Why We Choose to Make Palm Oil Free Soap
If you've spent any time browsing our website, you've probably noticed that we often mention our products are palm oil free.
It's something we've proudly stood by since the very beginning of The Good Soap, so we thought we'd explain why it matters to us.
So why DOES it matter, and why have we chosen not to use palm oil in any of our handmade soaps?
What is palm oil?
Palm oil is a vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. It's one of the most widely used ingredients in the world and can be found in everything from food and cosmetics to candles, cleaning products and soap.
For soap makers, palm oil has several benefits. It helps create a hard, long lasting bar with a creamy lather and it's generally less expensive than many alternative oils. With all of those advantages, you might wonder why we've chosen not to use it.
Why don't we use palm oil?
When we first started making soap, we spent a long time researching every ingredient we planned to use. As we learned more about palm oil production, we became increasingly uncomfortable with its environmental impact.
Over many years, vast areas of tropical rainforest have been cleared to make way for palm plantations. This has contributed to the loss of precious habitats for wildlife, including orangutans, elephants and tigers, while also releasing large amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere.
Although things are improving in some areas, we simply didn't feel comfortable building our business around an ingredient with that history. So we made a decision that has never changed. We wouldn't use palm oil at all.
What about sustainable palm oil?
This is a fair question, and one we're occasionally asked.
Today, many companies use certified sustainable palm oil through organisations such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). These certification schemes aim to encourage more responsible farming and reduce the environmental impact of palm oil production.
We completely respect businesses that choose this route. For us, however, we decided we'd rather formulate our soaps without palm oil altogether. It isn't about saying our way is the only way. It's simply the choice that best reflects our own values as a small family business.
What do we use instead?
One of the questions we're often asked is whether it's possible to make a high quality soap without palm oil. The answer is absolutely. Instead, we carefully blend a selection of plant oils that each bring their own unique benefits.
Olive Oil
Olive oil creates a wonderfully gentle, conditioning soap that's suitable for everyday use and helps leave skin feeling soft.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil produces the rich, cleansing lather that people love while helping create a firm, long lasting bar.
Rice Bran Oil
Rice bran oil is rich in antioxidants and helps produce a creamy, luxurious lather while adding conditioning properties.
Sunflower Oil
Sunflower oil contains vitamin E and essential fatty acids, helping create a mild, skin loving soap.
Castor Oil
Castor oil helps boost the stable, creamy bubbles that make our soaps such a pleasure to use.
By carefully balancing these oils, we've created recipes that produce hard, long lasting bars without needing palm oil.
Palm oil free is just one part of our story
Being palm oil free isn't something we do in isolation. It's part of a much bigger commitment to making products as thoughtfully as we can. When you choose The Good Soap, you're also choosing products that are:
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Handmade in small batches in North Wales.
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Plastic free wherever possible.
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Free from SLS.
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Made using carefully selected natural ingredients.
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Created with quality and sustainability at the heart of every recipe.
👉 Find out more about The Good Soap.
Explore our palm oil free collection
Every soap we make is completely palm oil free, whether you're looking for an everyday family soap or something for more sensitive skin.
You might like to explore:
These are all handmade in our North Wales workshop using carefully selected plant oils and absolutely no palm oil.
Why we've never changed our minds
When we started The Good Soap, we wanted to create products that we genuinely felt good about using ourselves. Choosing not to use palm oil was one of the very first decisions we made, and eight years later it's still one of the easiest. Could we make soap using palm oil? Yes. But we've never felt the need to compromise.
We're proud of the recipes we've developed, proud of the ingredients we use and proud that every bar of soap leaving our workshop is made without palm oil.
For us, that's something worth sticking to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is all of your soap palm oil free?
Yes. Every soap bar, shampoo bar and solid skincare product we make is completely palm oil free.
Does palm oil free soap still lather well?
Absolutely. By carefully balancing oils such as coconut oil, olive oil and castor oil, we've created soaps that produce a rich, creamy lather while remaining gentle on your skin.
Where are your soaps made?
All of our soaps are handmade in small batches in our workshop in North Wales.
Shop Palm Oil Free Soap
If you're looking for handmade, palm oil free soap that's kind to your skin and made with carefully chosen natural ingredients, we'd love you to explore our collection.