Shea butter vs mango butter in soap
Mango butter looks like shea on paper: both are mostly stearic and oleic acid, and on their own they score 45 and 49 for hardness. In the pot it is softer than that suggests. Its melting point varies with the variety, from 17.6 to 34.3 °C in one study, and Faiola finds it adds little hardness in practice, so use it for feel rather than firmness. The lye differs by 4.6 %: recalculate after a swap.
The published figures
| Shea butter | Mango butter | |
|---|---|---|
| Saponification value, mg KOH/g | 179.3–190 (typical 183) | 185–198 |
| Used by the calculator, mg KOH/g | 183.0 (typical) | 191.5 (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH, g/g | 0.1305 | 0.1365 |
| Iodine value, g I₂/100 g | 30–75 | 32–57 |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 131 | 147 |
| Melting point, °C | 33–40.5 | 17.64–34.32 |
| Unsaponifiable matter, % | 2.4–11.6 (typical 6.2) | 0.94–1.9 |
| Name on a soap label | Sodium Shea Butterate | Sodium Mangoseedate |
Each oil alone
| Shea butter | Mango butter | Usual range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 45 | 49 | 29–54 |
| Cleansing | 0 | 0 | 12–22 |
| Conditioning | 54 | 46 | 44–69 |
| Bubbly lather | 0 | 0 | 14–46 |
| Creamy lather | 45 | 49 | 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, mango butter takes 4.6 % more lye than shea butter. For a kilogram of oil at a 5 % superfat, that is 123.9 g of sodium hydroxide for shea butter and 129.7 g for mango butter.
In the bar below, where it is 15 % 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Shea butter | Mango butter | 5.6 %recalculate |
| Mango butter | Shea butter | 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: 15 % of the one or the other, at a 5 % superfat, for 1,000 g of oils. The rest: 55 % olive oil, 25 % coconut oil, and 5 % castor oil.
| With shea butter | With mango butter | Usual range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium hydroxide, g | 138.9 | 139.7 | |
| Hardness | 36 | 37 | 29–54 |
| Cleansing | 17 | 17 | 12–22 |
| Conditioning | 60 | 59 | 44–69 |
| Bubbly lather | 21 | 21 | 14–46 |
| Creamy lather | 23 | 24 | 16–48 |
| Iodine value | 61 | 60 | 41–70 |
| INS | 144 | 147 | 136–165 |
| Linoleic and linolenic acid, % | 8.7 | 8.3 |
Open the bar with shea butter Open the bar with mango butter
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Shea butter | Mango butter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 | 3.5 (1.9–5) | 6.0 (2–10) |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 | 41.7 (27.7–55.7) | 42.5 (35–50) |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 47.4 (34–60.7) | 42.5 (35–50) |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 6.2 (4.4–7.9) | 3.0 (1–5) |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 | 0.9 (0–1.8) | 4.0 (1–7) |
The figure the calculator uses for each oil, as a percentage of its fatty acids, with the published range in brackets.
Recipes with shea butter
- 100 % butter bar 60 % of the oils
- African black soap homage 30 % of the oils
- Charcoal pencil line bar 30 % of the oils
- Shea and cocoa butter luxury bar 30 % of the oils
- Butter bar 25 % of the oils
- Goat milk and shea hot process bar 25 % of the oils
Recipes with mango butter
- Turmeric and honey bar 15 % of the oils
- Lemongrass and cedar camp soap 10 % of the oils
- Tomato and charcoal swirl bar 10 % of the oils
Guides
Other comparisons
Where these numbers come from
Shea Butter
Table 5 (GLC fatty-acid composition of 36 individual shea nut samples) and Results sections 3.2 (NSL/non-saponifiable lipid content, Table 2) and 3.5 (fatty-acid prose ranges) supplied the fattyAcidsPercent and unsaponifiablePercent fields.
Standard for 'Shea butter (Unrefined)': iodine value 30-75, saponification value 160-200 (used for those two fields), unsaponifiable matter not more than 19%, free fatty acids not more than 8%, refractive index 1.4620-1.4650 at 44 C. Item inserted by 2019 amendment, gazetted 2021.
Table 4: traditional wet-extracted butter (SBT) SAP 167.4 mg KOH/g, iodine 21.43 gI2/100g, melting point 33.0 C; solvent-extracted butter (SBS) SAP 202.9 mg KOH/g, iodine 13.19 gI2/100g, melting point 40.5 C. Nigerian samples. Melting-point figures used for the field; its iodine values were treated as an outlier and not used (see notes).
Ivory Coast beige/yellow shea butter: iodine 52.64/53.06 gI2/100g (corroborates the FSSAI-sourced field). Its unsaponifiable matter (17.61%/17.27%) and fatty acids (palmitic 16.42%/26.36%, stearic 32.39%/36.36%, oleic 38.12%/29.09%, linoleic 9.72%/5.92%, arachidic 1.84%/1.59%) were NOT used - inconsistent with Akihisa et al.'s much larger 36-sample dataset, recorded here only for transparency.
Internet Archive capture (3 August 2025) of the FAO file. Table 2: relative density (20 C) 0.91-0.98, density (40 C) 0.89-0.93, saponification value 160-195 mg KOH/g fat, iodine value 30-75, unsaponifiable matter 1-19 % m/m, refractive index at 44 C 1.4620-1.4650, melting point 35-40 C. Table 3: lauric <1, myristic <0.7, palmitic 2-10, palmitoleic <0.3, stearic 25-50, oleic 32-62, linoleic 1-11, linolenic <1, C20:0 <3.5 %. The standard says its limits are broad because they cover shea from all production areas. Regulatory limits, recorded in notes rather than as the band.
Crude Ghanaian shea fat: saponification value 190.0, iodine value 64.2, unsaponifiable 9.0 %, palmitic 4.8, stearic 45.9 %. Sets the maximum.
Mango Butter
Public.Resource.Org copy on the Internet Archive (linked from law.resource.org). Table 1, refined / raw grade 1 / raw grade 2: saponification value 185 to 198 (all three); iodine value (Wijs) 32 to 57; unsaponifiable matter max. 1.5 / 2.5 / 2.5 %; acid value max. 0.5 / 6 / 20; refractive index at 60 C 1.4394-1.4498. Foreword 0.3.1: major fatty acids oleic 33-53 % and stearic 24-49 %; "The raw fat can be used in soap making". Amendment No. 1 (October 1995) adds eco-mark clauses only.
The source of the fatty-acid profile: palmitic 2.0-10.0, stearic 35.0-50.0, oleic 35.0-50.0, linoleic 1.0-5.0, arachidic 1.0-7.0 %; no lauric or myristic acid is listed. Acid value max. 2.0; refractive index (40 C) ca. 1.460. No saponification value.
The source of the melting point (Table 1) and unsaponifiable matter (Table 2). Its saponification values (Table 2) and fatty-acid composition (Table 3) are recorded in the notes and not used.
Regulatory identity standard for the refined commercial product: saponification value 185-198, iodine value (Wijs) 32-57, unsaponifiable matter not more than 1.5%, butyro-refractometer reading at 40 C 43.7-51.6 (or refractive index 1.4550-1.4604). The same figures as IS 9231.