Olive oil vs sweet almond oil in soap
Sweet almond oil is softer than olive oil, 8 for hardness on its own against 17, and it carries twice the linoleic acid, 25 % against 12.3 %, which shortens shelf life at a large share; Faiola keeps it to 25 %. It takes 2.6 % more lye, so recalculate after a swap. It is a nut oil, and its ingredient name, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil, tells an allergic customer so.
Olive Oil (virgin / refined / olive oil) Almond Oil (Sweet Almond Oil) Compare them with other oils
The published figures
| Olive oil | Sweet almond oil | |
|---|---|---|
| Saponification value, mg KOH/g | 184–196 | 183–207 |
| Used by the calculator, mg KOH/g | 190.0 (midpoint) | 195.0 (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH, g/g | 0.1354 | 0.1390 |
| Iodine value, g I₂/100 g | 75–94 | 85–109 |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 106 | 98 |
| Melting point, °C | — | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter, % | ≤ 1.5 | ≤ 2 |
| Name on a soap label | Sodium Olivate | Sodium Almondate |
Each oil alone
| Olive oil | Sweet almond oil | Usual range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 17 | 8 | 29–54 |
| Cleansing | 0 | 0 | 12–22 |
| Conditioning | 82 | 94 | 44–69 |
| Bubbly lather | 0 | 0 | 14–46 |
| Creamy lather | 17 | 8 | 16–48 |
A single oil’s hardness, cleansing and the rest are the same sums the calculator shows for a recipe, applied to that one oil. They explain what the oil brings to a blend; they do not predict how a soap of only that oil would feel.
Swapping one for the other
Gram for gram, sweet almond oil takes 2.6 % more lye than olive oil. For a kilogram of oil at a 5 % superfat, that is 128.7 g of sodium hydroxide for olive oil and 132.1 g for sweet almond oil.
In the bar below, where it is 25 % of the oils, weigh the lye for one and put in the other without recalculating, and the superfat moves:
| Lye weighed for | Oil used | Superfat |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | Sweet almond oil | 5.6 %recalculate |
| Sweet almond oil | Olive oil | 4.4 %recalculate |
The superfat is the share of the oils the lye leaves unsaponified, planned here at 5 %; below zero, there is more lye than the oils can take. Put the oil you actually have in the lye calculator and it works out the lye for that oil.
The same bar with either
The bar: 25 % of the one or the other, at a 5 % superfat, for 1,000 g of oils. The rest: 30 % olive oil, 25 % coconut oil, and 20 % shea butter.
| With olive oil | With sweet almond oil | Usual range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium hydroxide, g | 139.0 | 139.8 | |
| Hardness | 38 | 36 | 29–54 |
| Cleansing | 17 | 17 | 12–22 |
| Conditioning | 58 | 61 | 44–69 |
| Bubbly lather | 17 | 17 | 14–46 |
| Creamy lather | 21 | 19 | 16–48 |
| Iodine value | 59 | 62 | 41–70 |
| INS | 146 | 144 | 136–165 |
| Linoleic and linolenic acid, % | 8.8 | 11.9 |
Open the bar with olive oil Open the bar with sweet almond oil
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Olive oil | Sweet almond oil | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 | 13.8 (7.5–20) | 6.5 (4–9) |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 1.9 (0.3–3.5) | 0.5 (0.2–0.8) |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 | 2.8 (0.5–5) | 1.5 (0–3) |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 69.0 (55–83) | 69.0 (62–76) |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 12.3 (3.5–21) | 25.0 (20–30) |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.6 (0–1.2) | 0.3 (0–0.5) |
The figure the calculator uses for each oil, as a percentage of its fatty acids, with the published range in brackets.
Recipes with olive oil
- Castile brine bar 100 % of the oils
- Castile soap 100 % of the oils
- Liquid castile soap 100 % of the oils
- Nablus-style olive oil soap 100 % of the oils
- Savon noir, olive soft soap 100 % of the oils
- Greek olive bar 90 % of the oils
Recipes with sweet almond oil
- Lemongrass and cedar camp soap 20 % of the oils
- Almond and oat exfoliating bar 15 % of the oils
- Almond milk and oat bar 15 % of the oils
- Stearic acid shaving soap 15 % of the oils
- Lemon, annatto and cocoa linear swirl bar 14 % of the oils
- Lavender goat milk bar 10 % of the oils
Guides
Other comparisons
Where these numbers come from
Olive Oil (virgin / refined / olive oil)
Section 3 fatty-acid composition (GC, % total FA) is mandatory. Appendix 3 'Chemical and physical characteristics' (relative density 0.910-0.916, saponification value, iodine value (Wijs), unsaponifiable matter) is ADVISORY. C18:3 limit left open in this print (footnote 3: national limits may remain pending IOOC survey).
JP XVIII 'Olive Oil': acid value NMT 1.0; saponification value 186-194; unsaponifiable matters NMT 1.5 %; iodine value 79-88; specific gravity 0.908-0.914.
Ph. Eur. 12 'Olive oil, refined' fatty-acid limits, including linolenic acid max 1.2 %: the source of the record's linolenic range, which CXS 33 leaves open.
Almond Oil (Sweet Almond Oil)
Verbatim mirror of the FAO file CXS_210e.pdf; the official FAO link (https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fworkspace.fao.org%2Fsites%2Fcodex%2FStandards%2FCXS%2B210-1999%2FCXS_210e.pdf) was Cloudflare-gated at retrieval. Table 1 (Section 3.1) = mandatory GLC fatty-acid ranges, % of total fatty acids, ND = not detectable (<=0.05%). Table 2 (Appendix 'Other quality and composition factors') gives saponification value, iodine value (Wijs) and unsaponifiable matter of CRUDE oils; the Appendix is explicitly ADVISORY (a product not meeting it may still conform). This print predates the 2021-2025 amendments; the 2024 additions (avocado, camellia seed, sacha inchi, high-oleic soya bean) are not included.