Yellow (yellowish) coconut oil. Help needed.

[bat755]

Hi fellow soapmakers,
I'm having a hard time with my coconut oil suppliers. I usually buy it in 5 liters buckets but recently it comes yellowish and not pale white as usual. I returned to the seller the first time, came yellowish again, changed seller and it came yellow again. Look at the pics attached to see the melted and solid color.

I did a test, I made a 50% coconut and 50% sunflower to test this yellowish coconut oil. As you can see there is a slight difference in color and there is no difference in smell, lather etc. The one with the yellow oil is to the right. As you can see the difference in color is barely noticeable.

Did it happen to you to have a colored coconut oil? Thank you for help.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

One of our members has found that virgin coconut oil is lighter in color than refined. Their post about this in a thread about formulating for white soap, here.

 

[bat755]

One of our members has found that virgin coconut oil is lighter in color than refined. Their post about this in a thread about formulating for white soap, here.

Thank you, I'll read the thread. Anyway I've always bought refined coconut oil and always had a white color.

 

[AliOop]

My CO has varied over the years from bright white, to slightly yellow, to ever-so-slightly pink. I have always assumed this resulted from differences in growing conditions and processing conditions. The color differences of the oil haven't noticeably affected the final color of my bars, or how they function.

PS - your bars look very smooth and pretty!

 

[bat755]

My CO has varied over the years from bright white, to slightly yellow, to ever-so-slightly pink. I have always assumed this resulted from differences in growing conditions and processing conditions. The color differences of the oil haven't noticeably affected the final color of my bars, or how they function.

PS - your bars look very smooth and pretty!

Thank you. Ok, I’ll do a test with an actual recipe of my favorites and see what happens.

Do you think my CO is too yellow? I mean, it’s almost the same color of melted palm oil.

 

[dibbles]

I can see the difference between the bars in your photo, but barely. If they weren’t side by side I don’t know if I would even notice. Personally the color would be acceptable to me, but I prefer a creamy white over a paper white color.

 

[bat755]

I can see the difference between the bars in your photo, but barely. If they weren’t side by side I don’t know if I would even notice. Personally the color would be acceptable to me, but I prefer a creamy white over a paper white color.

I’m ok with the color, I only want to be sure that this batch of CO is safe for my soaps.

 

[AliOop]

Unless the oil smells bad, it should be fine.

 

[Saponificarian]

Heat processed coconut oil will have a yellow tinge to it while coconut oil processed without heat will be water white. Costco organic coconut oil is an example of water white coconut oil.

ETA: Both will work fine, it’s just aesthetic, which will only matter if you are working with something like body oil and want a water white clear body oil. In which case CCT, FCT will work great. Now I am going down a rabbit hole

 

[Zuleika]

I realised that the finished soap looks like the unmelted coconut oil. Colour difference in the final bar is slight but as I personally prefer a naturally as white as possible bar, I see what you mean.

That said, my usual CO is like what you see in the pics. Slightly yellow. Never knew that virgin CO is whiter. More experiments to come.

 

[Saponificarian]

I realised that the finished soap looks like the unmelted coconut oil. Colour difference in the final bar is slight but as I personally prefer a naturally as white as possible bar, I see what you mean.

That said, my usual CO is like what you see in the pics. Slightly yellow. Never knew that virgin CO is whiter. More experiments to come.

Cold pressed is what you want, not virgin coconut because that could be heat processed as well.

https://www.costco.ca/kirkland-signature-organic-virgin-coconut-oil,-2.3-kg.product.100416822.html

 

[Zuleika]

Ahh.. I see. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

One way to make soap whiter naturally is to add salt. There may be some effects on the lather. You can read about Auntie Clara's experiments with salt (great photos, too) on her blog, here:
https://auntieclaras.com/2021/11/salt-in-soap/

 

[lucycat]

I asked about some coconut oil once and was told that probably popcorn oil was being produced with the same equipment. Coconut popcorn oil can have beta carotene added for the yellow color.

