Olive oil vs canola oil in soap
Canola oil is the cheap, pale stand-in for olive oil, and Faiola finds it slows trace and makes a whiter bar. It is softer, 7 for hardness on its own against 17, and it carries 9.5 % linolenic acid against 0.6 %, the fastest to oxidise of the common acids, which is why some makers blame it for orange spots. The lye differs by 1.3 %, and a swap in the bar below leaves the superfat at 4.5 %.
Olive Oil (virgin / refined / olive oil) Rapeseed Oil - Low Erucic Acid (Canola Oil) Compare them with other oils
The published figures
| Olive oil | Canola oil | |
|---|---|---|
| Saponification value, mg KOH/g | 184–196 | 182–193 |
| Used by the calculator, mg KOH/g | 190.0 (midpoint) | 187.5 (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH, g/g | 0.1354 | 0.1337 |
| Iodine value, g I₂/100 g | 75–94 | 105–126 |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 106 | 72 |
| Melting point, °C | — | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter, % | ≤ 1.5 | ≤ 2 |
| Name on a soap label | Sodium Olivate | Sodium Canolate |
Each oil alone
| Olive oil | Canola oil | Usual range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 17 | 7 | 29–54 |
| Cleansing | 0 | 0 | 12–22 |
| Conditioning | 82 | 93 | 44–69 |
| Bubbly lather | 0 | 0 | 14–46 |
| Creamy lather | 17 | 7 | 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, canola oil takes 1.3 % less 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 127.0 g for canola oil.
In the bar below, where it is 45 % 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 | Canola oil | 4.5 %recalculate |
| Canola oil | Olive oil | 5.5 %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: 45 % of the one or the other, at a 5 % superfat, for 1,000 g of oils. The rest: 25 % coconut oil, 25 % shea butter, and 5 % castor oil.
| With olive oil | With canola oil | Usual range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium hydroxide, g | 138.4 | 137.6 | |
| Hardness | 39 | 35 | 29–54 |
| Cleansing | 17 | 17 | 12–22 |
| Conditioning | 57 | 62 | 44–69 |
| Bubbly lather | 21 | 21 | 14–46 |
| Creamy lather | 26 | 22 | 16–48 |
| Iodine value | 58 | 71 | 41–70 |
| INS | 147 | 132 | 136–165 |
| Linoleic and linolenic acid, % | 8.1 | 16.7 |
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Olive oil | Canola oil | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 | 13.8 (7.5–20) | 4.8 (2.5–7) |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 1.9 (0.3–3.5) | 0.3 (0–0.6) |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 | 2.8 (0.5–5) | 1.9 (0.8–3) |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 69.0 (55–83) | 60.5 (51–70) |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 12.3 (3.5–21) | 22.5 (15–30) |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.6 (0–1.2) | 9.5 (5–14) |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 | 0.3 (0–0.6) | 0.7 (0.2–1.2) |
| Gadoleic acid | C20:1 | 0.2 (0–0.4) | 2.2 (0.1–4.3) |
| Erucic acid | C22:1 | 0.0 | 1.0 (0–2) |
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 canola oil
- Budget lard and canola bar 25 % of the oils
- Indigo and annatto funnel pour bar 25 % of the oils
- Tomato and charcoal swirl bar 25 % of the oils
- White tea faux funnel pour bar 20 % of the oils
- Egg yolk feather swirl bar 17 % of the oils
- Supermarket oils bar 15 % 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.
Rapeseed Oil - Low Erucic Acid (Canola 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.