Illipe butter in soap making
Published by The Soap Brain Team
Illipe butter is a hardening soap-making oil rich in stearic acid (44%). A gram of it turns to soap with about 0.135 g of NaOH (lye). It firms up a bar with a stable, creamy lather and blends well with conditioning oils. Most soapers use it at 5–15% of their oils.
Fatty-acid profile
Illipe butter is mainly a hardening oil: its saturated fatty acids give a firm, long-lasting bar with a stable, creamy lather, and it is usually blended with more conditioning oils to keep the finished soap mild.
Illipe butter is about 61% saturated fat and 38% unsaturated — that saturated majority is what lets it firm up a bar and hold a stable lather.
| Fatty acid | Share | What it does in soap |
|---|---|---|
| Stearic acid | 44% | a saturated fatty acid that adds hardness and a thick, stable lather; a large share can speed up trace |
| Oleic acid | 37% | a monounsaturated fatty acid that makes a gentle, conditioning, moisturising bar with a slick, lower lather and a slower trace |
| Palmitic acid | 17% | a saturated fatty acid that builds a hard, long-lasting bar with a stable, creamy lather |
| Linoleic acid | 1% | a polyunsaturated fatty acid that is very conditioning but oxidises readily — a driver of DOS (dreaded orange spots) at high levels |
Illipe butter in the bar
Expect a dense, low-bubble, creamy lather from Illipe butter — rich and steady rather than foamy. Pairing it with a bubbly oil adds the fluffy bubbles it lacks.
Because it is rich in palmitic and stearic acids, Illipe butter tends to bring a batch to trace quickly and set up fast, so work briskly and keep fragrances that accelerate trace in mind. The upside is a firm bar that usually unmoulds within a day or two.
In a blend Illipe butter is a hardening, bar-firming component. Use it in small amounts; combine it with conditioning liquid oils so the bar stays mild rather than brittle.
Closest substitutes for Illipe butter
Out of Illipe butter? 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illipe butter (this oil) | 61 | 0 | 38 | 0.135 |
| Kokum butter | 59 | 0 | 38 | 0.134 |
| Cocoa butter | 62 | 0 | 38 | 0.137 |
| Sal butter | 51 | 0 | 40 | 0.132 |
| Cupuaçu butter, deodorized | 50 | 0 | 41 | 0.135 |
Using Illipe butter in a recipe
One gram of Illipe butter needs about 0.135 g of NaOH (sodium hydroxide) to turn fully to soap, within a documented range of 0.132–0.143 g/g across sources. The calculator below uses this value; always confirm the lye weight before you mix.
Its iodine value is about 33 — a low value, pointing to a hard, long-lasting bar with good shelf life. 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 Illipe butter at roughly 5–15% of their oils.
Maker's note: Cocoa-butter-like hardness; very stable, with a high melt point.
Calculate lye for Illipe butter
The calculator below is pre-loaded with Illipe butter. 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.
- The Soap Kitchen — SAP chart — SAP 0.136 NaOH (≈191 mg KOH/g)
- Physicochemical properties of natural photoprotective lip balm with illipe butter as raw material (academia.edu 98369677) — SAP 186.79 mg KOH/g, iodine ~32.5 (refined illipe / tengkawang, Shorea stenoptera)
SAP data last updated · 51 oils covered.
Illipe butter soap FAQ
- Can you make soap with 100% Illipe butter?
- It is not recommended. Illipe butter shows its best in a blend, usually up to about 15% 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 Illipe butter?
- A 5% superfat is a safe, common starting point for recipes using Illipe butter; 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 Illipe butter speed up or slow down trace?
- Because it is rich in palmitic and stearic acids, Illipe butter tends to bring a batch to trace quickly and set up fast, so work briskly and keep fragrances that accelerate trace in mind. The upside is a firm bar that usually unmoulds within a day or two.