 

[Shelley D]

Interesting information and comparisons ~ I have only bought coconut oil from Walmart while grocery shopping and it's always been white in the jar while solid and melts to almost clear, slightly yellow maybe, but definitely transparent. I have always used it with other oils, both for body oil blends and soap so I can't say how it affects the finished product because I almost always used olive oil also (EVOO at that) which makes everything green
But, for reference, here's a pic of what I buy
Happy soaping!

 

[bat755]

One way to make soap whiter naturally is to add salt. There may be some effects on the lather. You can read about Auntie Clara's experiments with salt (great photos, too) on her blog, here:
https://auntieclaras.com/2021/11/salt-in-soap/

I'm experimenting with brine bars myself. Thank you for the link.

 

[Savage Daughter]

One way to make soap whiter naturally is to add salt. There may be some effects on the lather. You can read about Auntie Clara's experiments with salt (great photos, too) on her blog, here:
https://auntieclaras.com/2021/11/salt-in-soap/

Very interesting article, and beautiful photos. Thank you so much for sharing this!

I now understand WHY my all of my subsequent large batches of one type of soap have a much whiter white color, so to speak, of the white base I swirled my colors into.....it's because I began using SALT in all of my batches at that point. Not a lot, about 1 TBSP dissolved into my water for a 16 pound batch, but enough to make a huge difference.

The article also helps explain why my COLORS are more vibrant in all subsequent batches as well, despite the fact that I used exactly the same natural colorants - rhubarb root & chlorella on a white base - and why they are NOT fading compared to the previous batch I made without salt! It's absolutely amazing to see the difference side by side...

I also noticed a change in my lather, which was already very good, but the batches with salt added are *very* fast to begin lathering with some nice, big bubbles. I also don't need more than a quick swipe of soap to get my hands good & foamy.

My bars are also incredibly hard, and are lasting a very long time. I use a bar from every single batch I make & currently have 15 bars undergoing 'testing'

Lastly, I read in the comments Auntie Clara saying that *salt* helps with scent retention...yeehaw That's another factor to my scent lasting so long & people loving this about my soaps! Must add this info to my slurry making post for retaining scent! I did not even realize that this was a factor!

I will continue using salt as I do, because it truly makes for a beautiful bar of soap, even when used in smaller amounts
_____

RE coconut oil: I notice that the stuff I buy for eating / cooking - which is cold pressed - is absolutely snow white next to my more dingy looking coconut oil which I buy for soap making. The snow white stuff also now costs a freakin' fortune....

 

[Zuleika]

I realised while going through my notes that I have used cold pressed CO once. Unfortunately I colored the soaps so can't really tell much about whiteness. But the brine soap link really explained why my ZNSC is a lovely solid creamy white while the other are not so solidly white. Learning a new thing everyday.

I found this cold pressed CO going for almost the same as my refined CO. Can't wait to get this after using up current supplies.

The picture shows it so clear and just calls to me.

 

[AliOop]

@Zuleika is all coconut oil normally liquid where you live?

If not, then the bottle you show in that picture may be fractionated coconut oil, which is almost identical to MCT oil. It's fine in lotions, but I don't like it in soap because the soap turns out softer and more rubbery in texture. Maybe you could double-check the ingredient section of the label?

 

[Zuleika]

@Zuleika is all coconut oil normally liquid where you live?

If not, then the bottle you show in that picture may be fractionated coconut oil, which is almost identical to MCT oil. It's fine in lotions, but I don't like it in soap because the soap turns out softer and more rubbery in texture. Maybe you could double-check the ingredient section of the label?

Oh yeah.. I'm in south east asia. CO is liquid at room temp. Heh.. I never have to melt any oils. I loved FCO. Bought a sample once and amazed at the whiteness of it comparatively. Too expensive though. Three times the price of normal CO.

Here's a pic of my latest CO purchase being solid at the supermarket and liquid at home.