 100
- INS
- 90
INCI: Bertholletia Excelsa Seed Oil
Fatty acid profile
| Fatty acid | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Oleic | 39% |
| Linoleic | 36% |
| Palmitic | 13% |
| Stearic | 11% |
Soap qualities at 100%
What a bar made entirely of brazil nut oil would score. Almost nobody soaps a single oil at 100% — this is here so you can see what the oil contributes to a blend. The shaded band is the range most makers aim for in a finished recipe.
What that means in a recipe
Almost no cleansing contribution (0) against high conditioning (75). Gentle on skin, but a bar built mainly on this will be slow to trace, slow to harden, and low on bubbles without something to balance it.
A high iodine value (100) points the same way: more unsaturated, softer, and quicker to go off than a saturated fat.
Derived from the numbers above rather than written by hand, so it stays in step with the data. Tendencies, not guarantees — your oils, water, and technique all move the result.
Oils that behave similarly
Closest matches by fatty acid makeup — the usual starting point when you have run out of brazil nut oil and need a substitute. Check the lye maths again after swapping: SAP values differ even between oils that behave alike.
- Tamanu Oil, kamaniSAP 0.148 NaOH
- Jatropha Oil, soapnut seed oilSAP 0.138 NaOH
- Sesame OilSAP 0.134 NaOH
- Oat OilSAP 0.135 NaOH
- Yangu, cape chestnutSAP 0.137 NaOH