Camellia / tea seed oil in soap making
Published by The Soap Brain Team
Camellia / tea seed oil is a conditioning soap-making oil rich in oleic acid (82%). A gram of it turns to soap with about 0.136 g of NaOH (lye). It makes a mild, gentle bar and pairs well with a harder, cleansing oil. Most soapers use it at 10–30% of their oils.
Fatty-acid profile
Camellia / tea seed oil is a gentle, conditioning oil, mostly unsaturated fatty acids that leave a mild, moisturising bar with a softer, lower lather. It pairs naturally with a harder, more cleansing oil to firm the bar up and add bubbles.
Camellia / tea seed oil is about 9% saturated fat and 90% unsaturated — that unsaturated majority is what makes it conditioning and slower to trace, but softer on its own.
| Fatty acid | Share | What it does in soap |
|---|---|---|
| Oleic acid | 82% | a monounsaturated fatty acid that makes a gentle, conditioning, moisturising bar with a slick, lower lather and a slower trace |
| Palmitic acid | 9% | a saturated fatty acid that builds a hard, long-lasting bar with a stable, creamy lather |
| Linoleic acid | 8% | a polyunsaturated fatty acid that is very conditioning but oxidises readily — a driver of DOS (dreaded orange spots) at high levels |
Camellia / tea seed oil in the bar
Camellia / tea seed oil gives a mild, low, slick lather on its own. Blended with a bubbly, cleansing oil it contributes body and mildness while the partner oil supplies the bubbles.
High-oleic Camellia / tea seed oil traces slowly, which gives you comfortable working time for swirls and layers. In exchange the bar is soft at first and rewards a longer cure — four to eight weeks — to harden fully and last in the shower.
In a blend Camellia / tea seed oil is the conditioning, skin-feel component and can often make up the bulk of the oils. Add a firmer, more cleansing oil — coconut, palm or a hard butter — to bring hardness and bubbles the finished bar would otherwise miss.
Closest substitutes for Camellia / tea seed oil
Out of Camellia / tea seed oil? These oils behave most like it in a bar — ranked by how close their hardness, cleansing and conditioning profile and lye (SAP) requirement are. The numbers are predicted properties for a 100% single-oil bar, not a safety guide; always recalculate the lye when you swap an oil.
| Oil | Hardness | Cleansing | Conditioning | SAP (NaOH) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camellia / tea seed oil (this oil) | 9 | 0 | 90 | 0.136 |
| Pomegranate seed oil | 8 | 0 | 91 | 0.135 |
| Sunflower oil, high-oleic | 9 | 0 | 91 | 0.135 |
| Walnut oil | 7 | 0 | 88 | 0.137 |
| Kukui nut oil | 6 | 0 | 90 | 0.135 |
Using Camellia / tea seed oil in a recipe
One gram of Camellia / tea seed oil needs about 0.136 g of NaOH (sodium hydroxide) to turn fully to soap, within a documented range of 0.128–0.142 g/g across sources. The calculator below uses this value; always confirm the lye weight before you mix.
Its iodine value is about 85 — a moderate value, a good all-round balance of hardness and conditioning. Iodine value is only a rough guide, not a hard rule, but it gives you a feel for how a bar built around this oil will wear.
Most soapers use Camellia / tea seed oil at roughly 10–30% of their oils.
Maker's note: "Asian olive oil" — mild and high-oleic, with olive-oil-like stability.
Calculate lye for Camellia / tea seed oil
The calculator below is pre-loaded with Camellia / tea seed oil. Enter your weights, add other oils, and it works out the exact NaOH (lye) weight, water and quality numbers. Always weigh lye, oils and water — never measure by volume, wear gloves and eye protection, and add lye to water (never the reverse).
Loading the calculator…
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page is backed by at least two independent references, listed below — so you can check our work instead of taking our word for it.
- Alfa Chemistry — saponification reference — SAP
- Zeng & Endo (2019), J. Oleo Sci. 68(7):649–658 — Lipid Characteristics of Camellia Seed Oil — fatty-acid profile: oleic >80% of total fatty acids in C. oleifera
- Hu & Yang (2018), Grasas y Aceites 69(2) — Physicochemical characteristics of Camellia oleifera oil (Henan, China), DOI 10.3989/gya.1224172 — SAP 178.9–196.9 mg KOH/g (mean 190.9), iodine 82.0–87.1 g I₂/100 g (mean 84.3) — peer-reviewed; replaces the bare journal-homepage URL formerly here
SAP data last updated · 51 oils covered.
Camellia / tea seed oil soap FAQ
- Can you make soap with 100% Camellia / tea seed oil?
- It is not recommended. Camellia / tea seed oil shows its best in a blend, usually up to about 30% of the oils. On its own the bar would be unbalanced — too soft or low-lathering for everyday use.
- What superfat should I use with Camellia / tea seed oil?
- A 5% superfat is a safe, common starting point for recipes using Camellia / tea seed oil; adjust to taste once you know how the finished bar feels. Never drop to 0% or below without a deliberate reason — the calculator will ask you to confirm it.
- Does Camellia / tea seed oil speed up or slow down trace?
- High-oleic Camellia / tea seed oil traces slowly, which gives you comfortable working time for swirls and layers. In exchange the bar is soft at first and rewards a longer cure — four to eight weeks — to harden fully and last in the shower.